Executive Summary 2000

The Children’s Coalition, Inc. has continued to maintain its partnership with the Department of Juvenile Justice, Governor's Front Porch Initiative & Housing Partnership, Inc., Palm Beach County, the Department of Children and Families, Law Enforcement, and the City of West Palm Beach. We provided our arts to education to work program to the following entities:

• Grupo Folklore Latino
• City of Riviera Beach Weed and Seed Program
• Roosevelt Full Service Center
• Belle Glade Youth Enrichment Academy
• Safe Harbor Runaway Shelter
• Haitian Center for Family Service
• Pleasant City Multicultural Center
• West Palm Beach Housing Authority

We worked with 503 youths throughout the year, introducing them to the arts through cultural and social activities. We have three new goals for the year: starting a film production company for at-risk and disadvantaged youth, ages six through 18; beginning a transitional program for youth coming out of the juvenile justice system; and providing these youth with the most advanced technologic learning capability, possible. Hence, we will continue to fulfill the mission of prevention, diversion and intervention as a community based program and maintain our commitment to reduce the recidivist rate.

The Need

According to the Department of Juvenile Justice, approximately 2,000 adjudicated youth are in the system in Palm Beach County, at any given time. The Office of the State Attorney reports that approximately 8,500 youths are referred to that office for prosecution or diversion for a violation of Florida criminal law, yearly. There are very few programs that address their personal, social and cultural issues and then assist with mainstreaming them after they have encountered trouble with the law. A lot of these children are rejected by other organizations or have simply been abandoned by the system, their schools, society and their families.

We negotiate contracts with the Department of Juvenile Justice, Governor’s Front Porch Initiative & Housing Partnership, Inc., Division of Cultural Affairs, the City of West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County and private foundations. We are negotiating with private enterprise, to access a facility large enough to accommodate our endeavor. This will enable us to develop programming that is specific to each of our activities.

We acquired 24 computers, dedicated to computer literacy and Internet instructional training. We presently have on hand 13 sewing machines, that students can use to learn fashion design. We are attempting to acquire 27 additional sewing machines. The facility will house a professional portrait studio and film set design will become a reality, going hand in hand with film production.

We place emphasis on a strong work ethic through our apprentice and intern program, where participants can further develop their reading and writing skills and raise their grade point averages. Additional funding is also needed for these programs due to our students coming from low-income households. We pay them on a part time basis, whenever possible. We have practiced this since 1995, with a total of 112 youth rotating through the apprenticeship component. The general public is welcome to visit our present facility.

Please contact us so we can coordinate a site visit at our 529 Clematis Street facility, Suite #5, 2nd floor, located in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Our matching funds were provided by:

• City of West Palm Beach (Law Enforcement Forfeiture Funds)
• Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners
• Forrest Lattner Foundation
• Publix Charities
• Division of Cultural Affairs
• SunFest
• Palm Beach County Cultural Council
• Palm Beach County Weed and Seed
• Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
• Lost Tree Village Foundation
• Target Stores
• WalMart Stores
• Jim Exline Campaign

Student participants videotaped and photographed at each event.

Field trips have been provided to the following locations:

• Skydive America in Pahokee
• Lion Country Safari
• Governmental Center
• Galleries, Inc. in downtown West Palm Beach
• Martin Luther King Memorial Ceremony, in Curry Park
• NARP Festival 2000, in Bryant Park
• SunFest 2000
• Loxahatchee Preserve Nature Center on Northlake Boulevard

We fulfilled contracts for still and video photography with our youth assisting us:

• SunFest
• Grupo Folklore Latino
• Quantum Foundation

The following is a list of immediate needs for the programs we have created:

1. Name tags and T.C.C.I. T-shirts for the students to wear on field trips
2. Sewing/quilting supplies
3. AdditionalHigh-8/digital video equipment
4. 35mm camera lenses for special effects and backdrop equipment for our studio
5. Special effects video software and additional editing equipment
6. 15 passenger van

The following items will be produced by the students given additional funding (we have invested in four new sewing machines and have received nine donated by the Palm Beach County School Board):

• Clothing items
• Place mats
• Linen napkins
• Oven mitts soap dishes
• Pillows and pillowcases
• Tennis racquet covers

In addition to maintaining our present programs, we continue to reach the following goals:

1. Creating a web site where children will be allowed to participate collectively in the making of a publication for the community on the Internet
2. Implementing an actual TV, film and still portraiture production studio
3. Open a retail store where children can learn about marketing a business and sell products they make
4. Placing more emphasis on the apprenticeship component of our program by providing more employment or employment contacts for teenagers
5. Field trips: to wildlife preserves, aquariums, college campuses, museums, zoos, concerts, etc., inside and outside of county
6. Create college scholarship program, working with universities
7. Youth forum where children can express their concerns
8. Computer classes that will aid children to overcome literacy problems
9. Provide a pool of mentors comprised of professionals to work with youth, such as prosecutors and public defenders

We make every effort to provide services that will enable our children to become successful and access technical skills.

College Proposal

The next phase of our program, concerning success for the participants, is to serve as a conduit or liaison for our children who desire to further their professional education by entering into college. Again, we have identified that due to not being properly introduced to the world of the college campus, at-risk and delinquent, first and repeat offender youth have no desire to attend or any awareness of what college is all about. Upon provision of such field trips for these youth, their attitudes of indifference change to a desire to participate and attend university.

The Children’s Coalition, Inc. (TCCI) would like to help these successes along by communicating with colleges in order to build relationships between college students and at-risk, first and repeat offender youth through internship and mentor programs. We have discovered that many of these youth are financially disadvantaged. With proper encouragement, they may qualify for a scholarship or financial aid based on their talent. TCCI is aware of colleges that offer trade programs such as television and film production, electrical and auto mechanics. Many of these youth would be voluntarily interested in such programs, were they made aware of them.

Community Transitional Program

After care programs are for children released from the Department of Juvenile Justice programs back into society. TCCI has worked with children during their residential program and wants the opportunity to help with their transitioning back to society, by initializing contact with the community where the youth is returning. Our organization would like to contact various colleges and universities in an effort to access additional support networks for the youth. We believe that this effort would aid our mutual goal of a reduction in the recidivist rate. TCCI would be more than willing to maintain contact with the college and after care counselor and track results, long term. The only cost to the after care program is cooperation and communication with our organization. Man-hours for tracking and contacts would be absorbed by our organization.

Sincerely,
Carlton G. Cartwright