CENTINELA YOUTH SERVICES

Our History

In 1973, officers of the Inglewood Police Department recognized a serious community problem: when they responded to calls, many of the young people they were interacting with were being arrested when instead they should have been receiving counseling and support. The officers attempted to connect the offending youth with appropriate services, but as the scope and breadth of the problem grew, it became apparent that an organization dedicated to helping youth and families in high-needs communities was needed. In 1975, Centinela Youth Services (CYS) was established to achieve this purpose.  Originally administered by the city of Inglewood, CYS services quickly expanded to include support for youth and families in the cities of Lawndale, Hawthorne, Gardena, and Lennox. In 1995, juvenile court jurisdictions from across Los Angeles County began to refer youth to CYS. Its Victim Offender Restitution Services (VORS) program was recognized as a national model in Restorative Justice in 2014.

In 2011, with a $1 million grant from the Everychild Foundation, CYS launched the Everychild Restorative Justice Center (ERJC) next to the Inglewood Juvenile Court. The ERJC provides intensive clinical case management and comprehensive community-based intervention programming to divert youth from the juvenile court system. In 2012, thanks to a $1 million

Title II grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections and the advocacy of members of Everychild Foundation, a second center was established in South Los Angeles. Modeled after the successful Miami-Dade Youth Assessment Center in Florida, CYS’s Juvenile Arrest Diversion Program (JADP) is the first pre-booking juvenile diversion program in the state of California. These innovative CYS services are again expanding, and currently a new Restorative Justice Center is in development to provide access to pre-arrest diversion services for youth in the San Fernando Valley.

Our Programs, Services, and Training:

Each year, as many as 2,500 youth participate in the opportunities and second chances CYS services provide. In addition to its Every child Restorative Justice Centers and Juvenile Arrest Diversion Program, CYS offers the following services and training.

Martin Rivera