YAP NJ Southern/Central Region Newsletter

June 2014

Regional Director's Corner/Comments

I'm excited to share with you YAP's recent newsletter highlighting a newly released brief by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice which found that 86% of juvenile justice-involved youth who receive YAP's services remain arrest free and 93% remain living in the community. It has been validating to have John Jay College confirm that we truly do work safely and successfully with high risk juvenile justice involved youth from within the community. Our hope is that communities will choose to achieve the best outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system by providing more services to them in their own homes and relying less on youth incarceration.

The newsletter also highlights an updated look at the growing body of evidence that supports YAP's success in working in vulnerable youth in the behavioral health, child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

As you know, all of our efforts are focused on caring for and supporting kids safely within their homes and community. Since we know we're not alone in that conviction, we recently launched the "Safely Home Campaign," a collaborative effort to partner with like-minded organizations and government agencies to bring kids safely home from congregate care, and especially disproportionate minority contact and reinvesting the savings to support youth in the community, improve community safety and outcomes for youth. Our current partners, include the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, First Focus, the Forum for Youth Investment, the National Collaboration for Youth in this effort and we're hoping your agency will consider joining as a partner, too.

Thanks for your continued collaboration and support, and please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas.

Stephanie A. Moore, MAS
Southern/Central NJ Regional Director of Operations
P:856-546-3701 F:856-546-3705 M:856-630-1691

Gloucester:
After School Family Showcases

Paulsboro Young and Powerful group had its Family Showcase on Friday, March 28, 2014. Each youth's family attended the event. Our youth presented on various projects they completed such as art work related to Goya, DaVinci, Van Gogh, Dali' s Surrealism, cubism art form and more from their virtual vacation through the world of "Art." Each youth participated in a play called "To do or not to do" based on all the skills they learned in regards to peer pressure through their Phoenix Gang Prevention work.

Glassboro Young and Powerful group had its Family Showcase on Friday, March 21, 2014. The youth prepared an agenda for the showcase with a hostess to keep the afternoon flowing. The youth displayed all the great art work they completed, especially their Van Gogh work made from various homemade paints such as pudding paint, skittle paint and milk paint.

Cumberland/Cape May: "Life Skills in Motion" with Annie Mae Jeffers

YAP provides a great amount of services that help the youth and families of its communities. Here at the Cumberland/Cape May office, we have a veteran in the field, Annie Mae Jeffers. She has been with YAP for 25 years. She has been very instrumental in going above and beyond the calling of help for our local families.

Recently she came to us with a proposal to help the youth put the Ansell Casey Life Skills to work. She wants to teach the youth basic living skills such as independent living, proper management of time and money, use of public transportation, how to read a bus schedule, and how to use Chafee funds for deposits and utilities. She will also work with the youth on personal household skills like sewing, cooking, and cleaning. Even more, they will practice community engagement, meeting the mayor and performing community service cleanup. This program will be called, "Life Skills in Motion with Annie Mae Jeffers."

Mrs. Jeffers is a beautiful role model that takes great passion in the work she does here. It is a great honor to work with her and see her legacy grow here in our YAP community as well as our youth's community. She reaches many youth and helps them change their biographies. It is our treasure and honor to have such a person aboard our team.

Annie Mae Jeffers

In this Issue

Regional Director Corner

Family Showcases

Life Skills in Motion

Atlantic: JDAI Award Ceremony

On March 25, 2014, The Atlantic County Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI) Community Engagement Committee held its First Annual Atlantic County Community Engagement Award ceremony at Kelsey's Atlantic City. The event was emceed by Atlantic County Program Director, Lamont Fauntleroy.

The awards were presented by members of the Atlantic County Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI) Community Engagement Committee to youth and adults who have been nominated for civic, education, and athletic achievements during 2013.

Recipients included Raquel White (Sports), Mia Concepcion (Civic), Tracy Parker (Civic), Shay Steele (Education), and Darlene Lathan (Education), all of Atlantic City, Coach Bryant DeShields, Mays Landing (Sports), Felix Contreras, Atlantic City (Education), Joseph Beaman, Williamstown (Community Leader of the Year). Mr. Beaman won Community Leader of the Year Award.

The mission of the JDAI Atlantic County is to provide awareness to the Atlantic County community on minority over-representation in the juvenile justice system by establishing a trusting collaborative partnership through community engagement.

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YAP NJ Leadership

President

Dana Newman

Vice-President

Lynette Connor

Regional Director of Operations - Southern/Central Region

Stephanie Moore

Regional Director of Operations -
North/Metro Region

Fred Fogg

QI Director

Carolyn Caprioni