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Founded
in 1999, Uth Turn is a collaboration of churches, criminal justice
partners, and service agencies, Fund for Community Leadership
Development, and New York Theological Seminary. Those who serve
on this project work with "at-risk" youth ages 13-21,
in greatest need of intervention: street youth, gang members,
youth people with pending or prior conflicts with the law. Uth
Turn services: mentoring, leadership training, educational and
job preparation, employment and social services referrals, counseling
and substance support. In 1999, Uth Turn received a four year
grant from the Ford Foundation, and in 2001, the New York State
Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) designated Uth
Turn as the "Model Youth Intervention Project."
Uth Turn served 794 youth in 2003. 310 of those young people
were court adjudicated and 83% of that number did not return
to the system. This was done at an annual cost of $1,173 per
participant, or $3.21 per day. For the first 9 months of 2004,
Uth Turn has served 777 young people, achieved short-term
recidivism rate of 9.4% among those youth who had prior involvement
with the criminal justice system, at a cost of $2.45 per day!
The cost for housing a juvenile in a secured facility can
be up to $100,000 per year. Uth Turn has twelve (12) sites
throughout the five boroughs in New York City. Recent collaborations
include The National Basketball Players Association, The New
York City Administration for Children's services, Exodus Transitional
Community, City Year of New York, Teachers College-Columbia
University, United Way of New York, Public Private Ventures,
National Basketball Players Association and Medgar Evers College.
On
September 7, 2004, UTh Turn launched Bethany Uth Turn, it's
first national site Newark, New Jersey. This is a collaboration
with Bethany Baptist Church, Essex Residential Community Home
and the New Jersey Juvenile Commission. This initiative will
allow Uth Turn to replicate our youth development model on
a national basis and to have full time facilitators and graduate
student interns at each of our nine sites to further enhance
the delivery of services to our youth. For further information,
please call (212) 870-1255.
A
former civil rights attorney, Rev. C. Vernon Mason currently
serves a Chief Executive Officer for the Uth Turn initiative.
From the inception, Rev. Mason has led Uth Turn into unparalleled
success with some of the most hard to reach youth. Uth Turn
has recidivism rate for incarceration of 1%. Uth Turn is being
observed as a national model combining the best of the community,
school and organizations of faith. New York Theological Seminary,
an interdenominational seminary in the heart of New York City,
has a strong emphasis on developing congregations to be agents
of personal and social transformation.
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