Little Rock plan will fund outreach to youth

Programs tackle crime prevention

2017 city-funded programs
2017 city-funded programs

The city of Little Rock has been given permission by its Board of Directors to enter into contracts with 16 providers for 24 youth intervention and prevention programs and three re-entry programs this year.

Each program will be funded to operate through the end of 2017. The money comes from the city's Community Programs Department.

All programs are available at no cost to Little Rock residents, though different programs are marketed to certain people.

Prevention programs aim to reach children who might be at risk of committing a crime or becoming involved in juvenile delinquency or gang violence.

The providers selected to host 14 prevention programs are Our House, Mitchell Boys and Girls Club, Life Skills for Youth, City of Fire Community Development Center, In His Image Youth Development Center, Penick Boys and Girls Club, Tanglewood After-school Program, Songbird Multimedia and Performing Arts Foundation, and Pulaski County. The programs will be funded up to $75,000 each.

One provider, Bridge 2 Success, was accidentally left off of the resolution approved by the city board. City staff wants to enter into negotiations with that provider to host a prevention program for youth ages 12 to 17, but will have to get approval from the board before doing so.

Intervention programs are an outreach to children and young adults who are known to be exposed to higher-risk environments or to change current juvenile delinquent activities.

The seven providers selected to host these programs are Thrasher Boys and Girls Club, St. John Unto Others, Better Community Development Center, Whetstone Boys and Girls Club, Bridge 2 Success, City of Fire Community Development Center and Pulaski County. The programs will be funded up to $75,000 each.

Re-entry programs are for adults formerly in prison or jail. They receive help re-entering society, including job skill training, job acquisition tips and assistance getting jobs.

Our House, Goodwill and Protech Solutions' Good Grid social network will put on these programs, which will be funded up to $60,000 each.

There are still 10 advertised program slots for which no providers bid or for which the bidders were disqualified. Those programs will be re-bid.

They include youth intervention programs for boys and girls in the east part of the city; a girls' intervention program in the west; a girls' intervention program in midtown; four prevention programs in the east, the west or far west for children ages 12 to 17; and two prevention programs in midtown for children ages 6 to 11.

The service providers awarded contracts will be the first who will follow the new Youth Master Plan approved by the city last year. They must meet certain metrics that gauge their effectiveness.

Three of the providers have never received a city contract before: City of Fire Community Development Center, Songbird Multimedia and Performing Arts Foundation, and Protech.

Other providers have previously run city-funded programs and have been scored by the city based on previous metrics.

All of those chosen to run programs again this year had scores of 75 percent or higher, except for the Goodwill youth prevention program, which had a score of 53 percent. Goodwill did not reapply to host that program this year but will continue hosting its successful re-entry program.

Dana Dossett, director of the city's Community Program Department, said the prior metrics used to score providers focused heavily on attendance.

New metrics have been developed under the Youth Master Plan that account for other variables that can show whether a program is truly successful in reaching youths and re-entry participants. Each provider will have to agree to those metrics in a contract.

Other policy changes have been made to this year's contracts under the Youth Master Plan. Previously the city targeted specific programs to Hispanic youth, labeling programs specifically for "Latino males" and "Latino females."

The city's legal counsel determined that while officials could target Hispanics specifically in marketing, they could no longer label those programs as such. Both the Songbird Multimedia and Bridge 2 Success prevention programs would have been labeled as Hispanic if not for the policy change.

"We worked really hard to make sure we got out in the community to find new programs that would be interested," Dossett said to city directors when presenting the contracts at a recent board meeting. "We definitely are going to work with these programs to make sure they are serving the children, youth and their families in the way we really want to build our city."

Metro on 01/22/2017

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