More than 1,000 young people in Scott County referred to social services program

The Coordinated Assessment Program launched in 2021 with a goal of connecting youth and families to preventative behavioral and mental health services to lower juvenile crime and helping families avoid crises by providing referral and case management services. 

The program is funded by the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Scott County, United Way Quad Cities and the John Deere Foundation.

From the program's start in 2021 to December 2024, a total of 1,147 young people were referred to the Community Assessment Program, according to Tuesday's presentation.  

Social workers completed 665 assessments to pinpoint support services needed, and made 1,188 referrals. Of those referrals, 443 were to Family Resources supports and 745 were to external agencies, specialists and resources. 

Most referrals come from schools, said Tonya Torres, the supervisor of the Coordinated Assessment Program, as teachers, administrators and counselors are around their students everyday and notice changes in behavior. Other places that Family Resources receives referrals from are Health and Human Services, police departments, juvenile court services, community resource programs and friends, family and neighbors. They also receive some self-referrals from parents searching for resources. 

"We see referrals come in for help with disruptive behaviors at school, at home, fighting at school, chronic absenteeism, maybe the youth has gone through a trauma and some sort of loss, and they need support services for that," Torres said.

Other times, parents describe the child's behavior they may need help with or services for. Other things Family Resources receives referrals for, sometimes in conjunction with other challenges, are housing instability, clothing, food or other basic needs. 

The average age of people referred to CAP is 11 years old, said Family Resources President and CEO Nicole Cisne Durbin.

"We talk about early intervention so you can get in, help those kids, get them therapy or services, or get them a mentor. Get them someone that shows up all the time for them, and really talks about life things, and gets them on the right track to hopefully make it so that they don't start to engage with those kids that are doing that bad behavior or getting involved in crime," Torres said. "They have people that care about what they do on a daily basis. They have people that check in with them on a weekly basis and it really makes a difference in their lives."  

The program is free, and the only requirements for enrollment are:

• the person is 17 years old or younger or are still in high school at age 18
• they reside in or attend school in Scott County.

Family Resources employees act as care coordinators that work with other providers and help the referred families navigate complex systems. 

An advisory council made up of representatives from LULAC, NAACP, the county HHS, law enforcement partners, the John Deere Foundation and United Way meets on a monthly basis to review the data and approaches.  

Part of the data they review is tracking suspensions and chronic absenteeism, an issue especially prevalent after the pandemic. Most CAP participants that had previously received a suspension were not suspended again.

The latest data, Family Resources' report stated, found 82% of young people served made progress and showed behavior improvement. Out of young people that had an incident where they received some form of suspension, 81% did not receive another suspension. And 71% of families stayed engaged in services consistently. 

While it can't be directly linked to prevention programs, law enforcement officers at Tuesday's meeting said in Davenport, juvenile car theft charges were down by 30% from 2023 to 2024, shots fired incidents were down 56%, and group and gang gun violence was down 29%.  

According to a Davenport Police Department press conference in early December, between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2023 there were 453 stolen vehicle incidents, compared to 288 in the same period of 2024.

In 2020 over the same timespan, there were 339 stolen vehicle incidents, with 383 in 2021 and 379 in 2022.

New support groups in 2025

Starting in 2025, CAP will begin hosting gendered peer support groups as an additional effort to engage teens. 

The support groups will follow guidelines from One Circle Foundation, a nationally accredited foundation that offers a framework for conducting youth-led peer groups. 

Two staffers were trained through the foundation to facilitate support groups for girls, called Girls Circle, and have started facilitating groups meeting at Family Resources and Davenport schools, Torres said. 

Torres said the foundation has conducted studies that show Girl Circle participants had better school attendance and were more engaged in their education. 

Two staff are also being trained to facilitate similar peer support groups for boys called Council for Boys and Young Men. 

Also new in 2025, CAP employees will set up a location at the new Youth Justice Rehabilitation Center. The CAP location is slated to open in July. Family Resources anticipates it will allow social workers to be on call for services after-hours, assist with prevention and intervention services and facilitate peer groups on-site. 

YJRC Director Jeremy Kaiser told the board the location at the YJRC will allow law enforcement to connect children arrested but not detained immediately with services for them and their families, rather than trying to follow up later. 

"That is kids that are picked up on new charges that don't qualify for detention are able to be assessed and engaged immediately in the moment," Kaiser said. "So, we wanted that to be a part of our model here locally, and we wanted it for years, we just have never had the space for it." 

In other business before the county board

The Scott County board will consider designating no-parking zones along roads near the Bettendorf Soccer Association complex.

According to board documents, it's become common for vehicles to park along the shoulder of both sides of 210th Street and Scott Park Road, raising concerns for pedestrians crossing a busy road and blocked traffic. The speed limit on 210th Street is 45 miles per hour and rises to 55 miles per hour about 500 feet east of the intersection, which is near the entrance to the soccer complex. That street sees about 7,000 vehicles per day.

Scott Park Road's speed limit is 45 miles per hour and sees an average daily traffic count of 3,940 vehicles per day, according to board documents.

County staff discussed the recommendations with the association, according to board documents, and the group is accepting of the parking restrictions and plan to work with the county to educate members about the parking restrictions, according to board documents. 

Supervisors will also consider approving two new hires to fill vacancies in the county attorney's office.

One attorney is Victoria Noel for assistant Scott County attorney in District Court. Noel is a 2010 graduate of the John Marshall Law School and managed her own law firm for 14 years. The offer is at Step 2, $84,552 per year.

The second is Michael Galvin as assistant Scott County attorney in Associate Court. Galvin is a 1984 graduate of Valparaiso University school of law. Galvin has been in private practice for 40 years, including for the past 10 as a senior attorney with VanDerGinst Law. The offer is at Step 7, $95,659 per year.