Boone County Commission approves grant to reduce youth crime
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Commission approved a Youth Success Initiative grant for the Robert L. Perry Juvenile Justice Center.
The grant will provide $425,000 to the justice center to create intervention services and programs, inclusive processes to access the programs and a support system for youth and their families. The federal government awarded the funds to Boone County in September.
These services are intended to provide "a strong foundation for preventing youth from entering the juvenile justice system, diverting them from moving deeper into the system and ultimately providing them with skills they need to lead a productive, safe, healthy and law-abiding lives," the grant states.
Tara Eppy, superintendent of the Juvenile Justice Center, said part of the grant money will go toward hiring a continuum coordinator and two continuum navigators.
"Continuum coordinators are going to work on transition services for the education area, substance abuse, mental health, vocation, connecting youth and the families to these resources," Eppy said. "Navigators are going to help the families navigate how to get that accomplished, how to get enrolled, how to participate"
Boone County has already seen 66 acts of youth gun violence in 2024, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. For 2023, that number was 51. MSHP defines gun-related crimes as criminal acts including firearms (standard or automatic), handguns (standard or automatic), rifles (standard or automatic), shotguns (standard or automatic) and other guns.
Boone County has also seen 104 violent crimes by youth this year, according to MSHP. In 2023, Boone County only experienced 95 acts of youth violent crime. MSHP defines violent crime as murder, robbery, aggravated assault and rape.
"We have about 300 admissions a year, the juvenile hall office receives over 1000 referrals a year," Eppy said.
Boone County Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson helped draft the youth success initiative and its goals. Thompson said the initiative is going to be "life-changing."
"This is the opportunity for change we're setting up for those kids that are in the system to say, 'Let's make sure you have every chance for success,'" Thompson said.
In three weeks, the Juvenile Justice Center will receive recommendations for any adjustments on its proposal. They then plan to form a coalition and get the ball rolling on this initiative.
This is an 18-month grant which will go through April 2026.
