The Juvenile Hall relies heavily on volunteers from the community to provide spiritual, recreational, educational and vocational programming to the detained minors. During 2005, 110 members of the community provided over 700 program hours in the Juvenile Hall. These activities included:

• The publication of our internal writing journal “Inside Voices” provides detained youngsters a creative writing outlet.
• We have implemented a literacy program in collaboration with the County Office of Education, which allows minors to read books from a selected list, and then compose book reports based upon what they read. Minors who do an especially good job with their reports or read a large number of books are rewarded with gift certificates from local bookstores funded through our Ward Welfare fund.
• Minors continue to work in the facility garden, and receive the opportunity to present fresh flowers to their mothers on Mother’s Day.
• The Juvenile Hall provided educational programming throughout 2005 in the form of guitar lessons, and a three-day presentation on the prevention of sexual assault facilitated by representatives with the Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Organization.
• Volunteers from the community gave presentations and demonstrations in various careers including the military, cosmetology and vehicle repair.
• The Juvenile Hall’s chapter of the Girl Scouts of America continued to provide detained females with Girl Scout programming similar to those programs provided by Girl Scout troops in the community.
• Local chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous continue to provide weekly 5 Step recovery programming.
• The “Heeling Touch” Program, in collaboration with the County Sheriff’s Department, continues to provide minors with an opportunity to work with stray dogs. Twice per week, volunteer handlers bring dogs housed in the Animal Control facility to the Juvenile Hall, where they oversee and teach the minors how to provide basic dog obedience training. This program not only provides basic animal care skills to the minors, but also assists the dogs that complete the program to be more adoptable.
• The Boys and Girls Club volunteers provide the minors at Juvenile Hall with computer and vocational training. A significant purpose of this group is to encourage the minors attached to this program while in custody to join the local Boys and Girls Club after their release from custody.
• A variety of religious organizations volunteer at Juvenile Hall, providing spiritual guidance to our youths
• The Victim Impact program is an educational program designed to teach offenders about the human consequences of crirme. This program is provided to youth in Juvenile Hall and in collaboration with the District Attorneys Victim Witness program.