Karnes County Juvenile Probation Department's ROPES Project

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

Karnes County, which is comprised of 754 square miles, about half the size of the State of Rhode Island, is served by four school districts. According to the school districts there are 2,276 children and youth enrolled. Of that total, 59.9% are considered economically disadvantaged which equates to 1,363 youth who are living at or near poverty. Further, 40.6% of all youth in Karnes County are identified by the Texas Education Agency as being 'at-risk' for school related failure. The KCJPD is charged with providing supervision for youth referred to them via the juvenile courts and with providing prevention services so 'at-risk' youth can avoid criminal involvement. Part of the KCJPD's services is the Karnes County ELITE program. The ELITE program is comprised of a JJAEP (Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program) and the ROPES program. Through the services offered by the KCJPD's ELITE program the agency provides educational services for expelled students and juvenile delinquency prevention and intervention services for youth and their families. Though the total juvenile population has decreased, Karnes County has experienced a significant increase in the number of youth who are identified as 'at risk.' The goals of the program are: to decrease the percentage of youth, who are referred to the department, that are re-referred back to the department; to increase the number of youth attending the ELITE program who successfully complete their current academic grade; to increase the average daily school attendance of youth attending the ELITE program and to increase the number of youth who successfully complete the ELITE program. The performance measures of the program are: the number of youth served by the program; the number of youth completing program requirements; the number of youth who offend or re-offend; and number of youth who exhibit desired change in the targeted behavior (i.e., improved academic performance, increased daily attendance at school. NCA/NCF