CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In a recent Nueces County Commissioners Court meeting, commissioners approved the Nueces County Juvenile Justice Department being awarded a $900,236 grant every year for six years.
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department created a specialized grant for Texas counties that operate residential facilities. It will offer out of county placement opportunities to surrounding area counties at no cost to the sending county or Nueces County.
That money will go toward hiring four juvenile supervision officers and an additional case manager. Facility enhancements and program improvements are also included in this grant which equates to $5.4 million total over those six years.
Dr. Claudia Ikonomopoulos is a mental health supervisor for the facility who says the money will help hire more clinicians and aid young people who enter their facility who require mental health and substance use treatment along with learning prosocial skills. The new program will be an extension of the mental health program that is already in place. She refers to it as a 'Justice Diversion Program'.
"Anger management, sometimes it's familial, so we will also provide some family therapy, so we work with the parents as well whenever those kids arrive," she said. "And then we definitely want to transition them back into society and so that's why the life skills component is also important."
Matthew Benbow is the facility administrator. He says the enhancement section of the grant will allow the Nueces County facility to save 10 bed spaces for juveniles who enter their facility. But there's much more included in the grant, including providing GED and vocational programming through Del Mar, parallel to the CCISD school system - to prepare the kids to earn a living.
"Which in many cases is the problem with the transition from juvenile to adult," Benbow said. "Some of our kids we just need to get them to young adulthood alive, and then they start to remember the tools that we gave them. Which is difficult to measure recidivism or success. But we just do it in good faith that it's making a difference all along the way."
The Diversion Program is targeted to begin this November. Staff will start accepting applicants soon. The facility is also looking into a portable building for students to learn vocational skills out of.