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Monday, July 14, 2014
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Juvenile justice training underway Program to teach DeKalb County officials how to screen at-risk youth By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Officials from around DeKalb County will begin training this week for a screening program designed to help rehabilitate delinquent youth. Orbis’ Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument is a tool already used by every probation department in the state. It determines whether children are at low, moderate or high risk of committing a crime and then recommends different ser-
Obama looks for support on crisis
vices to help them turn their lives around. Several local police departments will now be using the same tool, thanks to a $81,200 one-year grant the DeKalb County Juvenile Justice Council received from the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission. The grant will cover the $15,000 four-day web-based training. Excess money will go toward the hiring of three part-time employees who will be trained in a more intensive assessment that involves working with the youths’ families.
The council would have started using the screening tool earlier had it been in operation, said Donna Moulton, DeKalb County Juvenile Justice Council chairwoman. Judge Ron Matekaitis started the council in the early 2000’s when he was the DeKalb County State’s Attorney. When he became a judge, no one took over leadership of the council until current State’s Attorney Richard Schmack revised the bylaws, allowing the council to continue as its own entity. This is the first time one risk
assessment tool will be used throughout the county to help at-risk youth. Previously, some local police agencies would conduct their own pre-screening, Moulton said. DeKalb, Sycamore, Sandwich and Genoa police departments and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office all have signed on to use the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument screening. “Everybody was doing their own thing,” Moulton said. “Our hope is, the further along we get, we’ll all use the same
[program] so it’s consistent. “If we have the same terms and ideas about youth behaviors, then maybe we can be more effective going forward.” The four-day training this week is being split into two parts: The first two days will train 13 law enforcement officials, as well as 28 DeKalb County officials. Thirteen people will participate in the last two days, said Peggy Carey, DeKalb County Juvenile Justice Council program coordinator. The training will teach participants what the tool is and
why it’s important to assess a youth’s risks. Based on what areas a youth is found to be at risk – such as drug use or poverty – they are pointed to appropriate services to enhance chances of being successful, Carey said. Carey said one of the most common areas of risk tends to be in a youth’s attitudes and skills, which involve how they deal with their problems. “This is a research-validated tool used internationally,” Carey said. “We know that it works.”
EXPIRATION DATES DeKalb’s TIF districts approaching retirement
Seeks governors help on immigrant kids By ALICIA A. CALDWELL and STEVE PEOPLES The Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell met privately with dozens of governors Sunday as the Obama administration tried to get support from the leaders of states that will host thousands of the Central American children who have crossed the Mexican border on their own since Oct. 1. Governors of both parties expressed concerns about the cost to states, including providing public education for the children, according to those who attended the meeting. Burwell left the meeting through a side door without talking to reporters. “Our citizens already Colorado feel burdened Gov. John Hickenlooper by all kinds of challenges. They don’t want to see another burden come into their state,” said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat. “However we deal with the humanitarian aspects of this, we’ve got to do it in the most cost-effective way possible.” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad were among the most vocal Republican critics. They seized on the administration’s plans to place the children with friends or family members without checking on their immigration status. Under current law, immigrant children from countries that don’t border the United States and who cross into this country by themselves are turned over to HHS within
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Barb City Manor staffer Joyce Booker (left) serves Ruth Moore lunch July 7 in the facility’s dining hall. The dining hall was one of the improvements to Barb City Manor funded by one of DeKalb’s tax increment financing district.
By KATIE DAHLSTROM
“[THE EXPIRATION OF TAX INCREMENT FINANCING DISTRICT IS] A HUGE DEAL BECAUSE THERE’S FUNDING THAT WILL BE LOST NOT ONLY FOR OUR GENERAL FUND, BUT FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.”
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – In four years, Barb City Manor will have $100,000 less a year to spend on improvements to its aging facility, a fact administrator Maureen Gerrity knows all too well. In 2018, the tax increment financing district that covers an area in the south central portion of DeKalb will expire, leaving places like Barb City Manor that benefit from the special tax designation without money they’ve relied on for years. “For us to just assume the city will be able to help us – they’ll be able to pull it out of somewhere – that’s not realistic,” Gerrity said. So, it came as no surprise to Gerrity when during a recent DeKalb
Rudy Espiritu, DeKalb’s assistant city manager City Council meeting 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker told her not to “count on a dime” from the city after the TIF district expires. City officials and local organizations already are planning to reduce spending or find money elsewhere because one of the city’s TIF districts expires in 2018, while the other will
expire in 2020. Combined, the city’s two TIF districts will produce more than $8 million in the next year, which will be used for road repairs, building improvements and supporting the city’s day-to-day operations. That operational money will come from part of the $2.8 million in tax incre-
ment financing money the city will declare as surplus and distribute to local government.
DeKALB’S DISTRICT HISTORY TIF districts allow the city to divert property tax money into a special account that is used to rehabilitate blighted areas. The city established the Central Area TIF district in 1986 and extended it for 12 years in 2008. The city’s second TIF district, which covers the south central area of the city south of Fourth Street and north of Taylor Street, was established in 1995. The city of DeKalb owns Barb City Manor, formerly the public DeKalb hospital. The facility
See TIF DISTRICTS, page A3
See IMMIGRANTS, page A4
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