Volunteers for Youth Justice

Volunteers for Youth Justice is a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) non-profit serving families in the Northwest Louisiana region. Volunteers for Youth Justice was established in 1981 with the goal of providing intervention services to children involved in the juvenile justice system. Volunteers for Youth Justice currently operates 8 program divisions: Youth Programs (Diversion), FINS (Families in Need of Services), TASC (Truancy Assessment Service Center) K-5 Truancy, TBRI® (Trust-Based Relational Intervention), CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), My Community Cares, School-Based Resource Center (SRC) and the MRC (Misdemeanor Referral Center).  We are community supported, relying on individual and corporate private donors, grant opportunities, and fundraising events to secure support to carry out our mission. 

During 2023, volunteers assisted Volunteers for Youth Justice in providing services to over 8,700 children and served children of all ages, racial and socio-economic backgrounds throughout Northwest Louisiana. We are happy to share these outcomes from our 2023 annual report below:

• 36,891 miles were driven to visits by our CASA volunteers to advocate for children to reach permanency through adoption, familial placement, and/or                 parental reunification.  

• 1,431 referrals were received by the TASC program with 97% of cases resolved without need to escalate and involve the court.

• 420 students across five Caddo Parish schools were served by our School-Based Resource Center. 

• 921 individuals completed our 24-hour TBRI® Caregiver Curriculum. This number includes 222 referrals through the Juvenile Court, 292 inmates housed at the Caddo Correctional Center, and 407 elementary school staff and teachers. 

• 1,769 students were served by the Conflict Resolution program. 943 of those participated in a 6-week preventative program, while the remaining 826 students participated in a one-day intensive class that allowed them to return to school with the tools necessary to solve interpersonal issues in a nonviolent manner. 

This is only a small snapshot of the many ways our programs and volunteers are working to change the landscape for at risk youth and their families in NWLA.