BENTONVILLE -- Benton County will use a $211,000 Endeavor Foundation grant to convert an area of detention space to a shelter for juveniles who need housing because Youth Bridge closed its Centerton shelter.
The shelter will help juveniles who should not be in the jail, Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Smith said.
The Endeavor Foundation
The foundation has given $93 million in grants to create a thriving and vibrant Northwest Arkansas. The foundation relies on the region’s civic and business leaders, community organizers and nonprofit providers to address common needs through innovative thinking and long-term solutions. Endeavor supports collaborative efforts that effect systemic change on a large scale to improve the lives of all who live in the region. For more information, visit www.endeavorfoundat….
Source: Staff report
"This is a much-needed resource in our community," said Smith, who presides over juvenile court. "While Benton County has made great strides in reducing youth incarceration, there are still many juveniles who can't take advantage of the existing alternatives."
One of the three wings in the Benton County Juvenile Detention Center will be converted. The grant should cover the entire cost, Smith said. The detention center has 32 beds, and eight will be used for the shelter, Smith said.
Teens from Benton County have been sent to Youth Bridge in Springdale since the shelter closed in Centerton, Smith said.
Youth Bridge was founded in 1963 by businessmen to provide housing for homeless and neglected boys, according to its website.
Benton County is contracted through the state with Youth Bridge to house four or five juveniles, Smith said.
"If there's ever the time to need a shelter it's now because we don't have one in the county," Smith said. Some juveniles may not be able to return home for their own safety or may not be able to access a youth shelter because no beds are available, Smith said.
Daryl Rhoda, chief executive officer of Youth Bridge, said the Springdale center is near two other Youth Bridge group homes. The move will allow Youth Bridge to consolidate its residential services and provide more staff support and higher quality services, Rhoda said.
The total capacity in Centerton was 24, but it averaged 15 children, Rhoda said.
"Endeavor believes in systemic change to address the most pressing issues in our community, and systemic change often starts with our youth," said Justin Fletcher, vice president of programs and development for the foundation. "Research has clearly shown that incarceration has a tremendously negative impact on youth. It can worsen, or even cause, mental health issues, which kids in the juvenile justice system are more likely to have. It interferes with education, so much so that it can often be impossible for kids to catch up and graduate."
When a youth offender presents a danger to the community there is little choice but to detain them, but 44 percent of those placed in the county Juvenile Detention Center are there only because they had nowhere else to go, Fletcher said.
"The conversion shelter creates an option for these kids that they didn't have before and will finally give them the help they need," Fletcher said.
Smith presented the plan to the Benton County Quorum Court. He plans to address justices of the peace again this month. He can move forward with the shelter conversion with the Quorum Court's approval.
"Hopefully, they will give us the go-ahead and we can start the construction right away," Smith said.
Smith doesn't have a timeline of when the project will be completed.
"It will be a learning curve for us, but we are all excited to begin," Smith said.
Denyse Collins, juvenile detention center director, said juveniles in the secure area and those in the shelter will be completely separated and will not share any common areas.
The staff will undergo additional training in anticipation of the shelter, Collins said.
NW News on 03/07/2017