Through RECA's
partnership in Project Bridge, the Gardner-Betts Juvenile
Justice Center has expanded its operations from a summer
only program starting in 1997 to a year-round art and music enrichment program for boys
and girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who have violated
the law and have been sentenced to Travis County Juvenile
Probation Department's Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is a sentencing alternative
that allows juvenile offenders who have been sentenced to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) to serve their sentence in Travis County rather than being incarcerated at one of the TYC facilities scattered around the state. Keeping these young people in their own community during their incarceration is critical to their rehabilitation.
Project Bridge
is the art and music enrichment component of the Leadership Academy. Although the young people are incarcerated, they move through a rigorous program of classes including the RECA-sponsored art/music enrichment classes. The art/music enrichment
classes are offered to these juvenile offenders on the
premise that art is a constructive outlet for emotional
conflict, a positive strategy for anger management, and a
means to foster self-awareness.
Project Bridge is entirely
funded by the Real Estate Council of Austin. Project Bridge grant funds pay for art and music teachers from the Austin Lyric Opera as well as supplies for the coming year. The young people in this program qualify for placement because they have agreed to attend classes, perform chores, participate in counseling sessions, and work to better themselves as individuals.