Overview
The Choice Program is a community-based, family-centered case management approach to delinquency prevention and youth development. Focusing on providing support in at-risk environments, The Choice Program empowers youth and engages families through a multitude of services adapted to individual needs. The program seeks to foster resiliency in young people by promoting protective factors to mitigate risk in their daily lives.
The Choice Program employs college graduates from diverse backgrounds and fields to serve in a one-year position as a Caseworker. The commitment provides Caseworkers extensive training, professional experience, and opportunities for personal and career development. Recognized by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Choice Caseworkers receive an AmeriCorps Education Award upon completion of contract. AmeriCorps' core values of "getting things done" and "strengthening communities" directly align with Choice's community-based approach. While serving as advocates and mentors, enthusiastic and dedicated Choice staff develop professional, caring relationships with youth.
The Choice Program, a not-for-profit organization, is administered by The Shriver Center at The University of Maryland, Baltimore County ( UMBC ). The Shriver Center strives to engage the strengths and resources of higher education in finding creative solutions to some of the most urgent social challenges.
Recognized locally and nationally as a cost-effective, outcomes-based program, Choice has served over 18,000 youth and families throughout communities in Maryland. The Choice Program model has been successfully replicated in Hartford, Connecticut in 1996, San Diego, California in 1996, and Syracuse, New York in 2003. Evaluations of these programs demonstrate a similar impact to the results in Maryland: reduction in delinquent behavior and reducing out-of-home placements.
History
Mark Shriver, son of Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Choice program in 1987 as a part of the Children and Adolescent Health Advocacy Project (CAHAP) in Baltimore City. Two years later, Choice became a not-for-profit organization of the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In 1991, Choice received funding from the Department of Juvenile Services (formerly the Department of Juvenile Justice) and began what is now a longstanding collaborative relationship. The Baltimore City-based Choice Program expanded to Baltimore County and Prince George's County in 1992, Anne Arundel County and Montgomery County in 1997,and St. Mary's County in 2002. Choice Jobs, a youth employment training program, was established in Baltimore City in 1993.
From 1993 to 2002, The Choice Middle Schools Program provided early intervention to middle school students across Maryland. Based within the school, The Choice Middle Schools Program sought to improve student attendance and classroom conduct. The Program was initially funded by the Maryland State Department of Education, and later by local jurisdictions.
The Choice Program Model
In each community-based location, a team of enthusiastic, dedicated Caseworkers manage a caseload of up to 30 youth. As a team, Caseworkers provide holistic services to participants in their schools, homes, and communities. The team model allows Choice to offer year-round services, seven days a week, to youth in need of intensive community supervision. Caseworkers share their training and knowledge to help parents and youth advocate for themselves in the educational and juvenile justice system. Providing links to other resources available in the community, Caseworkers help participants create a network of social support.
Families are engaged in the development of an individualized service plan with Choice. Self-identified goals are set and reviewed to ensure participants receive appropriate counseling, make progress in their education, and engage in ongoing activities such as sports, hobbies, jobs, or community service. These activities serve to increase empathy, self-confidence, and self-efficacy. In spite of the challenges they face, youth are encouraged to identify their own strengths and positive supports to empower them to achieve their goals. Youth and family involvement in The Choice Program is approximately six months, during which time The Choice Program provides the following services:
- Daily face-to-face contact
- Informal counseling
- Educational support and in-school advocacy
- Individual and group workshops
- Structured after-school and weekend activities
- Employment skills development
- Linkage and referral to community resources
- 24-hour crisis intervention
- Curfew monitoring
Program Recognition
The Choice Program has received local and national acclaim for effective services. The following are links to sites recognizing the success of Choice:
Cited in ADVOCASEY "Documenting Programs that Work for Kids and Families," Spring 2003
www.aecf.org/publications/advocasey/spring2003/choice/choice1.htm
"Anthony had a problem controlling his anger back them and had gotten in with the wrong crowd, he admits. Today, he credits Lori Leonard (his Choice Caseworker).with helping him turn himself around. 'They believed in me when I didn't,' Anthony says.
Now 23, Anthony is a junior at Bowie State University majoring in Computer Science. 'I'm living proof, with the right help, you can do it,' he says."
Cited in '05 Parents Voices: "Parents with Children in the Maryland Juvenile Justice System Speak Out"
www.acy.org/web_data/parentfinal.pdf
Praise for Non-Residential Rehabilitation Programs
"By far the most satisfied group of parents in the focus group were those whose children had been referred to intensive non-residential counseling programs. Parents were particularly pleased with the CHOICE Program operated by the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
'I'd have to say that the CHOICE Program is the only thing that turned my kid around,' one parent reported. 'My son, for three years he didn't smile. He didn't smile.He didn't show any emotions. Then he got into this group, the CHOICE Program, and he smiled. He's open [now], he's talkative, he's alive.'
'My son is in the CHOICE Program and girl, they are amazing,' exalted one mother. 'My son loves them. You talk about going places. They go go-cart riding, movies, you name it.' Parents also praised CHOICE for providing incentives for youth to stay in school and work hard towards their goals."
Gap Analysis Report Fiscal Year 05 Cited as a "Model Diversion Program in Maryland"
www.djs.state.md.us/pdf/gap/mdrptchapter4.pdf
"The evaluation revealed a strong and statistically significant difference between the Choice group and the control group on both number and seriousness of arrests while in the program."
Recognized in Model Program Guide in 1995 and 2004
www.dsgonline.com/mpg_non_flash/
WebForm4_Demo_Supplemental_Detail.aspx?id=38
"76 percent of the Choice youth had no arrests within 6 months, compared with 55 % of the control youth. Somewhat fewer Choice youth (24 percent compared to 30 percent) had been arrested for medium or major offenses." |
