WICHITA, KS - Rep. Melody McCray-Miller celebrated when a bill she pushed requiring Kansas's juvenile justice system to reduce racial, geographic and other biases became law in May.

The real celebration will come, the Wichita Democrat said, once black and Hispanic youths' presence in the system decreases.

A pilot program that has been operating for two years got approval from Sedgwick County commissioners Wednesday to seek more money to keep working to reduce the overrepresentation of minorities in the system.

Although commissioners were supportive, they requested information about the program's accomplishments, especially since the disproportionate numbers continue.

In 2005, minorities constituted 51 percent of juveniles arrested in Sedgwick County -- black youths were 31 percent, and Hispanics were 17 percent.

That's up from 44 percent in 2003 and 50 percent in 2004.

"If the numbers haven't changed, we need to continue to work," County Commissioner Tom Winters said.

In 2004, the federal government created a pilot project for communities to examine their juvenile justice practices -- from arrests through sentencing. The goal was to find ways to reduce the number of minority youths in the system.

Sedgwick, Riley and Finney counties were selected to participate in the three-year pilot project, now in its second year.

States that fail to reduce the number of minority youths in their juvenile justice systems could lose program funding. Kansas faced such restrictions in 2003, according to the Kansas Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The project requires counties to identify, address and reduce the disparity.

If the request for funding is approved, the program could receive $57,500 in September from the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority.

More than $103,000 from the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority has been allocated for the project.

Besides data collection and analysis, the project has focused on raising awareness about the issue within the black and Hispanic communities.

"It only makes sense to target those that are off the kilter the most to reduce their numbers," McCray-Miller said.

Deputy Chief Terri Moses of the Wichita Police Department, who works with the program, said the process will take some time but an impact can be made.

"Just because progress is slow doesn't mean it's nonexistent," she said. "If you're not willing to take baby steps, we're never going to get anywhere."