The Vigo County Juvenile Justice Center provides many services for the juveniles they are holding. The Center has a high focus on education, physical education, and several therapeutic programs designed for juveniles.  To provide these vital services The Center relies on a variety of funding streams, partnerships, and collaborations with many community partners.

The funding for many of these important programs were at risk because of a lower headcount in the Center during Covid protocols that resulted in funding for the 2021-2022 school year significantly reduced.  This decrease in funding was not reflective of the current state of the Juvenile Justice Center need and juveniles they are serving and it threatened to cause a stoppage of services provided to the juveniles.

To help close the funding gap the Vigo County Juvenile Justice Center worked with the United Way of the Wabash Valley’s Substance Use Disorders (SUD) Council to grant $8,000 to provide the annual cost of counseling and group programs for their juveniles.  The SUD Impact Council focuses on well-rounded approaches to supporting prevention, treatment, and recovery solutions.

Norm Loudermilk, Vigo County Juvenile Justice Center Director, explained, “Our goal at the Center is to address problems and to connect juveniles with agencies that can help them cope with those problems they are encountering.  The funding source used to pay for group therapy and counseling was reduced significantly. Without the generosity of the United Way we would not be able to continue to help the children that are housed here.  The United Way has given us the opportunity to not only continue our current programs but also to build on them and hopefully give positive results to troubled youths of Vigo County.”

Richard Payonk, Executive Director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley, explained, “This is a great example of how the vital work being done in the Juvenile Justice Center is able to continue because our volunteer impact council recognized the need.  This grant will be able to provide help for vulnerable juveniles in an effort to prevent them from facing an adult court system in the future.  United Way is proud to support the programs at the Juvenile Justice Center and is grateful for the ability to help organizations that further our Councils mission and improve the Wabash Valley.”