Collaborative Strategies for Reaching At-Risk Youth in a Frontier Setting

Ernest Bantam, Ed.S.
Paul Higbee, M.A.
Black Hills Special Services Cooperative
Spearfish, South Dakota

This paper describes efforts by the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC) to deliver collaborative services for at-risk youth in western South Dakota. This entire 35,000 square mile area (South Dakota west of the Missouri River) is frontier, with 5.1 people per square mile, according to the 1990 U.S. Census. This ethnographic paper describes an evolution of programs over a 14-year period, quoting key participants.

Challenges

Human service providers in western South Dakota live not only with an awareness of poverty surrounding them, but with the knowledge that funding constraints can always become tight for their own programs. The year 1994 has been a case in point. A property tax rollback initiative on the November ballot could cut the State's education revenue in half. South Dakota already ranks last or nearly last in most school funding categories, including teacher pay. Unexpectedly, in the summer of 1994, the State Supreme Court ruled video gambling unconstitutional. Although South Dakota has used this form of gambling to raise revenues since only 1989, it has become heavily dependent on that income. The court ruling has meant seriously considering $55million in budget reductions, which could cut education and human services programs and close public broadcasting, the State library, State museums, and the State arts council.

Such crises compound longstanding problems:

• Western South Dakota lacks many programs and services found in more populated areas. Most towns have trouble recruiting physicians, counselors, and other human service providers. The problem is even worse in highly specialized fields. Until recently, for example, this 35,000 square mile region had just one neurologist.
• Jobs that pay much more than minimum wage are scarce, and many of those are seasonal. Families in which both parents work at minimum wage jobs are common, and they have difficulty providing basic needs. The problem is worse still for single parents. Not surprisingly, school counselors report a connection between periods of general economic stress and increases in adult substance abuse and cases of child abuse and neglect.
• Poverty is profound in and around the State's reservations. In 1994, the U.S. Census Bureau rated Shannon County as the Nation's most impoverished. Per-capita personal income in Shannon County in 1991 was $7,335, and about 70percent of children there grow up living below the poverty level. Todd County, also in western South Dakota, is the Nation's fourth poorest county.
• Alcohol is the drug of choice in terms of drug abuse. Some counties estimate 95 percent of youth are affected by alcoholism. Lack of social activities means that adults sometimes deliberately ignore adolescent group drinking, says one school counselor. The late Governor George Mickelson declared fetal alcohol syndrome to be South Dakota's number one health problem in 1990, and added, "The top priority in South Dakota is at-risk youth."
• Geographic distances, Indian-white cultural distances, and political divisions in a State where most of the population is clustered in the east further complicate service delivery to at-risk youth.

Black Hills Special Services Cooperative

It was another property tax initiative, in 1978, that led to the formation of school cooperatives in South Dakota. Education leaders realized that school district cooperatives would enable districts to pool resources, which would be vital should school revenues fall and beneficial if they remained the same. Cooperatives were seen to be especially significant to the special education field. They would allow districts to share professionals, such as therapists, and ensure that all children received a meaningful education as federally mandated by Public Law 94B142. In 1980, Black Hills Special Services Cooperative was organized, governed by a board of elected school board members from participating school districts. BHSSC's first order of business was the establishment of day and residential programs for children with severe developmental disabilities.

Start-up of Services to At-Risk Youth

Then in 1981, its second year, BHSSC opened separate day and residential services for at-risk youth. It defined "at-risk" on an entirely individualized basis. Some youths were at risk of early death due to drug abuse, suicide, or other violence. Others were at risk of not having an education that would lead to an independent, employable adulthood. Most students could trace some of their problems to forms of drug abuse by family members or themselves. Two factors figured into this program's rapid development. First, there was not another program exactly like it in South Dakota, and referrals came from across the State, not just from member school districts. About half the referrals were from juvenile courts. Second, as a "noncategorical" State, South Dakota could spend special education money for individuals by demonstrating an educational need and did not have to fit them into disability categories.

Early BHSSC services for at-risk youth included an alternative high school, onsite vocational training, group and individual counseling, an employability curriculum, foster homes, group homes, supervised apartments, and recreational activities. By 1988, 100 adolescents of both sexes were annually spending all or part of the school year enrolled at BHSSC. The organization's success won wide attention, and BHSSC received national honors, including the Secretary's Award from the U.S. Department of Education in 1983.

