Thumbnail Image Courtesy of Trillium Teen Center Trillium Teen Center didn’t plant the idea for a youth-centered program focusing on online safety, but it did allow Annaliese Carrillo space to think it up. Annaliese, an eighth-grader at Smith River School, said it was through a summer program at the Trillum Teen Center that she realized sextortion was a problem for kids. She was able to interview Ted Talk speaker Jesse Leon and is working on a program called Cyber Bite to educate families about online safety. “Trillium feels like a place that can connect us to opportunities and resources like that and help us make our community safer,” Annaliese told Del Norte County supervisors on Dec. 9. Annaliese was the youngest public commenter to opine on the new “third space” for Del Norte youth just before the Board approved an allocation of $448,730 in Mental Health Services Act Innovation dollars for the program. The item was part of the Board of Supervisors’ consent agenda. However, Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman, whose department operates the Youth Opportunity Center, raised concerns about Proposition 64 dollars the Department of Health and Human Services proposal to receive those Innovation moneys refers to. According to the proposal, those Proposition 64 dollars would be used to leverage funding for the Trillium Teen Center as well as operate the Teen Court program which will be under the teen center’s umbrella. But those Prop. 64 dollars haven’t been disbursed yet, Reyman said. He told Redwood Voice Community News that an advisory committee meeting will be held to discuss where that funding should go. “It’s possible Teen Court would be funded — it’s been discussed for awhile and it hasn’t been determined yet,” Reyman said. “If that is a decision, money won’t be awarded to Trillium because Trillium doesn’t exist as an organization yet.” Even if it’s not an organization yet, the Trillium Teen Center is holding drop-in hours for youth ages 10-18 at its Crescent City location, 681 H Street, Director Denise Doyle-Schnacker said. Hours are right after school gets out until about 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, she said. The teen center’s drop-in hours officially started on Nov. 1, though the “big kickoff” was Halloween, Doyle-Schnacker said, with a decoration-building workshop for 10-15-year-olds and, ultimately, a graveyard scene. “Kids want basically a place to hang out when home isn’t so fun to hang out at,” she told Redwood Voice. “Maybe it’s a safety issue. Maybe it’s a personality issue. Maybe it’s teens being teens. But it’s another place that isn’t a coffee shop.” The Trillium Teen Center began as an idea in 2012 with Building Healthy Community’s Youth Training Academy and is now affiliated with Klamath Promise Neighborhood. It also complements the Department of Health and Human Services’ Coastal Connections program with its focus on prevention and younger-aged youth, Doyle-Schnacker said. At the Board of Supervisors Dec. 9 meeting, Doyle-Schnacker apologized if the differentiation between the Prop. 64 dollars, potentially for the Teen Court program, and the Innovation funding became muddied. “Teen Court has been in existence on its own and has been run by volunteers,” she said. “At this point it’s separate from this proposal for mental health support and this relational model that we’re using already. We went ahead and opened the center because we had 41 people saying we need it now.” According to a staff report Health and Human Services Director Ranell Brown submitted to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 9, a safe, affirming and “relationally-driven” space for youth is something that’s been needed for decades. Brown acknowledged both Coastal Connections and the Youth Opportunity Center, which offer “higher-tier services,” but said Trillium is positioned to address a prevention gap that exists locally. In addition to the drop-in center, Trillium will offer a mentorship program, two family success coaches and a hub for youth services, Brown stated in her report. Those youth services include Teen Court, a youth centered diversion program for first-time juvenile offenses, as well as Friday Night Live, a program for middle and high school students. According to the project proposal, submitted to the state Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, DHHS anticipates that the Trillium Teen Center will serve 500 youth annually. The department arrived at that estimate based on school enrollment and participation rates from similar programs. According to Behavioral Health Deputy Director Shiann Hogan, the vision is for Coastal Connections and Trillium to work closely together. Youth who age out of Trillium at 18 can transition to services at Coastal Connections and Coastal Connections can refer younger siblings or youth to Trillium. “Coastal Connections offers a range of evidence-based programs, including One Love, which teaches healthy relationship skills,” Hogan said in an email on Dec. 3. “Youth participating at Trillium, who may benefit from these specialized programs can easily be referred to Coastal Connections for additional support. Trillium, on the other hand, will provide a prevention-oriented, recreation- and enrichment-based model that offers structured activities, peer connection and a safe place to be after school and on weekends.” Following Reyman’s comment, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said that Jeff Harris, superintendent of schools for the Del Norte County Office of Education and manager of the Proposition 64 dollars, has stated that it’s his intention to allocate those monies to Teen Court. Since Teen Court operates via the Trillium Teen Center, Starkey said, “there really is no misinformation” in the proposal stating Teen Court is affiliated with the teen center. Starkey argued that both are separate sources of money and that Trillium was selected to oversee the Teen Court program about a year ago. However, the Board of Supervisors’ decision on Dec. 9 wasn’t to award Prop. 64 dollars, but rather Mental Health Services Act, now the Behavioral Health Services Act, innovation funds, Starkey said. Del Norte County had about $1 million available in funding, however was required to send about $200,000 back to the state because it wasn’t all allocated the previous year. “These are funds that have been identified to innovate and come up with new programming,” she said. “And what Trillium has proposed to do is to target a younger group 10-14 as well as 14-18. We have Coastal Connections, but that is a 14-24 year-old program. Trillium really saw the value of getting ahead of it.” Annaliese’s mother, Michelle Carrillo pointed out that accessing mental healthcare is difficult for adults and the few providers that are in the community “won’t even see kids.” This means most young people can’t get help until they’re in crisis, she said. Trillium gives youth a place to belong and get help without being judged. “It catches them before they break,” Carrillo said. “We need leadership willing to invest in programs that care about our teenagers before they are in crisis. We need spaces where young people can talk honestly and find mentors and get guidance from adults who understand what they’re facing today.”