INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

IUPUI PROGRAM THAT AIDS JUVENILE OFFENDERS SEEKS VOLUNTEERS AND FUNDING

INDIANAPOLIS - For juvenile offenders leaving prison, reentering society is like an astronaut returning to earth.

Just as mission control guides the shuttle to a safe landing, an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) program is helping to guide juvenile offenders in their transition to freedom. With additional money and volunteers, however, it could accomplish even more.

Only one-third of the juveniles served by the Aftercare by IUPUI through Mentoring (AIM) program return to prison, compared to 60 percent of youth not in the program, saving the state millions of dollars.

According to IUPUI professor Roger Jarjoura, who developed the program, it is cheaper to spend a year at Harvard than it is to send a youth to the Indiana Boy's School for one year.

AIM pairs incarcerated juvenile offenders at facilities in Plainfield, Pendleton, Fort Wayne, Bloomington, Logansport, South Bend, and LaPorte with college students and community volunteers who serve as mentors and also offers them continued support upon their release.

But the program is in need of additional mentors and funding to serve youth as they transition back to the community.

Additional funding would help AIM to create support centers near each of the facilities. The program is currently only able to offer one in Indianapolis.

At the Indianapolis AIM support center, youth get help on everything from how to prepare for a job interview to how to get a bus pass. Kathy DeBrabant, who oversees the support center and the entire program in Indianapolis, becomes like a mom to many of the kids, helping them do ordinary things that many of us take for granted.

Some kids come to the center just "for something to do." There they can play music and games, work on community service projects, help create the newsletter that goes out to AIM members and more.

"They're living in social networks where people want them to be the way they used to be," said Jarjoura. Coming to the center and working with AIM, gives them a way to break out of those networks and the cycle of crime.

"They help you stay out of trouble," said Krystal Dowdell, a former AIM participant who has now become a mentor for other youth. "They help you make better decisions than you did before."

"If I'm just sitting at the house bored, you can always call your AIM mentor and she will be there or come get you," said another AIM participant.

AIM has also started a fund to help the youth with emergency expenses when they are released. Many need clothes, food, and money to care for children and to pay rent. She estimates it costs about $1500 to transition one youth. To contribute to the fund, please send a check payable to AIM to: AIM, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IUPUI, 342 N. Senate Ave., 3rd Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46204. General donations are also appreciated.

For more information about how you can donate or become a mentor, please call (317) 261-3041 or log on to http://aim.spea.iupui.edu/home.htm.

Return to IUPUI Home