Employees in DPS’ Juvenile Community Programs unit work to provide North Carolinians with a comprehensive strategy to help prevent and reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. They do this by providing oversight and guidance to Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) programs, found in each county; to short-term youth residential programs; and through non-residential contractual programs that offer services to children and families such as functional family therapy (FFT).
As our Juvenile Justice Week highlight today, Community Programs Area Consultant Massey Whiteside provides technical assistance to nine western North Carolina counties and their JCPC programs to help them plan and development community-specific prevention and juvenile delinquency services. Whiteside always gives his best, to the communities and juveniles he serves, as well as to his co-workers. For example, he helped a Buncombe County nonprofit improve their financial accountability system, by providing resources, giving feedback and following up during three fiscal years to ensure that the agency maintained fidelity to new practices.
“I’m most proud of providing services for kids so that they can have second and third chances! … and of learning this job – it is not an easy job,” Whiteside said. “The work requires all my relationship skills to be in play, and requires active working knowledge across multiple areas, from budgeting to program development, all while (nurturing) a three-way partnership to bring services to children.”