GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Eddie Boyce is the founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Youth/Adult Diversion Programs.
Their work involves mentoring and changing the habits of at-risk young adults to help make them successful.
"Imagine if you've never had any structure and somebody says well now the majority of your life you've been doing whatever you want ... you can't do that," said Boyce. "You got to get up at 8 A.M. and you got meetings. And that transfers to what you want them to do in life. I got a job, I got to be at my job. It's rewiring somebody that is 19 or 20 or 21. I got to be an adult as well."
Every week Boyce meets with a judge, police, the Public Defender's office and the District Attorney's office to go over the situations of each member in the program.
From there, they assess what resources to allocate to each member which often includes helping them get a driver's license, a job or housing.
"Those might seem like small gets but they also help the community because now people have a self worth right? You can actually get a one-bedroom apartment for yourself and feel like Ok, I'm actually contributing to this community but even society," said Boyce.
Boyce says those members must complete scheduled check-ins with a judge to make sure they're following their plan.
District Attorney David Lasee says it's a different approach to the typical levers of the justice system. The nonprofit can do what the court system cannot, to the community's benefit.
"Obviously, the court isn't going to give a participant money to get on their feet and pay their rent and take care of the things they need to do to keep the family safe and strong," said Lasee. "If there's no funds for somebody to get housing and put food on their table, how do we expect them to make meaningful life changes?"
The coalition says they plan to use donations from Give BIG Green Bay to help fund their ongoing resource distribution.
To learn more you can visit their website.
