Receive overview of Probation Department-Yolo County Office of Education delinquency prevention partnerships. (No general fund impact) (Fruchtenicht/Lewis)

Receive overview of Probation Department-Yolo County Office of Education delinquency prevention partnerships: Yolo County Career Program; Teen Media Bus; and Tiny House Build.

In partnership with the Yolo County Office of Education (YCOE), the Probation Department supports a variety of educational services and vocational programs designed for youth and aimed at preventing or diverting them from the juvenile justice or adult criminal justice systems.  This support comes in the form of $150,000 annually to YCOE, Probation staff time and direct financial support to youth engaged in the following programs. 
 
Current Prevention Program:  Yolo County Career Program
 
The Yolo County Career Program (YCCP) is a collaboration between the Probation Department and YCOE to address the educational and vocational needs of at-promise Yolo County youth.  YCCP is a school-based program in which students earn credits towards high school graduation; explore various career fields; and gain career readiness skills, experience and confidence.
 
In the past, YCCP focused solely on youth with probation status.  Today, the program is more focused on the outcome of diversion, preventing youth from penetrating the juvenile justice and/or adult criminal justice systems and reducing the likelihood of future contact with law enforcement.
 
Cesar Chavez Community School
YCCP is part of Cesar Chavez Community School, an alternative education high school in Woodland, operated by YCOE.  Students may enter the program with various high school graduation requirements completed or with specific credit deficiencies.  Students may work towards graduation at a pace that meets their needs and goals, which may be faster or slower than the standardized pace of a traditional high school.  Therefore, the approach to teaching and learning at YCCP is to meet the students where they are and to individualize their learning experiences so they are prepared for their next steps after graduation.
 
Both YCOE and Probation may refer youth who are currently Cesar Chavez Community School students to the program.  Probation may refer students from other Yolo County school districts to the program, but students must be approved for transfer to Cesar Chavez Community School by their district of residence before YCOE can consider their participation.  Youth, however, have to take the first step in entering the program so that there is self-motivation to participate.  Youth complete an application stating why they are interested in entering the program and if they can commit to program requirements.  Applications are brought to the YCCP team, made up of staff from YCOE and Probation, where appropriate fit for the program is considered.
 
Once accepted into the program, YCCP students attend a morning program together each weekday which includes classes in core academic subjects (math, language arts, social studies, science).  The morning program is staffed by a teacher and a paraeducator.  Morning instruction includes an individualized focus on the specific subject-matter credits each student needs, with a combination of whole-class instruction, projects and individual work.
 
Career and Technical Education
Students also attend afternoon Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming four days per week.  The afternoon programming is staffed by a CTE teacher and a paraeducator.  Additionally, YCOE College and Career Readiness Department staff provide program support.
 
To meet California Department of Education requirements, the CTE program must have a specific focus chosen from 58 pathways within 15 industry sectors (see California CTE Pathways for more information: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/sf/ctemcstandards.asp).  YCCP’s CTE program is an Entrepreneurship Pathway within the Marketing, Sales and Service Industry Sector.  The YCCP Entrepreneurship pathway includes a thematic focus on applied digital media.  This pathway was chosen because Entrepreneurship standards teach students transferable skills that can be applied to any career field.  Students learn skills that will help them be successful in life and career regardless of their career choice.  Entrepreneurship also allows exploration of multiple career opportunities to be included in the delivery of the curriculum because an entrepreneur may work within almost any industry.
 
The focus on applied digital media was chosen because digital media is of interest to students as both consumers and creators.  By using digital media as a thematic tool through which to learn Entrepreneurship, the students gain tangible hands-on skills that are part of the Marketing, Sales and Service as well as Entrepreneurship standards that are useful to any business and industry.  This focus also allows the instructor to introduce real projects into the program, both internally at Cesar Chavez Community School, within other departments at YCOE and with external business and community partners.  For example, YCCP students in 2021-22 gained expertise in both photography and marketing.  They put these skills to work by advertising appointments for senior portraits to their peers and then providing professional-level graduation photos.  The students have also worked with their instructor to film YCOE and community events, such as the Resilient Yolo Summit.  Second year students in the program this year will practice managing a business through their classroom enterprise – YCCP Productions – where they will provide digital media content to internal and external clients.
 
The YCCP program also includes Career Exploration via guest speakers, field trips and internships; embedded career readiness skills such as professional communication, collaboration, task prioritization and time management; career readiness certifications such as CPR and 1^st Aid; digital portfolios; and twice-yearly Presentation of Learning public speaking experiences.
 
Internships
In 2022, YCCP piloted an internship component in which a student was placed in an internship that matched his career interest.  The student was interested in becoming an electrician and one day starting his own business.  He was placed at the YCOE Support and Operation Services (SOS) Department where he got experience shadowing and working alongside staff in a variety of trade-based skills such as welding, carpentry, building and electrical.  This led to further placement upon graduation in the department as a paid work experience trainee in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Youth Program through RISE, Inc.  When the student turns 18, he will be eligible to apply for a job at SOS or to enter a trades apprenticeship program.
 
A program goal in 2022-23 is to incorporate more internship opportunities like this that match students to their career interests, as well as additional opportunities for students to work with external clients through the classroom digital media marketing enterprise – YCCP Productions.
 
Program Referrals
YCCP is open to students 16-18 years of age (due to school and State work restrictions/requirements) who are referred to Cesar Chavez Community School by Probation or their home school and all referrals require the youth’s school district of residence to approve the transfer.  At the end of the 2021-22 school year, there were 12 students enrolled in the program.  Currently, there are 11 students enrolled for the 2022-23 school year.  The maximum enrollment for this program is 18 participants.  Youth can remain in the program for two years so that they can advance in credits, receive vocational training, complete a two-year CTE pathway, become mentors to other students and graduate from high school.
 
