message from director

On behalf of the staff and residents of the Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center (Foote Center), I want to welcome you to our website.
The Foote Center is a 118 bed multi-purpose facility operated by the Division of Youth Corrections within the Colorado Department of Human Services. The Foote Center is located in Arapahoe County and we service the communities of Arapahoe, Douglas, Denver, Elbert and Lincoln counties. The Foote Center has the capacity to hold 118 residents, including 96 detention beds and 22 committed beds. The facility is designed to hold residents awaiting court hearings, sentenced youth and youth committed to the Department of Youth Corrections for an undetermined amount of time. We can hold a youth as young as ten years of age or until they reach their twenty-first birthday. The average age of your youth is 16 and the average length of stay is 13.5 days. Even though safety and security is our primary job, are focus has, and always will be, to keep our residents engaged in fourteen hours of structured programming daily.
Our programming revolves around our Education Program. Cherry Creek Schools teach our pre-adjudicated youth while Third Way Schools teaches our committed population. The Foote Center is very proud of our partnership with the education department and on May 13, 2004, the Foote Center hosted our first graduation ceremony for three residents. Our second graduation is planned for November 2004 and we are hoping to make the graduation ceremonies an annual event.
Other programming offered to our youth include: Anger Management Groups, Female/Gender Specific Groups, B.O.L.D.-Banking On Life’s Desires Group, Thinking for a Change (T4C), Individual Drug/Alcohol relapse prevention and Group Relapse Prevention Groups, Automotive Technologies Vocational Class, Kitchen Work Program, Photography Class, and Victim Impact Groups/Panels. We also offer a Transitional Program for our committed residents, including work release within the community. Family transition groups are also available to the youth and their families.
Several opportunities are available for our residents to engage in the Restorative Communities Justice (RCJ) programs. Priorities for these programs are given to those youth with outstanding restitution and/or community service balances. Our work program allows youth to earn monies to pay off their outstanding restitution balances. Other RCJ programs include: Work Program at Cherry Creek and Chatfield State Parks, Denver Rescue Mission, 9 Health Fair, Cleaning of the Juvenile Assessment Center in Arapahoe County, Beautification Program, and Victim Panels. Our RCJ program was awarded a “Best Practice” in 2004 from the DYC Quality Assurance Audit Team.
Interns and volunteers are a significant part of our Program. Last year we had over 5000 volunteer/intern hours. We are grateful for the communities support in helping us reshape our residents into productive citizens of Colorado.
The staff at the Foote Center takes great pride in serving the youth, families and communities of the 18th Judicial District. We are an effective team that is involved, engaged, united and supportive of our mission. Enjoy your tour through our website and welcome to the 2004 DYC Facility of the Year!