After walking through the double glass doors at 402 N. Randolph St., teens who have been arrested wait in a room with the words “dream” and “love” framed on a white wall. 

This is Champaign’s Youth Assessment Center, where the staff in the surrounding offices help troubled kids avoid blemishes on their criminal records and learn from past mistakes. 

Since the center’s Sept. 23 opening, local communities and agencies have donated funds to show their support, including the city of Champaign. At the Champaign City Council meeting on Oct. 15, an agreement was reached that the city would help fund the center by allocating $15,000 annually.

“I was amazed that there’s a great opportunity for families to get help — for youth to get help,” said council member Will Kyles, District 1.

Prior to the center’s opening, only youth sent for a referral after police arrests would get the chance to seek help from community services. But now that Champaign has professionals ready to work with the youth at a centralized location, even overwhelmed parents can walk in and seek help with their at-risk child.

Community Services Director Darlene Kloeppel, of the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, said in the center’s first few weeks, she and her staff had received 49 referrals, eight of which pertained to cases like runaways and worried parents — cases that Kloeppel would never have had the opportunity to handle in the past. Before the youth center was in operation, Kloeppel said the average number of referrals was around 26 per month.

“If we can keep (kids) out of the system, especially for some of these minor offenses, and we can change behavior, that would definitely be advantageous to everyone: to the community, the kids and law enforcement, all together,” Kyles said.

Kloeppel and her staff members spend most of the day making their way through paperwork. She said it’s like any other office.

During this time, they arrange mediated meetings between the minor who has committed an offense and the victim.  A mediator sits in to ensure that talks between the two are productive, with the end goal of having the offender sign a contract written by the victim on how to make up for their actions.

Kloeppel said in one case, a minor who damaged a store owner’s property was later hired to work at the store after the minor finished the agreed punishment.

“I see the difference it makes for the kids,” she said. “A relationship got formed. The store owner was able to understand that this was a person involved who had needs and who was willing to take ownership.”

The center can determine whether, years from now, a minor gets a job. If the minor who had damaged property had appeared in juvenile court instead of receiving help at the youth center, the court records could be later looked up at the county clerk’s office.

Most people, Kloeppel said, are under the misconception that if someone commits a crime as a youth, nobody will ever find out about it. But criminal records are only sealed until adulthood.

“So when you’re 18 and somebody asks you for a background check, they will get your juvenile record,” Kloeppel said. “It becomes a public record and there’s lots of ways of finding out about it.”

To ensure that a kid does not get sucked into a cycle of poor decisions, the center tests each minor to find out what aspects of their lives need to be corrected and selects an agency that deals with that aspect.

“There’s an opportunity for them to link up with some resources,” Kyles said.  “It keeps the kids out of the system. One of the issues is once the kid gets into the system … they start following that bad track record.”

Kyles, who is also a member of the Champaign Community Coalition, saw the Youth Assessment Center as something the community needed — as did the rest of the Champaign City Council.

“Isn’t it amazing when heads get together and do something — and not just blather,” council member Vic McIntosh, District 3, said at the meeting.

And when Kyles passed through the glass doors to speak to the staff members at the center, he could tell that he and his fellow council members had made the right decision.

“I could sense their dedication and their passion toward improving our community,” Kyles said.

Even before the center opened on Sept. 23, Kloeppel painted and decorated the walls with art.  To her, the work is worth it. She helps turn lives around.

“We know that in any circumstance there’s going to be kids that succeed and ones that don’t succeed as well, or kids that need more than one try,” Kloeppel said. “So we are very happy when we can make a difference. That’s partly why we do the job. It’s personally satisfying.”

Stanton can be reached at [email protected].