ST. THOMAS — A call to end the cycle of what is being referred to as a \u201cschool-to-prison pipeline\u201d in the territory, highlighted the agenda of the Committee on Education, Youth and Recreation during a committee hearing held on Tuesday at the Earl B. Ottley Legislative Hall. Department of Human Services Commissioner Designee, Felicia Blyden, gave testimony stating that a vital part of moving forward is reestablishing the Youth Commission in the Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe that there is a question that there needs to be a focus on youth; that there needs to be some arm or mechanism that is able to harness much of what is happening in silo [isolated from others], so to speak, in this community, so that we can be able to work more collaboratively,\u201d Ms. Blyden said. She believes the youth commission as mandated by legislature would do exactly that.<\/p>\n
According to Ms. Blyden\u2019s testimony, the key focus is trying to fund and provide more programs directed at prevention rather than solely relying on intervention, to allow the youths\u2014and to a certain extent adults\u2014an opportunity to prosper in the territory. It is her belief that these programs would help to address issues before they even begin, and in turn reduce the role of intervention programs. She added that the Department of Human Services in collaboration with other departments, could become change agents, by working with various programs currently available in the territory to help bolster the community.<\/p>\n
Ms. Blyden hopes to fund and bring online–through the establishment of the youth commission\u2014additional Head Start programs, Day Cares, and a robust prevention program. She also believes additional funding and staffing is necessary in order to ensure the success of these programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use much of our resources as it relates to the juvenile justice component having social workers work with individuals after they have committed offences; the YRC [Young Rehabilitation Center] component being able to try and rehabilitate, and our position is that we would like to\u2014one of the lingos that was shared school to prison pipeline\u2014we would like to close off that pipeline. We would like to work with the various programs in the community to do so, but the staff that we have is stretched to the point where they are just maintaining the capacity of work to deal with much of what exists which is that intervention piece,\u201d said Ms. Blyden.<\/p>\n
Catherine Hendry, commissioner of the Department of Labor, echoed the sentiments of Ms. Blyden in favor of the reestablishment of the Youth Commission, calling it essential. She said the Youth Commission could provide a strategic and operational plan with the knowledge of the capabilities of each department, and by laying out terms and conditions on what each one could do. \u201cCommissioner Blyden hit it on the head, intervention, prevention; as for us it\u2019s all about the workforce, it\u2019s all about getting our youth prepared,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Chair of the committee Senator Jean Forde posed a question on the viability of nonprofit organizations that operate in the territory with the expressed purpose of meeting the needs of the youth and \u201cclosing the pipeline\u201d. In response, Ms. Blyden assured the Senator that nonprofit organizations were in fact essential and had their place in the community, because they provide valuable services through creative means of interaction with the community.\u00a0 She continued to say that nonprofits actually augment and support many of the programs that the government provides.<\/p>\n