Community Justice Support Services was added to the Human Services Departments suite of social services in July 2011 to provide prevention and intervention services to youth and adults who are at-risk within the Criminal Justice system.
The intent is to provide comprehensive, case management and wrap-around services to enable youth/adult probationers to be successful in the community, and, correspondingly, reduce their risk of reoffending.
The program will serve as the bridge between the criminal justice systems and social services to provide a safety net for our community.
This program is being introduced as a pilot project to initially serve the East Valley and a small number of participants. Successful implementation on a small scale will provide a solid foundation for expanding the program to serve more people and a broader geographic area.
The centerpiece of our proposed Community Justice Services Program will be the use of community justice support (CJS) specialists to support individuals and their families with intensive, comprehensive, community-based services. A community justice support specialist will serve as a mentor, coordinator of services, and system navigator.
The specialist will concentrate on building a sustained relationship with the participant and his/her family. The specialist will also be a support to probation officers (if one is assigned), serving as a coordinating partner to assure services required as a condition of probation are incorporated into the community support plan. The immediate and intensive engagement with the individual and his/her family will support adults, youth and their families, as they move individually and collectively through stages of behavior change.
This program will promote collaboration and a uniform, integrated service delivery approach among law enforcement, schools, housing, transportation, and behavioral health service providers. Cross-system collaborations encourage and facilitate more effective use of scarce public resources.
The department's goal will be to work collectively with other agencies and the local community to coordinate, plan, and develop services to enrich and further develop the lives of program participants.
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