Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc. is a private, nonprofit, community-based youth services agency, dedicated to providing needed services to youth ages eight through seventeen, and their families in western Arkansas. Do South reached out to Allen Wright, Mentoring Coordinator, to learn more.
DS: Tell us about the primary services Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc. extends to our community.
CJS programs impact our community by offering a multitude of programs that bring a wide range of benefits to our youth and families. Many in our community know and are affected by programs that directly affect the juvenile at-risk or at-promise youth we serve. These programs include Casework, Girls Circle and Boys Council support groups, Active Parenting classes, After-Hours Supervision, Community Service, Electronic Monitoring and our Western Arkansas Youth Shelter, (WAYS) located in Cecil, Arkansas, which provides emergency shelter care available 24 hours a day for up to sixty days. We also have new programs that are impacting our community in many more ways each day! In our Workforce Readiness Program, Aaron Richardson, Program Coordinator, provides youth with job readiness training and academic assistance to receive their diploma or GED and transition to technical, vocational, or a two-or-four-year college or university. We also offer Support Groups and Life Skill Classes to educate older teenagers on basic skills to help them transition into the adult world. Finally, our Strengthening Families Program (SFP) consists of parenting skills, children’s life skills and family skills training courses.
DS: What is the greatest hurdle Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc. is facing currently?
One is finding adult mentors in today’s busy world who are willing to spend time with youth one-on-one. Exceptions to face-to-face contact can even be made, such as telephone or Zoom calls or FaceTime connections, while allowing our youth the opportunity to develop a relationship with a positive role model. Today’s teens are fully capable and willing to relate to others through technology, and mentors can provide the positive encouragement they may not receive through their normal social media contacts. We also seek to raise additional funds to begin construction on the new Clay Roper Western Arkansas Youth Shelter in Mulberry, Arkansas. We are over halfway to our goal of $1.7 million!
DS: How can members of our community who would like to volunteer or make a financial donation do so?
January is National Mentoring Month, so it’s the perfect time join our CJS Operation Positive Direction mentoring program! The purpose is to provide adult volunteers the opportunity to experience one-on-one mentoring and role modeling for a young person. Mentors help our youth ages ten to seventeen by guiding them to make good choices, work hard, and care for their neighbors in need. Mentors play an important role in a young person’s life, particularly if a parent is absent. A mentor’s involvement in the life of a youth can brighten their future, help maintain healthy families, and promote more vibrant communities. If you are ready to become a CJS mentor, please contact Allen Wright, Marketing Manager and Mentoring Coordinator, at 479-785-4031 or email, awright@cjsinc.org. Remember, every youth is just one caring adult away from being a success story.
1606 South J Street, Fort Smith, AR 72901
479.785.4031
cjsinc.org
Below is a letter written by Kelly Hammond Associate Director of Juvenile Services, to Allen Wright, Comprehensive Juvenile Services Marketing Manager and Mentoring Coordinator, regarding one of their mentor connections.
Dear Allen,
Now that Shane Smith is completely off probation and has continued to do well, I wanted to share my heartfelt thanks with you and his mentor, David Israel.
I was looking back at my February 2021 assessment with Shane. When I asked him to tell me some bad things about his life his only answer was, “I don’t have a dad!” He was also distraught because his girlfriend’s parents were not allowing her to see him. He mainly talked about missing being around her father and talked a lot about his career and the way her father did things.
Shane was raised by a single mom, and at the time of our interview he had met his father for the first and last time at the age of five. His father had multiple sclerosis, would call mom three to, but mostly just to talk to her. Mom was more than overwhelmed when I met her, and with Shane’s high energy personality, she had lost control. Shane had some of the worst drug-related charges of any juvenile I’ve supervised in years. He was immediately likeable, but I knew he was going to give us a run for our money! Of course, Judge Zuerker was more than happy to order mentoring for him after she read over the assessment report.
On the surface, you might not think Shane and David would be a good match. Their “likes” appeared very different, but they both loved fishing, cars, etc. It’s funny remembering the first time they met. David wearing regular styled adult male clothing and Shane with his wild mix of style, including lots of rings, nail polish, sometimes a headband… I do remember David saying to him, in a teasing way, that he might need to lose the nail polish! Shane didn’t seem to mind. Over the next few months Shane became completely attached to David and counted on him for advice on every subject imaginable. David was always willing to talk to him and encouraged him with fixing up an old car, things that would keep Shane away from drugs and certainly people that would have harmed him. Shane continued to go to outpatient treatment and therapy, and every month he became more mature and more self -confident. He had been expelled from school for a year, so he needed all the attention David provided.
Last summer when Shane’s dad passed away, he went to the funeral in Paragould with his mom. He called me on the way there because he was struggling with all the feelings about his father. David gave him some advice, which was to talk to his dad privately when he was at the funeral home viewing. He gave Shane the therapeutic tool he absolutely needed. Shane told me many times that he never plans to lose contact with David, no matter where life takes him as an adult. Shane has successfully worked a full-time job and walked away from the lifestyle that would have ended with an overdose or prison. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you his mentor, David, saved his life.
Please share this with David because I want him to know how much we appreciate him, and I need at least a dozen more just like him—today! Thank you, Allen, for putting these two together.
Kelly Hammond
Associate Director of Juvenile Services
Sebastian County, Arkansas
