Charlotte Mills of Modesto, California, spends her days talking to kids who are caught up in drugs, gangs, and violence. She's not a cop or a court-appointed attorney; she's more like a "life coach" for at-risk teens.

"The key, she said, is to show them alternatives to lives of violence and crime. She helps them work toward their high school diplomas. She helps them find jobs. As novel as it might seem, Mills takes them on field trips: to colleges, to museums, to tourist spots... In other words, she tries to give them a taste of what other kids experience - those who aren't hanging out in parks, flashing colors and dodging bullets."

The program is a collaborative effort between Stanislaus County Juvenile Probation and the Center for Human Services where Mills is an employee. Jerry Powers, probation chief for Stanislaus County, believes programs like this are vital, and far less expensive than the cost of keeping someone in jail. Source: Modesto Bee

Labels: at_risk, gangs, violence