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OGLE COUNTY RECEIVES $300,000 FOUNDATION GRANT

 OREGON, IL – Ogle County officials on Tuesday announced the receipt a $300,000 grant to expand a coordinated effort to hold young offenders accountable for their actions and provide rehabilitation opportunities that help keep local communities safe.

The grant was awarded through the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice initiative.   Illinois is one of four states participating in Models for Change, which helps accelerate promising models for juvenile justice reform, and Ogle County is one of five demonstration sites expanding community-based alternatives to confinement in Illinois.

“No community is immune to the problem of crime by youngsters,” said Ogle County State’s Attorney John B. “Ben” Roe, who is Chair of the Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council.  “But when a community works together to hold those offenders accountable for their crimes and tries to help juveniles change their behaviors, our neighborhoods are safer, and our youngsters are more likely to grow into responsible adults.”

 “Too often, crime becomes a way of life for young people,” said Ogle County Circuit Judge Kathleen Kauffmann, who is assigned to juvenile court.  “But if we can intervene early by providing mental health and addiction treatment where needed and make certain they stay in school, we can put many of them on a path to success in life.”

 Created in 2001, the Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council includes representatives of law enforcement, the courts, probation, schools, and community-based agencies that deal with juvenile delinquency and its consequences. 

 “This coordinated effort is creating a county-wide plan to help prevent and deter juvenile crime, and it embraces the principles of Balanced and Restorative Justice model, which recognizes that victims, offenders and communities all have a stake in the justice process,” said Sherri Egan, Executive Director of the Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council.  “Our young people are being held accountable for their crimes.  By helping with rehabilitation and assisting victims, we become a stronger, safer community.”

The MacArthur Foundation first recognized the Ogle County Juvenile Justice Council with a $50,000 Models for Change grant in 2006, and the new $300,000 grant will build on that progress over the next two years.

 The new MacArthur Foundation Models for Change grant will be used to accomplish the following: 

• Protocol and procedures will be updated to improve screening  of youth at the earliest point of contact in the system.  The screening will provide a better understanding of the youth’s situation and will help match them with appropriate treatment choices.
• A part-time Balanced and Restorative Justice coordinator will be hired to conduct more victim/offender conferences that promote a dialogue between victims and offenders.  The conferences address the needs of the victim and hold juvenile offenders accountable for their actions without costly incarceration.

• Parents and others will be able to access a new directory of community services available to assist youth in the county.  The directory will be added to the Council’s website (http://www.oglejjc.org), and staff will be able to update the website when needed.

• Progress will be made on a wide variety of projects aimed at increasing community understanding of juvenile justice issues.  Some, such as the use of peer juries to work through conflicts among teens, will be done in conjunction with schools.  Others will work with faith-based and service organizations to encourage mentoring of youth by adults, and others will further cooperation and communications among the variety of government agency workers who come in contact with troubled youth but may not have an opportunity now to work as a team focused on each child.

• Outside experts will provide advice and look for ways to enhance the quality of court services in Ogle County.

 “Our society recognizes that young people and adults are different, and our criminal justice system must recognize that, too,” said Greg Martin, Director of Court Services for Ogle County.  “When young people get in trouble with the law, they must be held accountable for their actions, but we also should try to help them change.  If we don’t address their problems now, we’ll see them time and again in the adult criminal justice system, and costs to their victims and to taxpayers will be much greater.”

 “Ogle County is setting a great example for other rural counties throughout the nation,” said Diane Geraghty, director of the Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Center in Chicago, lead entity for the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change initiative in Illinois.  “By working together, you are developing a system that makes sense and works well for Ogle County.  However, you are doing much more.  By charting this course, you’ll be a resource and inspiration to other counties, and your leadership can help young people in Ogle County, as well as those many miles away, change the course of their lives.”