“I’m not a bad kid, Ms Lynn” was the words of a 15-year-old boy charged with burglary here in Palm                                                            Beach County in 2009.  With humbled sadness in his eyes, he began to tell me his life story. He                                                                  expressed how his father was is in prison, and his grandma with whom he had lived, had recently                                                              died. “Now I’m with my mom and she’s not around much, so I sold the stuff that I took to feed my                                                                three younger brothers because they were hungry.” This is just one story of thousands of youth                                                                  who are in our community who have made poor choices. I looked at him with sorrow and stated,                                                                “You’re not a bad kid; you’re just trying to cope with life circumstances that you have no control                                                                  over. However, you do have control over your choices.”  At that moment, I knew there was not

                                                          much I could do to change his homelife, I could not help his father or bring back his grandmother,                                                              but I was able to help him complete what he needed to accomplish his court requirement of                                                                        restitution. He helped me sell snacks at our group and I sponsored him the amount that he owed                                                                towards his restitution. We all know that we can’t change what we have done in the past.                                                                            However, we can take our past and change the direction, so can youthful offenders, with Choice                                                                to Change, Inc.

 

                                                          Implementing positive intervention programs for the past 20 years in Palm Beach County, I kept                                                                  encountering the barriers they face in paying their victims restitution. The restitution they owe is                                                                  how they pay their victims back and move out of our court system. Most kids whom I work with are                                                            raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles, single moms with other siblings, have a parent in prison or                                                              the lifestyle of poverty. These kids were stuck with nobody around them to look up to, nobody to

                                                          help them figure out what to do to pay restitution, no credibility to have a job, and many are full of                                                                discouragement and hopelessness, turning back to negative choices.  Perfect, I thought!  I’ll have them give back to the community, help the widowed or elderly, clean a shabby area, or volunteer at a Choice to Change, Inc. booth, and Choice to Change, Inc. will sponsor their victim restitution obligations with the court.  

 

Choice to Change, Inc. is offered for our court system in many locations throughout Palm Beach County. As we walk along side our youth and their families, we identify the impact of influences, build character strengths, understand the importance of relational needs, teach anger and stress management, address substance abuse and addiction awareness, and practice communication skills.  Youth gain a true understanding of the impact of crime not only on themselves but also on their victims.  Our youth do choose to change!  They want success, they want hope and they want peace.  They just need a little knowledge, mentoring and encouragement to be empowered to make positive choices.    

 

I was given a blessing for this vision to help the compensation to victims and move my youth forward by the Criminal Justice Commission of Palm Beach County partnering in the Back to a Future Grant which gives us funding for event supervisors to mentor and teach our youth as they volunteer in the community.