TJJD News & Announcements

On January 17, the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert extended an invitation to Ayres House to participate in the wreathlaying ceremony to honor the late Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Christopher and TJJD Community Relations Coordinator Jarvis Soileau had the honor of displaying the wreath at the Commissioner’s office and at the “Wreathlaying Ceremony” at the MLK Monument.

Lisa Capers, Senior Director of Training and Organizational Development for TJJD has announced her plans to retire at the end of April. Lisa oversees the Juvenile Justice Training Academy and the agency’s compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act. In addition, she coordinates the efforts of several projects and initiatives related to the agency’s mission. Lisa has been with the agency for over 23 years, 19 of which she served as the Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel for the former Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. Lisa has been active since 2007 in training juvenile justice practitioners statewide and nationally on the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act and constitutional conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities. Beginning in 2009, Lisa served as the project manager over the Building Capacity Project, a partnership with the National Institute of Corrections and Washington College of Law Project on Addressing Prison Rape that developed a comprehensive P...

Cooke County United Way presented grant funding of $5000 to the Student Support Council for the Gainesville State School. The money from this Community Impact Grant is used to support five components of the re-entry program that assist youth in becoming productive, successful citizens. Grant funds help ensure that youth have birth certificates, social security cards, and state IDs as they leave the facility. These are known to the youth as success documents and are crucial for attending school or applying for a job. The funds also assist with education expenses as youth strive to complete their secondary education, attend college, or take the required online course for a driver’s license. Funds are used to recognize academic accomplishments and trains mentors and tutors as academic coaches for those completing their diploma or GED while on campus. The Student Support Council is a 501 (C) 3 corporation created to benefit the boys of the Gainesville State School.

Parole youth at the Fort Worth District Parole were surprised to receive “Easter Buckets” during their regular visit in March. Thanks to the generosity of the Fort Worth Resource Council for Youth, 25 youth received a decorated, candy-filled Easter bucket when they see their Parole Officer. Parole officers Jeffrey Manuel and Dan Fauver delivered their baskets during home and school visits while parole officer Billy Branch handed his out during the regular office visit. Parole Service Assistant Leaner Singleton, who is retiring after 27 years of service, made shopping for and putting together the baskets her last official holiday task. “I always enjoy making the kids happy,” said Singleton. “They need to be rewarded for making the effort to succeed. They come into the office to see their PO and if they do their community service, then yeah, it’s nice to have something for them during the holidays.” Especially since most of them might not get an Easter basket otherwise. Th...

The Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department’s Doctoral Residency Program in Professional Psychology is now an American Psychological Association accredited internship program. The program was awarded the maximum seven-year accreditation status as of November 16, 2015, with accreditation status post-dating to June 26, 2015, the date of the APA site visit. Students who complete APA accredited internships have greater opportunities for future training and jobs, which will help to share the training goals of the Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department and its Mental Health Assessment and Triage (MHAT) unit in the larger community. Ultimately, the residency program aims to assist the resident in learning how to act competently, respectfully, ethically, and empathically in the delivery of mental health services while being ever cognizant of the cultural and individual diversity of the clients being served. This necessarily includes an understanding of issues related to multicul...

The Volunteer Council for Texas Youth in San Antonio held its annual fundraiser, “The 22nd Annual Spare some time for TX youth Bowl-a-thon,” last November. The event included a live radio remote  with Ms. Neka from www.tha1radio.com and Master of Ceremonies Clarence Saucer. Prizes were raffled off throughout the event and special awards for team and individual categories at the conclusion of the event. Some of the prizes were donated from San Antonio Spurs, Texas Roadhouse, San Antonio Missions, Big Lou’s Pizza, SeaWorld, and Fiesta Texas to name of few. Many of the recipients of these great prizes were from some of our faithful sponsors such as San Antonio Northwest Civil & Social Club, San Antonio Fighting Back, My Friend’s House Christian Fellowship Church, J. Allen Investments, Select FCU and many more. Everyone had a wonderful time while raising $3,123.31 to support Texas youth in San Antonio and Austin.

TJJD established its Regionalization Division March 1, 2016, in response to Senate Bill (SB) 1630, which requires TJJD to implement a regionalization plan by August 31, 2016, that would keep more adjudicated youth out of state-run facilities and in their home regions. To do this, TJJD, working with county probation departments and associations around the state, must identify and utilize available local post-adjudication facilities that have the capacity to provide treatment to additional youth. The regionalization plan must include mechanisms to divert 30 juveniles from TJJD commitment in FY 2016 and 150 in FY 2017. Current regional associations, lines of communication and collaboration, and programmatic resources currently exist to facilitate this initiative; however, regionalization represents a fundamental shift in the juvenile justice system in Texas requiring significant planning efforts in a limited timeframe. TJJD’s regionalization department will be responsible for this n...