Juvenile offenders receive mentors after release

Once youths are released from juvenile correctional facilities, many of them can feel hopeless or overwhelmed about how to get their lives back on track. The mission of Aftercare for Indiana through Mentoring is to do just that -- make a smooth transition to get incarcerated youths' lives back on track.\nOffering Indiana's youth a second chance, the goal of AIM is "to reduce the rate of recidivism among Indiana youths," according to the Bloomington AIM Web site, www.bloomingtonaim.org. The program seeks to accomplish this goal through recruiting, training and managing volunteers around the state. AIM helps juveniles improve themselves during their incarceration so they can re-enter society as productive citizens.\n"Coming out of a facility can be difficult because the students are used to structure, and then upon their release, they are just expected to jump right back in the community," said Kathy Ely, a Bloomington site supervisor, in an e-mail interview.\nThe AIM program began in 1996, a year after Roger Jarjoura, the founder and executive director of AIM, came up with the concept. While teaching a service-learning course on juvenile justice at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, his students were working with juvenile offenders at the Plainfield Juvenile Correctional Facility as a class requirement. Jarjoura and his students realized the boys with whom they were working were being released from the facility without having developed a plan for their lives after incarceration. Many of the boys were also getting into more trouble and coming back to the facility after a relatively short period of being released. \nNow AIM is part of AmeriCorps, so it can assist troubled youth throughout the entire state of Indiana and help them stay out of correctional facilities. \n"I have seen us grow this program from a small pilot effort that no one wanted to fund to securing a four-year, $2 million contract with the state this past year," Jarjoura said in an e-mail interview.\nThe goal of AIM is to help youths succeed when they return to society after incarceration, and to have a positive experience doing so. Bloomington AIM's Web site says that AIM believes these goals are achieved by linking youth with adult mentors and role models. \n"Our mentors are an extremely important component to our program," Ely said.\nWhen becoming a mentor, a comprehensive training session is required for new volunteers. Training includes information about the juvenile justice system and causes of delinquency, as well as the qualities of a good mentor, including communication skills and strategies for bringing about changes in behavior. Ely said that many mentors are students.\nMentors are not just there to help the youth; they also gain valuable experience and fulfillment from participating in the program. \n"Mentors develop great mentoring skills and leadership skills that will help them interact with kids in the future," Ely said.\nAmanda Ferguson, a mentor who has been working with AIM since August 2005, said being a mentor has enhanced her life in many ways.\n"It forces me to question my decisions and I always ask myself if my actions are something I could be proud of," she said in an e-mail interview.\nDuring the mentoring process, mentors help the youths find jobs, make resumes, apply to college and find opportunities for financial aid.\nSometimes the mentoring experience involves just taking the students out for lunch, Ferguson said.\n"As a mentor, we try to be a reliable in the youth's life and to be supportive of their attempt to reintegrate into the community," Ferguson said. "Most importantly, a mentor is to be a good role model of the behavior the mentee should be striving for." \nYouths participating in the AIM program benefit from having a mentor in several ways. \n"They learn to see themselves in a more positive light, and they get doors opened for them in terms of school and work," Jarjoura said. "They find someone they can turn to when things are not going well. I have seen a number of youths find a way to be someone they are personally proud of."\nEly has been inspired by the success stories of the program.\n"I love receiving letters from students who are excited to participate in AIM," Ely said. "They work really hard to get back on the right track, and I am happy that we can be there for them."\nShe said she has also been inspired by how many people have been interested in volunteering with AIM this year. \nFor more information or to become involved with AIM, visit www.bloomingtonaim.org or http://aim.spea.iupui.edu.