OKO Green launches program to serve at-risk teens

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Teens in the Macon County juvenile justice system are getting a fresh start with the county's Juvenile Redeploy Illinois Program (JRI). These kids have been working with the Old Kings Orchard Community Center (OKOCC) for years, but a new initiative launches this week called OKO Green.

Javion Perkins, will be a sophomore in the fall. He's been part of the JRI program at OKOCC for the past few months.

"We work as a team. They try to get us to understand responsibility and stuff, and how to carry ourselves," Perkins explained.

He came to OKO through the juvenile probation department, but he's hoping to turn things around, with big dreams for his future.

"I want to own a business and work in real estate," Perkins told WAND News.

As part of OKO Green, he will be paid $100 a week, with additional funds going to a savings account for him.

"Teaches us how to have a job, and what a job feels like and what it's like to have a job," Perkins said.

He, along with other teens in the program, will receive training in interview and life skills, while also beginning work in the neighborhood.

"Going up to doors, knocking on doors saying 'hey can I service your lawn today?' for the ones that are disabled that can't get out and do it on their own, or even for the younger ones," Jalissa Boatman, a Case Advocate for the JRI Program, told WAND News.

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OKO Green will begin with lawn care, and in the coming weeks will launch urban gardens on vacant lots owned by OKOCC.

"We want it to be something where they can look back on and say 'hey I started that.' We started that at OKO," Boatman explained.

Boatman said as teens learn financial literacy, and skills they can take with them after graduation, she's preparing them for the real world.

"A lot of their home environments are not good. So when they come here, this is their safe place," Boatman said.

"We're all like a family. The kids love it here, the kids come here and enjoy. They feel free like they can be themselves when they're here," Mitreal James, a mentor at OKOCC added.

A $135,000 grant from the city of Decatur will pay for soil testing, seed and fencing to launch the urban gardens. The initial summer program runs for 8 weeks, with student stipends covered by a JRI grant.