Volunteers for Youth Justice (VYJ) is a volunteer-based, community-supported non-profit organization whose mission is to ‘provide a community caring for children, youth, and families in crisis.’
In 1981, the Juvenile Court of Caddo Parish was overloaded with a significant number of youths. Initially arrested for minor offenses, they were “falling through the cracks, ” only to later become repeat offenders. During that same time, several women from Shreveport’s First Presbyterian Church were attending a women’s conference in Montreat, North Carolina. Jim Watkins, a Presbyterian minister, taught a seminar, “Behind Closed Doors – A Workshop on Criminal and Juvenile Justice”, highlighting a program that was established in Atlanta, Georgia to address similar youth challenges.
Carolyn W. Beaird, Marjorie B. Winkler, Lea Johnson, and Babs Roggero enthusiastically returned to Shreveport to share with other women from their Church, their pastor, Dr. John Rogers, and Suzette Kincer-Haley, the Church’s Director of Christian education, their hopes of establishing such a program in Shreveport.
These forward-thinking individuals recognized the need to break this destructive cycle by assisting the Juvenile Court, through the use of volunteers, to divert first-time offenders. By providing these youths with an opportunity to develop a sense of responsibility for their actions and teaching new positive behaviors, they were given a chance to begin again. Their joint efforts became the catalyst that launched Volunteers for Youth Justice (VYJ), formerly known as the Shreveport Juvenile Justice Program.
Volunteers for Youth Justice of Today
VYJ has been built on the foundation of diversion programming to include advocacy, life-skill training, and mentoring experiences for abused, neglected, and at-risk children throughout Northwest Louisiana. Today, VYJ has six primary programs:
- CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates)
- Youth Programs consist of GEMS & GENTS-Youth Mentoring Programs and Leadership Academy, JUMPSTART, Teen Court, and Conflict Resolution.
- Court Programs that consist of FINS (Families in Need of Services) and Truancy.
- TASC (Truancy Assessment Service Center) K through 5 school attendance.
- TBRI® (Trust-Based Relational Intervention) Trauma-focused services.
- MCC (My Community Cares) Targeted services for families in the areas that statistically have shown the most evidence of abuse and neglect.
VYJ has a proven track record of success. It is a story of dreams and possibilities. Through the vision of a few active and caring individuals, the unwavering support of the Judges and court staff, and the groundswell of compassionate volunteers, thousands of our community’s children have been given a light of hope for a brighter tomorrow.