COMMUNITY SERVICE
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ANGEL BARTLETT
2008 Meritorious Award Winner
in the
Area of Community Service
(Pictured with VJJA President Beth Stinnett)
“For those who entered the field of juvenile justice believing that people can change, and that despite getting off to a rough start children involved in the delinquency system can grown into positive and productive young adults, this recipient is a living testament and a reminder most children age out of delinquent behavior and that children are not yet who they will become.
A former foster care child, probationer, and resident of Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, our recipient is now a college graduate, a social worker, a youth advocate, a full-time graduate student, a homeowner, a biological and foster care parent – all of this by age 27.
Despite significant hurdles during childhood and adolescence, as a young adult our recipient has worked as a Family Crisis Stabilization Worker, assisting children and families experiencing the same challenges she once faced. A passionate advocate who leads with both her head and her heart, she has participated in the Hampton community’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) and has been a part of efforts to reduce an over-reliance on secure confinement and other out of home placements.
In June our recipient was named the 2008 Virginia Spirit of Youth award winner. The award recognizes and celebrates a young adult who has made great strides following involvement with the juvenile justice system; has overcome personal obstacles; and is making significant contributions to society. This summer she addressed a group of juvenile court judges at a national conference sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She spoke about her experiences as a child placed in foster care, group homes, detention homes and correctional centers, and challenged members of the judiciary to exhaust all community-based options before removing children from their homes.
This is surely not the last that we will hear from our recipient. Her latest venture is the launching of a website (www.angelbartlett.com) and she is penning a book about her experiences in the dependency and delinquency systems.
Our recipient benefited from a foster care mother who in her own words “loved me without limits through all of my pain” and “gave me hope when I had no hope left for myself.” She is now performing the ultimate community service by “paying it forward” and giving other young people hope when they need it most.
We are proud to have her as a VJJA member and as a colleague. Please help me congratulate the 2008 Meritorious Award Winner in the Area of Community Service, ANGEL BARTLETT.
COURT SERVICES
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DONNA BAKER
2008 Meritorious Award Winner
in the
Area of Court Services
(Pictured with VADJJ Director Barry Green, Former Supervisor Diane Shelton, and VJJA President Beth Stinnett)
“This probation officer has been with the Department of Juvenile Justice almost 10 years. She has consistently done an exceptional job and been a role model for new probation officers. She took the lead in her unit’s gang initiative and became gang certified. She developed a resource manual for her Court Service Unit with everything workers needed to know about gangs and particular sets their area. She works closely with the police department and they regularly call her with information on juveniles who are gang-involved. She manages a regular caseload plus intensively supervises gang-involved youth in the CSU’s Phoenix program. She averages over 300 contacts a month all while staying current in BADGE! (her Department’s automated case management system). She not only works with probationers in the traditional way - she has taken them biking, rock-climbing, fishing, bowling, and to sporting events. She always tries to find a way to get through to young people and does not just sit in her office and wait for them to come to her.
This past spring our recipient was working with a gang member and made a home visit. She found the family living in an apartment that was unkempt and lacking basic necessities. There was no soap, shower curtain, dishes, and very limited furniture. Her client did not even have a bed. Struck by what she had seen, she decided to do a “home makeover” for this family. She “rallied the CSU troops” and received numerous donations – money, linens, dishes, televisions, a bed, rugs, curtains, pictures, tables and a couch. Four workers descended on the apartment one morning and spent the day cleaning, moving, and decorating. The gang member came home that afternoon and cried when he saw how his “home” had been transformed. He realized that people, other than his gang members, cared about him. He went in his bedroom (with a real bed!) and just sat, amazed at what his probation officer had done. It was an unbelievably touching experience for all involved and a major life-changing event for this family. This is just one example of this probation officer thinking “outside the box” when it comes to providing services and going above and beyond.
