KALISPELL - A Flathead Valley program that helps reduce youth involvement with the legal system received a generous donation through First Interstate Bank's "Believe In Local" program.
The Center for Restorative Youth Justice in Kalispell was gifted $25,000 to continue its work with families, justice agencies, and school discipline teams.
The Center believes in a restorative justice model rather than punitive justice. The goal is to work individually with teens to decide what they think would be the best way to promote accountability for their actions.
The money will make a difference in what the program can do and provide.
"It means that we can keep on. Keep on doing what we do with kids and having, having workshops with kids and connecting them to resources and continue working with the schools here in town and kind of even expand our, you know, think about and expand our program into to spend more time with, with kids in schools, and to work with kids who are like a little further away,” explained Center for Restorative Youth Justice Development Director Ben Johnson.
Additional information about the program can be found at https://restorativeyouthjustice.org/.
