LANSING, Mich. – A program that seeks community-based alternatives to the practice of locking up youth offenders or placing them in rehabilitation facilities outside their homes has come to communities in Michigan.
Funding from Ballmer Group to Youth Advocate Programs Inc., is helping with startup costs.
“There is more consensus than ever that youth incarceration is part of a failed system — that it’s dangerous, results in poor outcomes and is very expensive,” said Jeff Fleischer, Youth Advocate Programs chief executive.
Program grants for one year were provided to probation departments, juvenile courts and juvenile justice programs in California, Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina and Illinois.
Youth Advocate Programs is hiring and training neighborhood-based advocates to work with youth, parents and guardians.