Gulf Coast National Trades Center lies nestled in the Sam Houston national forest, about 55 miles north of Houston, Texas.  With its sprawling, 57-acre campus, this correctional facility is home to nearly 200 adjudicated juvenile offenders from all over the state.  There, these juveniles are able to develop social and occupational skills that will help them to succeed in society.

"We have one foot in the juvenile justice area and then we have another foot in the work force area," said Thomas Buzbee, Executive Director of the Center.  "We try to expose [juveniles] to the real world and working."

At the Center, juveniles choose one of nine trades to learn; their options include bricklaying, building, landscaping, cabinet-making, painting and decorating, building maintenance, culinary arts, auto-mechanics and desktop publishing.

"We look at the labor market [when we decide what trades to offer]," Buzbee said.  "These are jobs that are still in demand."

The juveniles who are sent to the Center to learn these trades are typically ages 16-19 and have committed crimes like breaking and entering, assault and auto theft.  They are referred to the non-profit facility from either the state or individual counties, who send youth there to divert them from juvenile detention institutions.

"Counties basically use us as an alternative to incarceration," Buzbee said. 

The Center has no cells or barbed wire to detain its juveniles, who typically spend seven months there.  They are monitored by staff rather than security devices and live in dormitory-like cottages where 24-26 juveniles sleep in open bay areas.

"The atmosphere has a lot to do with the environment and the learning because it's not institutional, in a sense," Buzbee said.  "We don't have fences.  The kids aren't sullen."

Institutional environments do not cultivate learning and promote the development of juveniles' self-esteem the way the Center does, Buzbee said.  "We have a lot more to offer than the institutions do," he added.  "It's kind of a privilege [for juveniles] to come to Gulf Coasts."

Getting a Gulf Coasts Education

The juveniles who are referred to the Center are not only able to learn a trade, but they can also obtain GED's and drivers' licenses there.

"Our GED success rate is about 65 percent, which is very high for this type of population," Buzbee said.

For teens who do earn their GED's, the Center holds graduation ceremonies, complete with caps and gowns, and the juveniles are given diplomas and class rings.

"It's a carrot that we dangle out for them," Buzbee commented about the ceremonies to which families are invited.  "It rebuilds their self-esteem."

While many of the Center's juveniles pursue GED's, others, who read and write at lower levels, are educated accordingly.  After an initial assessment, juveniles are placed on educational tracks based on their abilities.

"Everything is self-paced," Buzbee said. 

In addition to an academic education, some juveniles at the Center also receive drivers' education and have an opportunity to get their licenses while they are there.

"You have to have a driver's license to drive to your job," Buzbee pointed out, noting that Texas is a large state where people typically need transportation to go anywhere.  "It's extremely important they have that driver's license to go to work."

And preparing juveniles for the working world is the Center's ultimate goal.

Developing the Skills to Succeed

When it was opened in 1971, the original purpose of the Center was to encourage teenagers who had dropped out of high school to re-enroll, revealed Buzbee, who has been involved with the Center since its inception.

"The objective was, in those days, to motivate kids to go back to school," Buzbee said.  "We found out that [it] didn't really work," he added. 

"We learned from our experiences.  They're not going back to school.  Schools don't want them," he said about the juvenile population that the Center serves.  "You're setting them up for failure [by sending them back to school]."

In response, the Center became a facility where juveniles are trained for trade-related jobs, like bricklaying, building houses and landscaping.

To begin their training, juveniles are educated about their specific trades in a classroom and once they have grasped the relevant concepts and safety issues, they can actually work in the field.

"We put them on a work experience site with an employer and where they may also earn money," Buzbee said.  "That's what we call the tail-end of the program."

According to Buzbee, this real-life work experience helps juveniles to develop work ethics and become self-sufficient, qualities that will help them succeed in their employment endeavors once they leave the Center.

"The best thing you can do for [those juveniles] is give [them] occupational skills, social skills and educational skills," Buzbee noted.   

Life after Gulf Coasts

Armed with these skills and hands-on experience, juveniles head back into the community, ready for employment.  The Center then helps them find jobs in the trades they studied there.

"We go with the young people and we introduce them [to potential employers]," explained Buzbee.  Also, the staff at the Center coaches the juveniles on how to dress for interviews, what to say and how to provide references, he added.  "When they go, they're a little more prepared."

To ensure their success in the community, the Center has staff throughout the state who conduct follow-up visits with juveniles and maintain contact with them for at least one year after they are released.

"We keep in contact because that's the most critical thing," Buzbee said.  "If they don't have that then the likelihood of [them] falling back into trouble is very high," he added. 

According to Buzbee, maintaining ties with the juveniles who have been released from the Center helps to keep recidivism rates low.  The Center's male juveniles have a 15.5 percent rate of re-offending, while females have a recidivism rate of 5 percent, he noted.

"We don't save everyone," Buzbee said.  "We're not the panacea."

But, he pointed out, the recidivism rates for juveniles who are detained in institutions are as high as 50 or 60 percent.

"That ought to make you realize that you need to do other things besides lock kids up," noted Buzbee.

With that in mind, the Center aims to set juveniles on the right track by helping them to develop trade skills that will enable them to become productive members of the community.  And after more than three decades of working with Texas juveniles, it is the dedication of the staff that keeps the Center going.

"We're driven by doing good things for kids to get them off of the streets and give them skills," believes Buzbee, who has dedicated the last 30 years of his life to the Center. 

"It's been a labor of love."

Resources

To learn more about the Gulf Coasts Trade Center, go to www.gctcw.org or contact Thomas Buzbee at (936) 344-6677