25 Years of Changing Lives, Teen by Teen
Mary Bartley - Mecklenburg County Teen Court Co-Chairman 2019-2020
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Mecklenburg County Teen Court (MCTC) is proud to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its founding. It began with a small but determined group of Assistance League members. No one had a legal background, but they gathered a wealth of knowledgeable, experienced and professional juvenile advocates around them to form an Advisory Council to provide an alternative justice system for juveniles aged 10-15 in the Charlotte community.
Assistance League of Charlotte (ALC) charter member Vicki Riordan was the first MCTC Chairman. Founding member Susan Russell, immersed in city government, promoted teen court to the Mayor. She and charter member Laura Royster took on Vice Chairmen roles; and with the support of VP Philanthropic Programs Mary Bartley, the journey took off and a program committee was formed.
The vision was clear—to help youthful offenders take responsibility for their actions by providing a second chance when they admit their guilt, agree to be tried by a jury of their peers and complete the sentence awarded to them to avoid a permanent criminal record.
The juvenile justice community in Charlotte had already been talking about this diversion concept and jumped at the chance to help Assistance League. Commitment letters for an Advisory Council were formalized with members from Charlotte’s legal and law enforcement community. Assistance League received the endorsement of Chief District Court Judge Jim Laning on February 15, 1996. ALC also received endorsements from Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), the Bar Association, the newly formed Carolina Panthers and Judge Hugh Lewis. Mecklenburg County Teen Court’s pilot program began on four consecutive Saturday mornings from April 27 through May 18 at the old courthouse.
It's extraordinary that for 25 years, the whole community has continued to come together to help teens that have chosen a wrong path or made a poor choice. A small group of volunteer women, not trained in the legal field, made this legal diversion happen when others could not. These amazing volunteers:
- gleaned information from other teen court programs across the country and developed training manuals for volunteer teen jurors and those who wished to advance to teen attorneys;
- created all the legal forms necessary to process a case in court and hold the teen responsible until completion of the sentence;
- developed job descriptions for each of the roles they filled on court nights and for intake interviews;
- developed lists of agencies that agreed to help youthful offenders complete their community service hours;
- recruited a list of trusted attorneys to preside as judges for two double courts a month;
- convinced CMPD, the Sheriff’s Office and the Chief District Court Judge that ALC was committed to succeed and could be trusted to live up to promises;
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hired their only employee, Lauren Bowley, a professional child advocate with a MSW, in 1998 to become the MCTC Program Administrator;
- continue to this day to share responsibility for seeing youth and families through a difficult time, demonstrating care and commitment to positive change.
Over the years, Assistance League has trained thousands of teen volunteers to be jurors, clerks, bailiffs, jury foremen and attorneys who have operated a legal courtroom under the supervision of an adult attorney volunteer presiding as judge and ALC members filling coordinator roles. Success stories include the many former defendants who return to join the volunteer force as well. The statistical success shows in a long-standing low recidivism rate, this last year being 2.4%.
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COVID-19 has forced MCTC to adapt to changing circumstances. Several events, along with court sessions in March–August 2020, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Teen Court has met the challenge of a closed courthouse by combining virtual and live attendance at court sessions held at the Assistance League Center. The judge, teen attorneys, program administrator and three ALC members are present, with the defendant and a parent, in the board room, which now serves as a courtroom. The jury is present via Zoom on a large screen. Cases that have been in limbo since March are finally being processed. |
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Little did that small, determined group realize that the team-building of people from all over the community—teens from public, private and home schools; volunteer judges from public and private practices; CMPD; Sheriff’s Office; Juvenile Justice; all those churches, schools and agencies offering locations for teens to do community service hours; community volunteers and ALC members—would have such an impact. But, 25 years later, this juvenile-based justice system continues to place strong emphasis on accountability, positive peer influence and youth empowerment to affect change within their own generation.
25 Years of Changing Lives, Teen by Teen
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Above Left: Kay Faucette with volunteer teens outside the old courthouse during the pilot program
Above Center: Mayor Pat McCrory visits Mecklenburg County Teen Court
Above Right: Mary Bartley and Jane Lochman join teens at a City Council meeting
Lauren Bowley, Teen Court Program Administrator at Mecklenburg County Courthouse
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Planning in a Time of Pandemic
Mary Lou Grgurich - President 2020-2021
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There is scarcely a person living in today’s “new normal” who can say with any degree of certainty what tomorrow—next week—next month—next year will bring. Planning in this situation is more of a roll of the dice than a definitive plan. Today’s plan can evaporate tomorrow when new information throws yesterday’s “facts” into question.
Through a combination of determination, imagination and flexibility, Assistance League of Charlotte (ALC) members have come to grips with adapting to a new environment. Faced with losing our major source of funding—our popular Thrift Shop—ALC members familiar with finances joined a task force to immediately identify what funds were available to us, what financial commitments we had already incurred and how much cash we would need to carry out our budget for philanthropic programs and operations. Program budgets were thoughtfully reviewed and revised to reflect various levels of budget reductions. A weekly, now monthly, cash projections report is prepared to monitor progress, allowing us to be proactive and not reactive to cash availability.
The new Thrift Shop management team worked overtime to research COVID safety protocols and overhaul our shop operations from head to toe allowing us to safely reopen on a limited basis, 2 days a week, beginning in June. Our customers have flocked back to their favorite shopping destination. We are now open 3 days a week and have a steady stream of income to support our budget.
Our philanthropic programs have adapted to devise ways to continue to serve our community’s needs. Operation School Bell®(OSB) can no longer deliver clothing to school children in person. By working with Charlotte Mecklenburg School (CMS) personnel, the OSB program developed shopping days at our center for CMS counselors, who will come to our center, pick up clothing their students need, and deliver to them. Natalie Norman, OSB Co-Chairman, prepares winter coats for distribution in the photo above. Operation Check Hunger will work with Second Harvest Food Bank to provide financial and volunteer support to drive-through food pantries. Financial support will also be provided for weekend backpacks filled with enough food for a family of four. Heart of the Home continues to work with Habitat to make sure families have a kitchen stocked with necessities to help them prepare and share meals at their new home.
As needs continue to change and evolve in our Charlotte-Mecklenburg community, ALC, as always, maintains our commitment to extending a helping hand to those struggling to break out of poverty. Everyone deserves the chance to succeed, and we stand by ready to help.
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Transforming Lives • Strengthening Community |
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Assistance League of Charlotte | 704-525-5228
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