Sawyer County

Sawyer County

4/1/2026-6/30/2027

Funds will be used by Sawyer County to continue to promote positive youth engagement aimed at educating youth on ways to have fun without engaging in delinquent activities. We will coordinate 1:1 support with youth as well as have youth participate in court ordered family/parenting groups that are facilitated by social workers, coaches and/or counselors who are part of Northwest Guidance and Counseling who is a local provider and recently started proving this new program last fall. This provider recently launched these groups specific to our program and created a full evidence-based curriculum to meet our needs. Unfortunately, the state grant funding that we had slated to cover this provider's services was unexpectedly canceled due to an issue with unexpected loss of funding on their end. We just found this out a few weeks ago after despite going through the approval process. As such, we were not prepared to foot 100% of the cost for this provider. As a result, we are searching for alternative funding to continue this program for as many youth as we can financially support that are court ordered to undergo this program to divert from becoming part of the youth justice system. Since starting this program last year, we have been able to reduce YJ referrals into the formal justice system by 25% compared to the prior year without this program, as these youth have been successfully diverted from delinquent activity and redirected/introduced to positive activities and healthy relationships.

The focus of these weekly family groups (12 week sessions) will be around healthy relationships and and other pertinent yet critical topics related to drugs, alcohol, and social media that tie into making positive choices as alternatives when faced with tough decisions and peer pressures. This project continuation will help to improve safety and juvenile competence by identifying at-risk youth in an effort to reduce the number of youth delinquency referrals and formal system involvement within our county which has been very high. Since starting this program last year we have started to see very positive impacts including an increase in student attendance and decrease in truancy referrals.
Northwest Guidance and Counseling's program works both with the families and with the youth 1:1 in person for all sessions. Individual Service Plans are created and monitored that tailor to the needs of the families and the youth such as individual skill building, individual and family counseling, family dynamics, healthy relationships, drugs and alcohol, mentoring, pro-social activities, connection to community resources, and assistance in obtaining employment. This new curriculum was developed with several evidence-based principles on topics including healthy decision making, life skills, and anger management. All of which are prevalent concerns we see with our clients and
tied to our program goals.

Sawyer County

10/1/2024-9/30/2025

Funds will be used by Sawyer County to promote positive youth engagement aimed at educating youth on ways to have fun without engaging in delinquent activities. They will coordinate 1:1 support with a dedicated individual from Sirona Recovery who is a social worker or licensed professional counselor. The focus will be around healthy relationships and discussion around life-altering and critical topics related to drugs, alcohol, and social media that tie into making positive choices as alternatives when faced with tough decisions and peer pressure. The project will help improve safety and juvenile competence by identifying at-risk youth in an effort to reduce the number of youth delinquency referrals and formal system involvement within the county.