County attorney seeks $730,000 juvenile diversion grant

York County Attorney Gary Olson met with the York County Commissioners this past week to get their permission to make the grant application, which they gave.

“We currently have a program we started in 2024 tailored as a juvenile diversion program,” Olson said. “If awarded the $730,000, it would go toward the initiative pertaining to truancy. This focus would be on the family, to address the environmental impact of the parents. It would address issues by bringing in family counseling through working with someone from Four Corners Health Department. This would not just be counseling for the kiddo, it would also address family issues which might be contributing to the problem. The program would also help to continue to fund our truancy officer, as this program would be designed for a rural setting such as ours. And the funds would help pay for evaluation of the program, so we know whether it is working.”

There were 68 youth in the juvenile diversion program from York Public Schools, Olson said.

“For this, there would be no county match – this would be a federal grant passing through the county. No county tax dollars would be involved, it wouldn’t cost the county a dime,” Olson said.

“Well, it would come with some cost by way of the audit,” commented Commissioner Randy Obermier, “and that would be about $10,000, which is a small amount to pay. We’ve all been seeing how the truancy numbers are up, how can we truly gauge that this program works?”

“I wish I had a perfect answer but time will show,” Olson said. “We have seen the benefits be jaw-dropping and then over time we have seen benefit of these programs.”

The application will be made with the grant awards to be announced later this summer.