By Michael Wacht

ORLANDO — Juvenile offenders on probation in Orange County are now getting the attention they need to help them avoid becoming repeat offenders, thanks in part to efforts by members of Trinity United Methodist Church here.

The church’s impact is being felt through its involvement with FOCUS — Federation of Congregations United to Serve. FOCUS is an interfaith organization that organizes and equips member churches to act city- or countywide to improve the quality of life, according to Janice Everson, a FOCUS organizer. FOCUS is a local organization of the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), a national network of congregation-based community organizations.

Church member Ed Titus has worked with FOCUS for six years and was involved in the effort to secure more supervision from probation and police officers for teenagers on probation.

The program is called JAM, Juvenile Arrest and Monitoring. It was the brainchild of Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, Titus said. JAM teams up probation officers and deputy sheriffs to monitor and mentor teens. It started in the west Orlando community of Pine Hills three years ago.

"They [officers] check to make sure they [teens] are in school," Titus said. "If the teens have a job after school, they make sure they show up on time."

The officers also counsel parents, especially single parents and those who have trouble controlling or disciplining their children, Titus said.

After JAM’s first year of work, however, Florida Governor Jeb Bush vetoed state funding for the program.

Although not directly involved in JAM, the 14 Orlando-area churches involved in FOCUS felt it was worth saving. They began a lobbying effort with state legislators from the metro Orlando area, asking them to support the program, according to Everson. They also worked with the University of Central Florida to secure an independent study of the program’s success.

"They pledged their support and worked to get legislation passed to fund the program," Titus said. The first year, the state provided $750,000, which was enough to expand the program. Funding increased again this year, and the program is now working throughout Orange County.

Everson said 83 percent of the teenagers involved in the program "have not gotten back into trouble" and the number of teenagers assigned to a single probation officer has dropped from 125 to 25. "We help keep the funding for that," she said.

FOCUS is part of the Orlando Area Interfaith Sponsoring Committee (OAISC), which works closely with individual congregations to develop leaders and empower them to take action in their own community. It is one of three PICO programs in the Florida Conference.

FOCUS and OAISC work primarily through grassroots efforts, Everson said. When a church joins OAISC, an organizer meets with church members and trains them to go into their community and talk to residents about their concerns.

"They bring back these issues, and the group looks at them as a whole," Everson said. "There is usually one that comes out and smacks you in the face."

Church members and OAISC staff work on one issue at a time. They research the causes and possible solutions together. "We find out who has the power and the responsibility to solve the problem," she said.

The team meets privately with those key players and invites them to public meetings to discuss the issue with residents. "We sit them down in front of 150 to 200 people, and they’ll do what they say they will do," Everson said. "Those are the people they are responsible to."

Titus has seen FOCUS and OAISC succeed in improving traffic flow at intersections, replacing streetlights and extending local bus service. He said Trinity is now working with senior citizens at Orlando Central Towers, a downtown retirement community, to improve security in their area. Church member Jewell Butts lives there and brought the issue to the church’s attention.

The diversity of the organization and issues it addresses is one of its strengths, Titus said. The churches involved are from major denominations, non-denominational, African-American, Hispanic, Anglo, large and small.