Program Support
YCCP costs covered by the Probation Department, either directly or via contract with YCOE, include most of the CTE teacher and afternoon paraeducator salary and benefits, mental health counseling services, student stipends, and some materials, supplies and incidentals.  Costs covered by YCOE include those directly related to the morning core academic portion of the program such as the morning instructor, classroom space and maintenance, and materials and curriculum.  YCOE also pursues and manages CTE grants from the California Department of Education which are used to cover costs for some materials and supplies, additional CTE teacher time for program development and YCOE College and Career Readiness staff program support and coordination.
 
The Probation Department also supports YCCP by providing bi-weekly stipends to each participating youth.  The youth must have attended and participated in morning classes to be able to attend the afternoon vocational portion of the day.  Each day they attend and receive credit for the vocational portion of the program, they earn $30.  Probation also provides collared shirts and t-shirts for youth so they can experience the responsibility of wearing a uniform and appearing professional.  Additionally, Probation provides financial assistance for class field trips, nutritional needs and transportation.  Finally, if there is a need to have Probation staff on campus, YCOE has a direct line to all juvenile Probation Officers, Supervisors and a Manager to request assistance as needed, which continues to strengthen the collaborative partnership.
 
New Prevention Program:  Teen Media Bus
 
In 2022, Probation, YCOE and the Winters Joint Unified School District (WJUSD) piloted a Teen Media Bus program at Winters Career Readiness Academy (Winters CRA, formerly Wolfskill Continuation High School).  YCOE contracted with the Foundation Development Youth Center to bring their mobile audio-visual productions teaching lab (Teen Media Bus) and teaching staff to Winters for eight weeks of programming for which all Winters CRA students were invited to participate.
 
The program started in April with three demonstration sessions during school hours.  These demonstrations gave students a chance to check out the Teen Media Bus, meet the staff, start to learn audio-visual production skills and begin projects.  The goal of the demonstration sessions was to build student interest and program buy-in during school hours before inviting students to apply for full participation, which included after-school hours.  
 
Participation
Based on their school attendance during the demonstration days, approximately 18-20 students had the opportunity to participate in Teen Media Bus activities.  When invited to apply to participate in the remaining five weeks of the program, which included a combination of in-school and out-of-school time, eight students (45% of those who were present for the demonstration sessions) chose to continue participation.  Additionally, three more students gained interest and “dabbled” in the program offerings during the last four weeks.  Several students also worked on their projects at home and in the community outside of the program hours.
 
Program Outcomes
Throughout the program, students worked together to create a music video.  They split up key roles such as filming, producing beats, writing lyrics, editing and directing.  At the conclusion of the program, students debuted their video at a showcase day which WJUSD, YCOE and Probation staff attended, as well as students and parents.
 
At the conclusion of the program, students were surveyed and all requested/recommended that the program return in 2022-23.  They overwhelmingly recommended a longer program and the opportunity to learn multiple key roles in the production process.
 
When asked about skills gained during the program, participants were quick to point out the video or sound production skill that they focused on, e.g., filming, editing, producing a video or creating beats.  When asked specifically about how they might use those skills in their future, they noted they learned how to talk to people, gained more confidence, got to know their peers better and worked with peers they didn’t usually work with.  They also noted they learned more about how to get a job and about networking.
 
Program Support
This program was successful because of investments from Probation, YCOE and WJUSD.  Probation invested staff time to collaborate on program initiation and manage student incentives, as well as funds to pay for the provider’s contract and student financial incentives for participation in out-of-school hours (stipends/gift cards).  YCOE’s investment included staff time and expertise to develop the project, coordinate with WJUSD, oversee project success and manage contracts.  WJUSD’s investment included staff time supporting planning and implementation of the program, as well as the provision of lunch for the showcase day.
 
WJUSD and Foundation Development Youth Center staff are currently working to design an ideal program for the 2022-23 school year that incorporates the previous participants’ suggestions and which integrates with the school’s academic and career readiness curriculum with the hope that there will be funding to bring the Teen Media Bus back to Winters CRA again this year.
 
Link here to view the Teen Media Bus short documentary: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5PDdB_1NtRM&feature=share
 
Link here to view the music video written and produced by the students: https://youtube.com/watch?v=17HQB9dA7-w&feature=share
 
Future Prevention Program:  Tiny House Build
 
YCOE is currently working on plans to again collaborate with the Probation Department, as well as local school districts, to implement a tiny house build program for the benefit of Yolo County youth.  Curriculum and resources have been identified modeled after a high school tiny home program developed by the Fresno County Office of Education and California Tiny Homes which includes lesson plans, building plans, permits, materials and training, and which is available for other educational agencies to purchase and bring to their students.
 
YCOE staff will be reviewing other high school programs that have implemented this tiny house build program to identify best practices and learn from their successes and challenges.  YCOE will also be researching ways to include students from multiple school districts who will benefit most from this type of programming together, while ensuring that instructors and students are covered by all necessary insurance requirements.  
 
It is assumed that this program will work best if started during the summer when students have large blocks of time available to participate.  Therefore, it is anticipated the tiny house build program will launch in the summer of 2023 unless an ideal opportunity to launch it sooner is identified.  Like all of the prevention partnership programs that YCOE and Probation collaborate on, this program will include a combination of transferable career readiness skills and technical career-based training.
 
Prevention Program Pictures and Video
 
Please see YCOE-Probation Prevention Projects Overview (Attachment A) to view pictures and additional video of the above-described prevention programs.

Yolo County Office of Education, Winters Joint Unified School District