Partner Agency Highlight

Tidewater Youth Services

Program Funded: Franklin School-Based Case Management Program

Location: J.P. King Middle School

Number of Students Served in 2018: 21

Housed at J.P. King, Jr. Middle School, the School-Based Program has an established record of positive outcomes with youth deemed at high risk for delinquency and dropping out of school. Enrollment is based on several risk factors and predictors of delinquency, including possible retention in the same grade in school, failure of core courses, inappropriate school behavior, chronic absenteeism, poor grades, and need for supportive services. Twenty-one students participated in the 2018-19 program that included an Academic Survival Skills/Building Your Study Skills Workshop to prepare the youths and their parents for the academic year.

The program tackles two primary goals with specific actions. The first goal is to prevent involvement in the criminal justice system. This is accomplished by increasing family problem-solving skills, engaging in pro-social activities, coordinating participation in school extracurricular activities, coordinating services with community recreation and the Commission's Outdoor Adventure Program, conducting Aggression Replacement Training and increasing supervision by parents or guardians.

The second goal is promotion to the next grade level. This is accomplished by providing tutorial services as needed, teaching appropriate study habits, providing educational assistance with appropriate referrals, monitoring daily progress in classrooms, monitoring attendance and providing outreach when truancy occurs.

Program youth participated in the annual Summer Enrichment Program this year. Highlights of the program included the annual Chesapeake Bay charter fishing trip, the fourth annual Amtrak trip to Richmond, and a mountain bike outing. A highlight for the program throughout the school year is maintaining garden boxes on the J.P. King Middle School grounds.