Youth Development Program

Mission Statement

We, the staff of the Santa Fe County Youth Development Program, are dedicated to changing the lives of our youth by providing a safe, secure, structured, caring and learning environment. Through meaningful interaction and role modeling, we strive to develop in our youth the character traits of honesty, respect, and responsibility. Given their continued desire and commitment to develop, our youth develop goals which can assist them to become productive members of society.

Provide detention services for our incarcerated youth; our Detention program serves approximately 40 pre-adjudicated youth from Santa Fe, surrounding Counties, Pueblos, and the US Marshals Service. In addition, the facility hosts the Day Reporting program in which the judiciary and juvenile probation officers can request placement for youth who require a degree of supervision, yet do not require full court-ordered detention. Residents in this program receive educational services and a variety of in-house programming, to include a myriad of volunteer services.

Both programs offer a variety of services depending on the individuals’ needs. Key services include:

• Education (Public Schools, GED, Community College)
• Vocational Training
• Individual, Family and Group counseling
• Life Skill Training (Anger Management, Conflict Resolution)
• Independent Living Skills
• Native American Programming (Inipi/Sweat Lodge)
• Recreation
• Religious Services
• Medical, Dental, and Mental Health Services
• Community Volunteers, etc.

The program is highly structured and extremely staff intensive with a staff to client ratio of 1 to 8. Youth are assigned to a unit, a case manager and therapists, if necessary, who support and assist them throughout their detention. The staff works closely with each youth's Probation Officer, Social Worker, Guardian and Family to ensure the appropriate course of treatment is identified and provided while in the facility and appropriate referral information upon release from the facility. The multi-disciplinary treatment team is a critical and key factor in this process.