11/06/15 Long Creek Youth Development Center
Posted by John Marr
Our last meeting was hosted by the staff and students at the Long Creek Youth Development Center (LCYDC). The LCYDC fits comfortably within the scope of our clubs CHE initiative. In fact, long before we decided to concentrate our vision with CHE, we had developed a working relationship with the LCYDC with a mentoring effort pioneered by Jim Willey, Peggy Wescott and John Houghton, as well as others. Consequently, bringing the club’s Friday meeting within the secure walls of the facility was a wonderful way to fill one of the meeting gaps with our home base at the HIBTB.
We were treated to an excellent lunch prepared and presented by the students involved with the culinary program that the school, within the Youth Center, has recently developed. The good news stories coming out of Long Creek these days are a dramatic departure from the tortured history that plagued the institution in decades past and took up too much space in the local news. The good news stories were told by two-time Paul Harris Fellow recipient Emmy Brown, who heads up the volunteer programs for the LCYDC, along with Scott Janosek, who is the lead correctional officer for the Cedar Unit, which deals with the most challenging youth within the system. The Cedar Unit is also the unit that our club has adopted for our monthly visits to show the kids that there are people out there who know they are there, care about them and want to make sure they don’t feel forgotten. Much of that outreach has been spearheaded by Jim Willey, who is the Current President of the Friends of Long Creek.
Emmy Brown commenced the formalities by sharing a bit of history of the correctional facility which goes back to 1853 when the “castle on the Brick Hill” was created to detain troubled youth. In those times the facility was limited in focus and the rehabilitation efforts currently embraced were inconceivable. The budget back then was around $34,000 to deal with about 170 kids, age 8 to 16. Some of the kids were indentured to local farmers. When Emmy came to Long Creek in 1995 the population had grown to about 365 residents who were detained in the jail. Since then the jail has been transformed and transcended into a facility to rehabilitate and educate troubled youth who have been sentenced by the courts. Almost all of the current residents have had multiple run-ins with the law and incarceration is essentially a last resort. The LCYDC deals with both male and female residents and the current population is about 100 with an average stay of around 15 months.
Emmy’s presentation was followed up by Scott Janosek, who profoundly thanked the Club and our volunteers who have made a significant improvement to the lives of the kids. The efforts of the Friends of Long Creek, along with the Club volunteers has helped to develop the two new programs providing culinary training, as well as a Transition Program to help the residents move on and have a positive return into our community. Along with those programs we have also helped to facilitate a music training program. The effectiveness of these programs were proven with the introduction of RayAnne who was part of the team who prepared and served the lunch we enjoyed. RayAnne told us how much better she feels about herself since taking part in the culinary arts program and feels that when she is released she has a good chance of getting a job or maybe even opening a restaurant. As if that wasn’t enough pleasant music to our ears, we next heard from Devon who has benefited from the music program and learned to play the viola, which is a larger violin. He has lessons every few weeks and is able to practice often as he gets proficient with his new instrument. Devon shined for us by performing the classic first piece of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
The meeting concluded with tours of the facility for those who have not had the opportunity of seeing how what was once thought of as a jail, has now become an institution of learning.
Those who took the tours were amazed at the upbeat attitudes of the residents at the facility and their commitment to bettering themselves in order to return to society with the education they have learned from the LCYDC.