But the real payoff was how BHSSC's early success put it in a solid position to lead other joint efforts. It can certainly be stated that every child in western South Dakota is at risk of growing up underemployed, if not unemployed, due to the local economy. The risk is greater still for those dealing with substance abuse issues. In partnership with private business and industry, and with the State Department of Labor, BHSSC established the following programs to improve the well-being of individuals and their communities in general:

• Two career learning centers, now serving about 500 adults annually, helping them gain skills to enter the workforce or to advance to better jobs
• Manufacturing worksites, where at-risk youth can be integrated into employment alongside adults who are good role models
• Employability and vocational assessment activities in western South Dakota schools, with special emphasis on at-risk and disabled populations

BHSSC has assumed management of Northern Hills Community Development, Inc., a business recruitment and development council representing eight communities. It is certified to promote and close Small Business Administration loans.

"While none of our jobs programs and economic development programs will, by themselves, turn our economy around, they do contribute greatly to the lives of individuals served," says Randy Morris, Black Hills Special Services Cooperative's executive director for its entire history. "Further, these programs have contributed to the tax base which funds public services. They are examples of a proactive community spirit, which makes for a better environment in which to deal with at-risk youth."

New Transitional Residential Center

These programs demonstrated that unusual partnerships could provide results where other efforts had failed. In 1989 and 1990, BHSSC led a community partnership campaign to revitalize a long-stalled attempt to open a transitional residential center in Rapid City, serving youth coming out of drug treatment. Individuals and organizations raised money and donated time and materials. A surplus county building was moved to a city-owned lot, and its interior was completely rebuilt. The center opened as a coeducational residence in October 1990. Within 2 years, the St.James Street House was averaging 14 residents. For youth coming out of drug treatment, the typical stay was 30 to 45 days, with a goal of getting back into a school routine, finding an appropriate peer group, and maybe obtaining an after-school job.

Three years after its opening, the St. James Street House attracted the attention of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who arranged for a personal visit. Much of her time at the house was spent listening to residents' insights into reaching other, unserved youth.

"Listening to these young people is central to our philosophy," says executive director Morris. "They're articulate about factors that have affected their lives and are affecting their peers. Listening also keeps our staff focused on these people as individuals, which is how we develop strictly individualized programming."

New Directions in the Nineties

As is generally true in rural places in the West, people here do not place great faith in governmental institutions. Those feelings date back to early this century, when the Federal Government usually produced policies that favored Eastern bankers and railroads at the expense of Western farmers, ranchers, and merchants. Those feelings are intensified in western South Dakota because of the population imbalance in the State; with two-thirds of South Dakota's population (and even more of the State's wealth) east of the Missouri River, western South Dakotans often feel overlooked and underserved by their own State government.

For BHSSC, this has meant that the development of public policies and public partnerships is best accomplished by staff with strong, personal credibility, rather than institutional credibility. An example is Dave Scherer, a BHSSC employee with a master's degree in social work from New York's Yeshiva University and also a law enforcement background in South Dakota and Wyoming.

"The people Dave works with know he is well trained academically, and that he also has a wealth of knowledge and ability gained in the field as a law enforcement professional," says Morris.

Scherer has worked with judges, county commissioners, States attorneys, and court services workers to establish a multicounty collaboration for juvenile justice work. "In a region with sparse population, pooling resources at the county level is cost effective and efficient," Scherer says. "If we're working together, not every rural county has to have its own juvenile facility."

Participating counties have signed a joint powers agreement to fund a study of regional juvenile services. Within counties, holdover sites staffed by volunteers have been developed. The counties have built better connections between law enforcement, parents, and schools and have provided training for special foster homes.

Programs As They Operate in 1994

BHSSC's alternative school and residence—the programs that date back to 1981—continue to serve about 100 at-risk youths annually. Although the numbers have remained constant for several years, the adolescents have changed. A decade ago, the student population was made up of young people who had obvious emotional or behavioral problems that schools in their hometowns did not feel comfortable handling. Now, those same schools seem much better equipped to handle such students, and students referred to BHSSC are mostly those needing a true educational alternative rather than working through issues with the aim of returning home.

