Supporters of a Tarrant County program for at-risk youth say the move makes no sense

A new contract to provide services to at-risk youth was approved by the Tarrant County Juvenile Board on Wednesday, while some community advocates continued to criticize the decision to end the previous contract.

The board voted unanimously to partner with My Health My Resources of Tarrant County to work with youth and help them rehabilitate.

MHMR will replace Youth Advocate Programs Inc., whose contract was terminated by the board in July over various concerns, including language on its website about “diversity initiatives” and “systemic racism.” The nonpartisan Youth Advocate Programs, based in Pennsylvania, provided counseling, mentoring and community service to reduce reoffending. The company has been working with the district since 1992.

MHMR, a local government unit whose board is appointed by county commissioners, already has other contracts with Juvenile Services, including for mental health assessment and substance abuse treatment. His new contract is worth up to $895,000.

Youth Advocate Programs CEO Gary Ivory said the Juvenile Board wrongfully terminated the contract. Ivory told the Star-Telegram that he met with District Judge Tim O’Hare in July after his contract was terminated and showed O’Hare screenshots of the websites of MHMR and other organizations that do business with the district. They had the same language on their websites.

According to an archived version of the MHMR website, MHMR previously had a webpage dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion. The page is no longer present on the MHMR About Us tab.

Community Frontline, an advocacy group in east Fort Worth, and the Justice Network of Tarrant County held a press conference Wednesday in support of Youth Advocate Programs. .

“My heart is broken because it is 2024, we are fighting a program whose children have a 100 percent success rate,” said Sharon Hines, an Air Force veteran and member of the Justice Network. “They go to high school, they get their GED, they get jobs. Why should we be against this program? Tarrant County is scary.”

At a Youth Committee meeting in August, public comments in support of Youth Advocate Programs Inc. were cut short as judges walked out of the meeting. Kimberly Brandon, vice president of the organization, was one of the people who was not permitted to speak to the full board.

She said 90% of participants in her programs have not been tried or convicted of new charges, and 100% have stayed in school or graduated.

“The work we are doing is impactful, it is necessary,” Brandon told Star Telegram. “It never has to be a competition, because it shouldn’t be. There’s enough need to go around.”

Brandon said Youth Advocate Programs is still working on what to do with staff and will graduate the last remaining youth participants in two weeks. His final contract with the district ends Sept. 30.

Ben Travis, development director at Community Frontline, said the non-renewal of Youth Advocate Programs’ contract had little to do with the program’s merits.

“There’s a lot of talk at this meeting about not being anti-children,” Travis said. “I would ask you to really think about what your plan is to ensure that these services are replaced with programming that better fits your framework of what you want to see, but also to ensure that youth receive these services. “that they need.”