Sierra Arts Foundation, a local nonprofit for artists in our community, has started a program to teach art to some of the youth who are spending time at the Jan Evans Juvenile Justice Center in North Reno. The center provides all kinds of wraparound services for the youth that are temporarily housed there.
"The goal is rehabilitation, community safety, and education," said Troy Harper, Detention Manager at Jan Evans. "As far as programming, we have counselors come in, drug education, we have narcotics anonymous, and the art program that comes in now."
That art program is something new, a project the Washoe County Leadership Academy got the idea for on a trip to the facility.
"When we came to the facility, the light bulbs went off," said Scott Chatham with the Washoe County Leadership Academy. "We saw what was going on with the teens, with the youth, and said, 'oh my gosh, there's a really big need for this in the community.' They really need this as an outlet, an expression that will help them in their personal growth."
That academy decided Sierra Arts Foundation was a perfect fit for the new program. Now, their artists are teaching classes there every week.
"Right now we're doing graphite, drawing pencils, how to do shading," said Tia Flores, Program Director for Sierra Arts Foundation. "So we work a lot with the elements and principles of design and introducing them to the different materials that can be used, so they can take that skill set once they leave here and use that."
The program, for many, has been therapeutic.
"I think, in general, art and music help kids mentally escape from some of the challenges they have," Harper said. "Whether it be trauma, stresses in life, family concerns, I think it gives them an opportunity to express the creative side of themselves and put them in a good mental space."
And it's also helping some of the students who are missing credits at school.
"We use a rubric in accordance with state art standards and we grade each piece," Flores said. "And that's handed off to the education team. They enter those grades into the system for Washoe County, giving those students credit for attending classes."
There's enough funding to keep the program going for at least another year.
"We got the seed money from Washoe County, matching funds from Jan Evans, Commissioner (Mariluz) Garcia pitched in some money in addition to the school district," Chatham said. "Seeing all the funding come together was an amazing thing we can do for this youth."
The hope is to use this as a pilot project for other juvenile facilities across the state.
