An Annual Time to Refocus
The North Carolina Teen Court Association and the North Carolina Association of Community Restitution Programs held their annual Summer Conference on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Wilson, NC. The theme of the conference was “A Brand New World: Symptoms to Solutions”. The purpose of the conference was to provide a forum for Restitution and Teen Court program providers to connect with others in the field, learn new methods of providing their service and to recharge and renew their commitment to the youth they serve.
Summer Conference Goals
While they are separate programs, both the NCACRP and the NCTCA share common vision. While the North Carolina Association of Community Restitution Programs’ goal is to increase public awareness of the need for and the role of restitution programs in local communities and to support the program in those communities, The North Carolina Teen Court Association’s goal is to assure that the local Teen Court programs operate under the policies set forth by the Department of Juvenile Justice, establish and measure outcomes for their programs and provide quality programming for both the juvenile offenders served and the teen volunteers involved in service to the local programs. This conference gave providers from both programs the opportunity to get together, compare notes and share ideas to make each program stronger and more efficient.
An Overview of the Conference
The conference kicked off on Wednesday August 1st and included the presentation “CARE – Child Adult Relationship Enhancement”, as well as the NCACRP Association Meeting and the day ended with an informal meet and hang out with the coordinators. This included the Swap Shop where programs were encouraged to share resources with other programs.
The second day kicked off with a presentation titled “Social Media and Young People”, which was presented by Capt. Billy Radford. Other presentations included “Telling Your Story”, “Motivational Interviewing” and “Taking Care of Me”. The second day ended with the NCTCA Association Meeting followed by dinner and entertainment.
The final day concluded with a group breakfast, followed by several speakers and the Conference Closing, during which the new officers for both the NCTCA and the NCACRP were introduced. The conference was considered a success and was a great time of fellowship and refocusing of both Associations as they continue to work toward their goals to improve the community.
