Photos and article by Margaret Hopper

From left are Youth Advisory Committee members 6th Judicial District Judge J.C. Robinson and Program Coordinator and JPO officer Bianca Padilla.

On January 23, the Grant County Youth Advisory Committee met at the 6th Judicial District Jury Room in the courthouse during the lunch hour for its quarterly meeting. Many community leaders of groups related to youth and family issues were present. After getting a late start, the agenda moved quickly and all items were addressed before 1:00 p.m.

From left are WNMU Associate Professor of Social Work Robert Rickle and Todd Denny of Washington, with a media background.

Todd Denny and Bob Rickle presented their Music Mentors documentary to show how popular culture technology could affect teens with a program of arts, ideas and expression during after school hours and during break periods to involve kids in skills developing and vision building to redirect their energies to more community-positive activities. Denny said he was aware of sports programs and their value, but the arts played an important role, too.

Denny, from Washington, with a media background, proved that the program he developed 20 years ago had merit for reclaiming and re-tracking kids with pro-community activities. He said he knew it worked. The important part was getting the support and budget for the activities. He had spoken to Hector Balderas (NM Attorney General) and had a program going on at Mescalero. He wanted something in other counties, too.

The minimum start would be a three-day event for just under $10,000. They would attract the Gǣhardest-to-reachGǥ students and offer a healthy change from the alcohol/drug scenes where kids could interact with peers in a good environment. It would work; it was sustainable; get the right people behind it and watch it grow. The minimum involvement should be three years.

Beth Lougee, La Plata principal, noted that the high school drama class might be a good starting place, as it had the room for that and a good start of 50 or 60 students. Others added potential helping ideas. The discussions would go on and something might materialize was the thinking.

Bianca Padilla, Program Coordinator and JPO officer, reported that her grant application for 2018 was accepted at $95,482. In April the contract would likely be signed.

Jose Carrillo, assistant superintendent of Cobre, remarked that with the help of two new truancy prevention officers, not only were attendance figures improving but the school-to-home contacts were more positive and supportive. The relationships were improving; less punitive interactions were happening and this youth work was making a big difference. He said he hoped the program could be funded again next year. It was doing good things for Cobre.

Padilla said JPO had been able to get a total of four truant officers for Silver and Cobre, whereas a year ago there were two total. Also, in the past, their office had had to process all the truancy complaints. Now, they have trained a total of 50 police and sheriffG