Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, left, thanks Montgomery County Chief Public Defender Keir Bradford-Grey for her work on the Back on Track program during a press conference in Norristown Tuesday, June 24, 2014. County officials announced a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA to create the Back on Track program designed to help first-time offenders in the juvenile justice system through mentoring. In the background are Montgomery County Commissioners Leslie Richards, Bruce L. Castor Jr. and Chairman Josh Shapiro. Photo by Gene Walsh/Times Herald Staff.
NORRISTOWN — The Montgomery County commissioners joined Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA and the public defender’s and district attorney’s offices Tuesday to announce they are looking for volunteers to become mentors to juvenile offenders in the hope of keeping them out of the criminal justice system and ultimately out of jail.
“Working with our chief law enforcement officers in the county on both sides of the equation, Keir (Bradford-Gray) and Risa (Ferman), we’ve recognized that when it comes to our youth we have to do better than simply incarcerating them for minor crimes,” commissioners’ Chairman Josh Shapiro said at a press conference. “We have to give them opportunities for mentorship and for success.”
The Back on Track Program is a partnership between the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office and Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA that partners juvenile offenders with volunteer mentors who will, it is hoped, have a lasting effect on the “littles,” steering them away from a life of crime.
Right now nine juveniles are matched with mentors, and there are 20 still waiting to be matched. Within the next two years, the program is expected to have up to 60 “littles” at one time.
“We’re here today because we need mentors,” District Attorney Risa Ferman said. “We have 20 kids on the waiting list who could use positive mentors. If you could get this message out that there is this program and we could use your help, that’s going to be the best outcome from today.”
The volunteer process has five parts, according to a fact sheet handed out at the press conference. First, candidates must attend an orientation session, where they will learn what kind of commitment they are looking at. Next they will need to complete an application that includes a background check and references. Third, candidates will be scheduled for an in-person interview. Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA will evaluate the application, and finally, if accepted, volunteers will take part in ongoing training.
“It’s not like we just match up a number with a number. We want to make matches that are sustained, that will grow,” said Garfield Jackson, manager of partnership development for Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA.
An orientation session will be held at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell on Aug. 13 between 5 and 7 p.m. Anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer can email Jackson at [email protected].
Keir Bradford-Gray, the county’s chief public defender, said his office is the referral source for the program.
“We use an assessment tool to kind of carefully consider what kids we’re referring to this program,” she said.
Before referring a young offender to the program, the public defender’s office will look at their offense, if they’ve had extreme exposure to trauma, and what kind of household, she said.
Ferman said working with the public defender office has given her the chance to help create the criteria that need to be met for a young offender to be referred to the program, and not everyone is eligible.
“If you follow these cases there’s certainly going to be some juveniles who commit such serious acts that we’re not going to want to agree to use this sort of program for them,” Ferman said. “But I would say the lion’s share of the cases that we see in juvenile court are of the nature that this sort of a program would be acceptable.”
The program is available for offenders between the ages of 10 and 15 who have committed minor offenses.