Turning kids around
Program for at- risk youth merits expansion
If you look it up in a dictionary, a diversion is a turning aside of something or someone from its course. On Pittsburgh’s North Side, there are some special diversions going on.
Two years into a quasi- judicial pilot program that seeks to divert people from a life of crime and keep them out of the “system,” we’re seeing success in an initiative that should be emulated throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
Run by a partnership of police, probation officers, and community leaders, the program identifies then directs young, first- time and petty offenders to six months of intensive intervention that sometimes comes in the form of counseling, field trips, community service, workshops and perhaps even job hunting. Participation is voluntary.
The pilot program launched two years ago and has been confined to the city’s North Side. Statistics provided by the nonprofit Foundation of Hope indicate that the effort may be stemming recidivism. Of 60 participants, four have committed another
offense during the two- year period, the agency reports. Fingers crossed that the participants stay in the right lane over the long haul. The initial “trouble” ranged from drug offenses and disorderly conduct to shoplifting and loitering.
This collaborative effort banks on cooperation of stakeholders at every turn in the justice system: police, prosecutors, judges, probation officers, nonprofit workers, and, of course, the program participants.
For many people who hover on the cusp of trouble, especially young people, the criminal justice system becomes a funnel with gravity tugging downward. Diverting someone from this funnel to nowhere but deeper trouble is good for everyone.
The North Side pilot project is running on an annual budget of less than $ 300,000 which came from the Pittsburgh Foundation, Buhl Foundation, Dollar Bank and the Pittsburgh Presbytery. Enough success has been demonstrated to entice other community groups, businesses, civic leaders and philanthropies to follow suit.