Today's students generally exhibit less acting out, and often they are motivated to get some form of education—a GED certificate or specific job skill—and move on to adulthood. The school spends more time on academic studies (mastery learning has proven a successful strategy), as well as more time exploring life options and personal responsibility. While this is positive in many ways, it also seems to reflect a society in which children grow up fast and in which there is sometimes no family structure for them to fall back on. Substance abuse issues, of course, continue to play large roles in the case histories of these adolescents.

Multicounty Collaborative Efforts

BHSSC's multicounty collaboration efforts are growing in importance. Seven counties joined forces to build a new, $3.45 million juvenile services center in Rapid City. The 60-bed facility will open in October 1995. The seven counties are Butte, Custer, Fall River, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, and Pennington; the counties have signed a 20-year bond to build and operate the center. Each county's bond payment will be based on population. Noting that this is to be the first formal agreement of its type in South Dakota, Seventh Circuit Judge Jeff Davis praises its efficiency and fairness. "I'm convinced," Davis says, "that this is the absolute best answer."

Perhaps the most unusual partnership into which BHSSC has entered recently is that with Mental Health Consultants of Spearfish. BHSSC provides this private counseling business with permanent office space, secretarial help, and financial management. Mental Health Consultants, in return, work with BHSSC students while also continuing to work with private caseloads. The result, for the general public, is mental health services at a lesser cost, since BHSSC absorbs much of the overhead. In an economically depressed area, this is a significant boost.

Community Models for Diversion

Community-based mental health services, the alternative school, and multicounty cooperation are all vital in light of what BHSSC considers its main thrust currently for at-risk youth: diversion. Diverting first-time juvenile offenders from the justice system and into community-based assistance is reducing juvenile court caseloads. Along with enforcement of the Federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (Statewide placement of juveniles in adult jails has dropped by 96 percent since 1987), diversion is having a great impact on how juveniles encounter the justice system. Multicounty cooperation has let local leaders see models for diversion in their communities: substance abuse education, crisis intervention programs, family needs assessment systems, refusal skills development programs, peer pressure role playing groups, and more. From January through August, 1994, 186 juveniles entered diversion programs in Pennington County. The recidivism rate for those youths was 5.9 percent before diversion completion, and 4.5 percent after diversion completion.

In 1994, diversion success meant there was no longer a role for the St. James Street House as it had operated for 4 years. Approximately 400 youths had spent time there since 1990, although there was never a large enough population of youth coming out of drug treatment to use the house exclusively for that purpose. It also served youths who needed short-term emergency placement, or who had long-term placement needs for reasons other than transitioning out of drug treatment. The housing of residents who had a variety of primary needs was healthy at times and reminded staff that the basic needs of all adolescents are the same, regardless of the individual problems. Closing the St. James Street House was a victory in one way, but nonetheless difficult for BHSSC. The house will undoubtedly open for a different population in the future, based on needs the community expresses.

Findings and Conclusions

The success of the programs described can be traced to two constants. Each effort was led by individuals with personal credibility who made collaboration possible. Each effort took into consideration the unique nature of the community served and did not degrade existing community leadership and institutions.

Individuals who led these efforts shared these characteristics:

• They were comfortable with collaboration and cooperation; they did not feel they needed to be publicly visible leaders.
• They had a sense of who made decisions within communities.
• They understood the traditions, history, values, and human and financial resources of the communities.
• They were people not trapped in the past, but rather individuals with an eye on the future, particularly in the areas of technology, economics, and human services trends.

Counties and communities were approached for participation with a belief that people in rural areas have traditions about solving their own problems, about personal responsibility, and about volunteerism. It would have been a mistake to come into these areas and bypass existing leadership and institutions. Rather, it was necessary to ask for meaningful input and to invite meaningful—not token—participation. The St. James Street House effort, for example, involved about 300 volunteers, most of whom defined their own roles in the project.

Recommendations

There is so much variance between rural communities that the establishment of broad rural policies seems destined to fail. Too often, State policies are interpreted in rural communities as being really geared to larger population areas and bypassing local leadership and institutions. What worked in western South Dakota was for communities to define their needs and work out solutions for their at-risk youth through longstanding institutions like schools and courts, and for credible local leadership to encourage new partnerships between schools, social service agencies, courts, law enforcement, and the private sector.

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