DJJ News Briefs: Volume 11, August 28, 2020

Scholarship = Intellectual Currency

Citizen’s Advisory Committee Sends VYCF Youth to College, Awards $30,000

By Karette Fussell

Thirty thousand dollars in scholarship money to support student aspirations in higher education was awarded on July 2 by the Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) to Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) youth at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility (VYCF) in Camarillo. The ceremony was conducted through a Skype ceremony due to COVID-19.

The CAC is a group of volunteers from the local community who assist VYCF with the responsibility of rehabilitating youthful offenders. The CAC also provides academic tutoring on a weekly basis. Their efforts have not been daunted as tutoring via Skype has been instituted to respond to the pandemic.

Academic achievement is an integral part of the mission and philosophy driving DJJ, which is predicated upon the belief in a youth’s ability to grow and change. Providing educational opportunities for transformation is an important part of helping youth prepare for a better future.

CAC Scholarships ensure financial support for students pursuing higher education. Once a student is enrolled in college or vocational study, funds will be directly applied towards tuition, books, and other educational expenses. Fourteen scholarships were awarded by the CAC and one youth is already enrolled in college pending discharge into the community.

Re-entry Coordinator Erika Mutchler, in collaboration with Institutional Parole Agents, Casework Specialists and Tony Chavez, Community Resource Manager are essential to creating intellectual currency for our youth by ensuring community connectivity. Their teamwork in conjunction with VYCF’s teachers, professors from local universities, the Prison Education Program (PEP) and CAC are dedicated to ensuring intellectual currency is exchanged at the highest level and parlayed into a solid foundation for future academic excellence.

Youth Myesha received a total of $7,000 of CAC scholarship funds and stated, “Receiving another scholarship is a blessing. Citizen Advisory Committee has taken time out to evaluate us and comprehend our needs. I plan on using the scholarship money I’ve accumulated over the years toward law school and possibly to attend dance school to pave my way as a dancer while in college.”

“This means that I have a better opportunity to go to school for an education” said, Youth Dominiq, recipient of a $1,000 CAC scholarship.” I am going to go to school for nursing or invest in a real-estate license.”

“It means a lot that I have received such a gift to benefit me in my future and that I actually have the means necessary to further my education to reach my goals of success, said Youth Sophia who received a total $4,800 in scholarship funds from CAC.  “I’m looking forward to having my dream career and these scholarships have made that possible. I plan on using my scholarship to expand my knowledge in coding by attending a vocational coding boot camp. I also plan on going to college to study psychology so I can have my own private practice one day.”

Changing Lives Book Club provides such a space, it exists in the midst of Ventura Youth Correctional Facility and offers youth participants an idyllic opportunity to read books and discuss their impressions, thoughts and feelings while embarking upon a journey of learning among peers. Dr. Leong, a Psychologist at Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, facilitates Changing Lives Book Club on a weekly basis with at least 6 youth participants and now a Book Club #2 is also being facilitated by Dr. Leong due to popular demand. Youth Jordan M. provides an exclusive look into the experience of being a participant in Changing Lives Book Club, writing:

“When someone would mention a book club, the first thought that came to my mind was a group of men sitting in a circle, reading a boring book and using it as an excuse to gossip. So to find out there was one here, I didn’t know what to expect. Come to find out that there was one here that was started by youth. So once I got an offer to join, I figured why not get involved with something and stay productive. And once I joined, I knew why it’s been going strong for about 4 years. I can honestly say that Changing Lives Book Club does something different than other Book Clubs.  For one, it helps us find our voice. I would’ve never thought that I would have been writing a piece for this Book Club, but look at me now.

A lot of us don’t know how to express ourselves positively. It helps form our own opinions and accept others. So coming forces us to interact with people we don’t usually interact with. We also learn and identify treatment concepts like co-dependency which I also came to find out a lot of us struggle with here. Learning about treatment concepts allowed us to develop our emotional regulation and in ways to develop our own evaluative mind. And last, it offers us an escape; an escape from an environment we are not particularly comfortable in. It offers us a calm and relaxing place to go and surround ourselves with people you can relate to. Although there is more that Changing Lives Book Club does, I really don’t know how to put it down in writing. To Changing Lives Book Club, keep going for 4 more years and continue to change lives a book at a time.”

Dr. Leong, like many of the staff at VYCF, is multi-talented and multitasking is merely a part of her daily job duties. The Integrated Behavior Treatment Model (IBTM) drives treatment and rehabilitation at VYCF and emphasizes positive reinforcement over punishment which encourages innovation in finding and creating opportunities to support prosocial behavior. The philosophical underpinnings of IBTM support starting where the youth is and the meeting of the minds between staff and youth creates opportunities for youth to navigate rehabilitation, generate hope and accelerate healing as youth Jordan M. so eloquently describes in his experience of the Changing Lives Book Club.