County approves Stepping Stones and Cohoes attendance agreements to keep at-risk youth in school

The committee approved two separate agreements aimed at keeping at-risk youth in school and reducing deeper juvenile-justice involvement.

For Item 3, the department asked the committee to enter an agreement with Together for Youth to fund the Stepping Stones program, which the presenter described as a trauma-informed, community-based family-intervention program that supports youth at risk of deeper involvement with the juvenile-justice system and helps youth transition from detention back into the community. "The goal is least restrictive level of care to support the youth and the family," the presenter said. The committee approved the contract on a voice vote.

Item 4 authorized a Cohoes City School District agreement for attendance intervention and mentoring services. Presenters described the Cohoes contract as a one-year program that places caseworkers in schools to build rapport with students and intervene early in lower grades before cases escalate to probation. Committee members asked whether services would be available locally in Cohoes and about transportation; presenters said many prevention programs operate in schools or as in-home visits and that Together for Youth and other partners already provide services in Cohoes schools.

Members noted a difference in contract length: the Albany school-district agreement discussed earlier was described as three years while the Cohoes agreement is one year. Both items passed by voice vote with no roll-call tallies recorded in the transcript.

Staff said the Cohoes program is voluntary for families and emphasized early intervention to avoid court involvement.