TJJD News & Announcements

VAN ZANDT COUNTY, Texas – DiAnna Reich of Van Zandt County is the program administrator for the Just Kids Hands On Pet Education (JK HOPE) Program which was recently profiled in the Grand Saline Sun newspaper. Reich is a Grand Saline police officer who handles code enforcement and animal control. The program has been in place for five years and has three aspects: Animal Shelter, School Intervention, and Community Awareness. With the Animal Shelter and School Intervention Programs, youth participate in a six-week program either at the shelter or at school with classroom time and hands on training working with a dog. The dogs are transformed into well-mannered pets more likely to be adopted into a loving home. In the Community Awareness program, the youth participate in adoption clinics, presentations, and festivals where the youth are able to demonstrate what they have learned. The article in the Sun describes the value of JK HOPE for the kids saying, “The program aims to provide youth ...

GIDDINGS, Texas – Incentives have exploded at Giddings State School and the events just keep coming. The PBIS incentive team at Giddings State School have taken incentive programs to new heights and the youth have enjoyed a summer packed with fun. Events included a field day in which students were able to play water games and enjoy healthy snacks, a water kickball game complete with slip-n-slides and inflatable pools, and even the opportunity to ride newly purchased bicycles around campus. Along with these great opportunities, the PBIS incentive team renovated a dorm specifically for incentive use. With a boardwalk theme, bright colors, games, and relaxation stations, youth meeting criteria are able to spend leisure time with friends enjoying their day. In addition, even more is on the way. With a new dorm of the month program, students will be allowed access to themed Lego sets such as the NASA Apollo Saturn V spaceship or the Silent Mary pirate ship to build at their dorm.

GAINESVILLE, Texas – It’s hard to believe it has already been a year since PAWS (Pairing Achievement With Service) came to the Gainesville campus. The program, in place since June 2016, has done very well by both human and dog standards. Many dogs have been adopted, with one going on to do therapy work in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. PAWS also recently acquired a service dog in training from Service Dogs Inc. that will soon go to formal training at their Dripping Springs facility and be paired with a client in need. Youth from the Gainesville facility did an incredible job building the one and only PAWS Dog Park for the program. Youth, along with the help and supervision of welding teachers Denver Foster and Dennis Westerlin, and Carl Motley, Director of Security, constructed, welded, and painted the dog park structure. “It was really a lot of hard work… and hot!” stated one youth who contributed his welding skills to the project. Members from the Gainesville Student Support Counc...

GAINESVILLE, Texas – High School youth from the Denton Police Youth Summer Program, along with four Denton Police Officers, enjoyed a tour of the Gainesville State School in July. The School Resource Officers hand select students from the assigned campuses. There are middle school, high school, and girls programs that have been operating since 2010. Officer Keith Adams who coordinates the tours each year states, “I am involved because I want to continue to help make positive changes in kids’ lives. There is no greater feeling than to be in the position to open up a kid’s imagination, keep them out of harm’s way, and steer them in the right direction.” While on campus, youth see what a dorm looks like, hear from young residents, tour the security unit, and see campus life. When asked why he chooses to bring youth to the Gainesville State School, Officer Adams replied, “I felt that the facility would provide the kids with the opportunity to see what the inside of a confined facili...

DALLAS, Texas – Advisory Councils (DYRAC) A.R.T. Program for youth at Cottrell House. A.R.T. stands for Assessing Real Talent. The program is meant to teach youth how to improve their talents as well as give them resources to pull from for future use. Wachelle Williams, DYRAC Chairperson stated, “Many of the youth at Cottrell House are so talented in music, cooking, sports and many other areas. I want to make sure that they have resources and contacts to help them pursue their talents.” With that goal in mind, DYRAC applied for and received a grant from the State Volunteer Resource Council to help youth reach their potential in the A.R.T. Program. Cherika (Che) Roundtree of Strictly DFW Radio is an active member of DYRAC. She also mentors youth at Cottrell House and knows firsthand of the talent that many youth have. Che stated, “Youth have talents that need to be guided. I want to help youth that are interested in the music business.” Lavator (Ms. T) Jefferson, Artist Manager, a...

Cottrell House youth honored Black History Month by celebrating all cultures and their achievements. Youth made this decision because they each recognized that they all have a culture and heritage that they are proud of and want to share. Youth worked together and agreed to prepare a meal from each of their cultures. An important part of the agreement was that everyone had to participate by cooking not only their culture’s food, but other cultures as well. Stephanie Howell, GED teacher at Cottrell House, expressed her pride in the youth for deciding to honor all culture groups. She said, “We normally have a cooking class twice a month for youth. I taught youth how to search for recipes on different internet cooking sites. We started with making cookies and then we prepared food for Thanksgiving. I was surprised when the youth decided to celebrate Black History month by cooking foods from all different cultures of the youth at Cottrell House. This was something they decided and pla...