Josh, 14, was having a terrible time growing up. He refused to help around the house, oftentimes lashed out at his mother, hit his little brother, and left home without telling anyone where he was going. Because his behavior was out of control most of the time, the public school could not accommodate him. He was transferred to a school that specialized in children with behavioral disorders. Finally, the Douglas County Attorney's Office in Omaha, Nebraska referred him to the Street Smart Diversion Program of the United Methodist Community Centers, Inc (UMCC).

We worked with Josh for eight months,” says Ms. Jan Lewis, project coordinator of Street Smart. We got him into counseling and into group workshops where we dealt with issues of conflict, coping, and communication. He also started on medications. We found out that Josh was very interested in animals, especially ferrets. We encouraged him to volunteer at a farm taking care of animals.

We also worked with his mother. She went to our parents' group meetings. Over a period of time, she began to do things differently, and Josh began to stabilize. Josh successfully completed the program which required him to go to school everyday, get to school on time, keep his grades up, obey his parents, and not run away from home.

Sara is 9 years old and in third grade. Like Josh, and most of the children involved in the Street Smart program, her main offense was truancy from school. Her teachers had attributed her low grades to her having missed school a lot. But tests administered by the school at the urging of the Street Smart case manager revealed that Sara was suffering from a learning disability. Since this matter was brought to light, Sara started doing better and finished third grade with an average grade.

Established just about a year ago, the Street Smart Diversion Program is an innovative approach to dealing with juvenile delinquent behavior such as truancy, concompliance with curfew and running away from home. Its overall goal is “to intercept the destructive behavior of non-violent status offenders before their behavior becomes more ingrained, leading to more serious delinquency. It offers children between the ages of 8 and 14 and their parents, fresh opportunities to develop concrete goals and strategies to reconstruct their lives and relationship.

Currently, there are around 100 youths in the program with an almost equal number of African-American and Caucasian children, according to Ms. Lewis, an ordained deacon of the Nebraska Annual Conference. The program also serves Hispanic and Native American children. Generally, each child is enrolled in the program for six months. Each child is assigned a case manager who immediately engages the child’s parents in an in-depth needs assessment to find out why the child is missing school.

For children between 8 and 11, it is usually a parental issue,” says Ms. Lewis. But between the ages of 12 and 14, oftentimes the youths are involved with other kids who may be using drugs and alcohol and are not having a positive influence on them.

The parent education component of Street Smart emphasizes communication, says Ms. Lewis. Parents are introduced to ways of communicating with their children which build up, rather than damage the children's self-esteem, and express respect for them. That children need to live by the consequences of the choices they make is a concept Street Smart stresses, as well as the importance of education to ensure a better future for their families.

According to Ms. Lewis, since the program was started last year, only eight of the 100 children have ended up in court. The eight are among the 26 children whose cases were returned to the Douglas County Attorney's Office for non-compliance with the requirements of the program.

The program receives some funding from the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). Ms. Anne Unander is the GBGM executive secretary for Community and Institutional Ministries who relates directly with the UMCC and its Street Smart program. The Institutional Ministries Unit has committed itself to supporting this program because of its targeting of younger children and catching them before they get into real problems. As educators and those working in our justice system acknowledge, this is a very important task.

October 18, 1999