Session I:

Parents Night

Overview of the Juvenile Probation System

Questions and Answers

Session II:

Drug and Alcohol Awareness

Risk Taking Behavior

Session III:

Self-Esteem

Peer Pressure, Accountability, Decision-Making

Refusal Skills, Values

Session IV:

Anger Management

Conflict and Resolution

Session V:

Victimization

Session VI:

Overview

Youth Presentations

In 1995, the CAWS Program began an organic gardening project with the support of Rodale Press, the City of Allentown, the Second Harvest Food Bank, and the County of Lehigh. The entire project, the soil preparation work, planting of vegetables and herbs, watering and weeding and harvesting, was completed by juveniles performing community service work. Rodale provided the "seed money" and a Master Gardener. The City of Allentown provided equipment, compost, and supplies. All of the vegetables, herbs, and flowers were donated to the Food Bank for distribution to local soup kitchens, shelters, etc. In all, over 3,000 pounds of produce was harvested and donated. The goal of the project was not just growing produce, but also served an alternative therapeutic approach to rehabilitating juveniles. A total of 3,000 plus pounds of produce and other above-mentioned items are grown and given out to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters each year. Anyone interested in volunteering their time to help maintain any one of these gardens, please contact the Community Service Department at 610-782-3143.

The firewood project began in the spring of 2005. The purpose of the project is to raise money for victims of juvenile crime and/or to donate money to emergency relief agencies. In 2005 the money collected from the project was given to the American Red Cross for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Juveniles help collect, split and stack wood, as well as assist in loading customers' trucks. Residents can buy a pickup truck load of wood. A team approach from local retailers, the County Parks Department, and other individuals who have donated trees helped the project get off the ground.

Since 1987, the CAWS-operated recycling center, in cooperation with the City of Allentown, has removed over 100 million pounds of materials from the waste stream. Allentown provides site management and transportation of recyclables Monday through Friday. Through Allentown collection contract, Waste Management provides a full-time employee to the Center. Lehigh County Juvenile Probation provides site supervision of juveniles throughout the week.

Lehigh County Juvenile Probation started the Center by accepting newspaper and aluminum cans in 1988 as a community service work-site to raise funds for juvenile crime victims. The Allentown Recycling Program joined the project in 1989 and expanded the Center to accept a full range of recyclables to service businesses as well as residents. The Center accepts newspaper, corrugated cardboard, mixed paper/magazines, paperboard, phone books, books, aluminum cans, foil and pie plates, tin/steel cans, bottles and plastic containers, scrap metal, clothing/textiles and household batteries.

The Allentown Recycling Center is located at 15th and Martin Luther King Boulevard and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The center generates the proceeds to fund the victim restitution program in the Lehigh County Juvenile Probation Department. The victim restitution program is explained in detail in the CAWS III section above.