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Getting a second chance

Diversion program helps get youths on right track

When Charles Clayton and another staffer from Athletics For Education and Success visited the home of a 17-year-old not long ago, the young man was on the verge of some serious trouble.

He was facing a potential assault charge and was in danger of not graduating from high school.

Clayton, the executive director of AFES, told him he could participate in a relatively new judicial diversion program that would help him graduate and avoid the court system. The youth entered the program.

The result? Clayton told the Fort Dodge City Council Monday that the young man graduated on time, has a job and is “doing real well.”

That young man’s case is one of the bigger success stories of the new program, which was established in November 2019.

It is a partnership between the city government, the Fort Dodge Community School District, the juvenile court system and AFES.

The program is designed for first time offenders facing a simple misdemeanor charge and for kids who have behavioral problems in school. Its goal is to correct the behavior while keeping those young people out of the juvenile justice system.

“This is a program that gives them that opportunity to get that second chance,” Police Chief Roger Porter said.

Porter said there are still consequences for those admitted to the program. Those consequences include classes and community service hours that have to be completed.

Youths are referred to the program by school officials or police officers.

Clayton said a curriculum called Truthought is essential to the program. He described it as a cognitive restructuring program that looks at the errors in thinking that lead young people to get in trouble.

Its objective, he said, is to prompt the students to “stop, think and make better choices.”

Porter said some of the young people who successfully completed the program have remained involved in AFES activities and are now mentors to younger kids.

The program is steadily growing.

It started in the middle of the 2019-2020 school year and received 25 referrals that year.

In the 2020-2021 school year, 75 youths were referred to it.

So far this school year, 80 youths have been referred.

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