Charlotte, N.C. – Once a week for two hours 15 year-old Smith visits Shining Hope Farms for equine skills groups where he has been learning how to take care of horses and better control his emotions.
“I am feeling down sometimes until I see and touch the horses,” Smith said. “When I’m around them I don’t have to think about what I usually think about. Instead, I think about the horses, what I can do to help the horses and how the horses help me.”
Smith is one of 20 program participants in the Youth Advocate Programs (YAP™), Inc. Mecklenburg County Youth Justice Program and among six who are provided wraparound equine skills group through the generosity of the horse farm. In 35 states and Washington, D.C., YAP is a national nonprofit provider of community-based services that reduce the nation’s over reliance on youth incarceration and residential placements and also works with cities to help reduce neighborhood violence.
YAP empowers program participants by helping them see their strengths and connecting them and their families with individualized tools to meet their economic, educational, and emotional goals. Guided by the nonprofit’s “no-reject, no-eject” policy, YAP’s decades of service include working with many young people whose histories include serious offenses, multiple arrests, and lengthy out-of-home placements.
Smith has been in the program since March and was referred to YAP through the juvenile justice system after going down the wrong path; but since he’s been working with Shining Hope Farms he has gained confidence, trust and responsibility.
“These activities and engagement also assist with social skills and development along with patience and anger management,” said YAP Mecklenburg County Program Director Hope Knuckles-Perks. “Smith has overcome his fear of horses and in this specific situation, it has helped retrain his brain to develop a more positive association with whatever has been triggering his fear.”
Smith was paired with two Advocates, Donta’ Fuller and Keri Thompson, both of whom spent time with him and picked him up from home and took him to the farm.
“Mr. Keri is different. I can talk to him and he knows what I’ve been through. He is trying to help me get a job. I needed someone to talk to, to keep me out of trouble. He understands me,” Smith said. “And if it wasn’t for Mr. Donta’ and his push for me to try new and different things, I would not have completed the horse lessons or explored other things.”
Thompson said he wants youth to know that their situation is not the end and that there is a lot more out there that they can do, see, and can explore.
“Things like the horse farm are things that we try to do with program participants such as equestrian therapy, cooking classes, the cycling program,” Thompson said. “There are several programs that we try to involve our young men in to help them reach their greatest potential. We want them to be pointed in the right direction and influenced in the right way.”
Since the YAP Mecklenburg County Youth Justice Program started in 2019, it has helped approximately 135 young people and their families. According to John Jay College of Criminal Justice research found 86% of YAP’s youth justice participants remain arrest free, and six – 12 months after completing the program, nearly 90% of the youth still lived in their communities with less than 5% of participants in secure placement.
In addition to his dad, Smith knows he can depend on YAP.
“By building those relationships and connections in a different way and being that voice for my families is what it’s all about. I’ve always wanted to give back and help people,” Knuckles-Perks added. “I see Smith coming out of his shell and I am honored to be part of his village.”
Smith has started learning how to ride horses and hopes to learn even more over the next couple of months he has left in the program.
“If I need something, she is there,” Smith said of Knuckles-Perks. “If I need someone to talk to, she is there. I can rely on her. I want to keep going with the program, I like working at the farm.”
For more information on YAP, visit yapinc.org.
