Changes are coming to a program helping kids in Hennepin County stay on the right track. The Youth Connection Center has been providing services to students who skip school, are out past curfew or are involved in low-level offenses.

Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Public Schools partnered to launch the program 30 years ago.

“It was really a response to 10 to 17-year-olds who were not in school, and we were afraid [they] were at risk for entering the juvenile justice system,” said Colleen Kaibel, the director of student retention and recovery for MPS. “This was a good alternative because it gave police a place to take youth that wasn’t locked up.”

She explained that law enforcement brings youth to the center where they can connect with services.

“The demand when it started was over 500 students per year for truancy, just under that number for curfew; that number has dwindled over the years,” said Kaibel. “At the time Minneapolis Public Schools pulled out of the YCC contract, we had seen zero students brought in for truancy.”

The district pulled out of the agreement in December, citing budgetary reasons. She explained that at that point, the center was seeing less than 400 students. While about 40 kids were there for curfew, the majority were related to possible involvement in misdemeanors.

“I think it needs to be a redesigned version,” said Kaibel. “Truancy doesn’t look like it used to, policing doesn’t look like it used to, we need to change with the times.”

Hennepin County leaders agreed and are in the process of revamping the program.

“We were looking at what is the model? Is this the best way to do this?” said Lisa Bayley, the director of Safe Communities in Hennepin County. “We were hearing from law enforcement and from community and from youth that this really wasn’t what they wanted or needed.”

She explained that needs have changed since the pandemic and civil unrest.

The redesigned program will be a partnership between the county and the City of Minneapolis. It will move next year from the Public Service Building downtown to the Minneapolis South Safety Center when it opens on Minnehaha Avenue. Instead of youth only being brought in by law enforcement, it will also be open for families to walk in.

“We heard from families that ‘We’d like the opportunity to voluntarily come in and see if we can get an assessment, do some voluntary connections with service,’” said Bayley. “That could be behavioral health services, it could be substance use treatment, it could be mentoring. We can make those connections and do it in a really affirmative, warm way.”

She hopes it will be an even more proactive approach than the current program.

“We know if we can make that interaction, make that connection at an early stage, we’re much more likely to reach success in behavior change and creating a better future for those youth,” said Bayley, explaining there will be additional resources available to families, including a greater emphasis on mentoring. “And how important it is to have adult, caring adults in young people’s lives, that look like the young people they’re working with, and who are from their communities and can commit over a longer period.”

Hennepin County expects to launch a request for proposals in January that gives a community provider a role in working with the county to shape the program they want to run. The RFP has a “not to exceed” note of $600,000, according to Bayley.