This recipient is said to be an extraordinary professional who consistently exhibits “best practices” in all she undertakes. Her supervisor describes her as “a motivated and caring probation officer”. She continued, “Her compassion extends to all those she comes in contact with – she is a wonderful wife, mother to two toddlers, daughter, colleague, and friend. She is most deserving of this reward”.
Please help me congratulate the 2008 Meritorious Award Winner in the Area of Court Services, DONNA BAKER.”
RESIDENTIAL SERVICE
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TIM SMITH
2008 Meritorious Award Winner
in the
Area of Residential Service
(Pictured with VADJJ Director Barry Green
and VJJA President Beth Stinnett)
“This year’s recipient of the Meritorious Service Award in the category of Residential Services is a great cook, a less-than-great golfer, and an art connoisseur. A graduate of East Tennessee State University, our Award Winner is a long time VJJA member who spent 24 years in the department store business before entering the juvenile justice field in June of 1997.
As Superintendent of the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Staunton, this gentleman oversaw the construction of a $9.5 million, 55-bed state of the art facility which opened its doors in September, 2003. He and his detention commission held down construction costs by managing the project internally rather than hiring a general contractor. The result was one of the first “green” detention centers in the country and its designation by "Youth Today" magazine as “the best designed new juvenile detention center in the United States."
Coming from the private sector, this year’s Award Winner brought to his new job a keen business sense and no pre-conceived notions about the limitations of juvenile detention. With this open mind, he is always looking for ways to improve the System and better serve youth. In June of 2005, our Winner stepped up to work with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice in offering the Community Placement Program at his facility for non-violent offenders committed to the Department.
In June of 2005, this VJJA member volunteered his detention center to house Virginia’s first Detention Re-Entry Program to help transition youth from the juvenile correctional centers back to the community. With average daily detention populations on the decline, this year’s Award Winner reached out to the Community Policy & Management Teams in his service area offering to renovate two 10-bed pods in the detention center to meet whatever needs the community felt were necessary. On October 9, 2008, the Shenandoah Valley Assessment & Shelter Care Center opened its doors to help kids at risk of out of home placements stay in their communities.
Our 2008 Award Winner is currently serving as Vice Chair of VJJA’s Valley District, and is in his second term as Treasurer of the Virginia Council on Juvenile Detention. Admired as a fiscal conservative by his fellow Detention Superintendents, one colleague notes, “The last time this guy opened his wallet, a moth flew out wearing an Eisenhower button.”
He lives in Harrisonburg with his wife, Cartha, and they are the proud parents of three daughters. It is my privilege to present VJJA’s 2008 Meritorious Service Award in the Area of Residential Services to TIM SMITH.”
ADMINISTRATION
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GAYLE TURNER
2008 Meritorious Award Winner
in the
Area of Administration
(Pictured with VADJJ Director Barry Green
and VJJA President Beth Stinnett)
“Our next award recipient is a career public servant with more that 30 years in the areas of juvenile justice and human service programs and operations. She has served in many progressively responsible roles to include serving as line staff in a juvenile correctional center, Institutional Counselor and Supervisor, Regulatory Program Manger, Chief of Operations, Regional Administrator, and Court Service Unit Director.
She received her undergraduate degree from Virginia State University in 1975 and earlier this year earned a Master of Business Administration degree through the University of Phoenix. She is a member or past member of the following groups: the Council on Juvenile Correctional Administrators, the American Correctional Association, the National Association of Juvenile Correctional Agencies, the Child Welfare League of America, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association.
Some of her many significant accomplishments include being elected by her peers to the Executive Committee of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators and facilitating community support in the building of a $32 million, 80 bed pre-trial secure juvenile facility.
Until recently this member was the Director of Court Services at the Chesterfield Court Service Unit. She is now the Director of Strategic Planning for the VA Department of Criminal Justice Service (DCJS). Please join me in congratulating this year’s Meritorious Award Winner in the Area of Administration, GAYLE TURNER.”
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