You can find information about how to initiate a project and project initiation forms in the Leaders pages.
What is the J. Paul Taylor Center Project?
This project is an outgrowth of our church’s social justice outreach through the work of a subcommittee of the Social Action Committee. The project is a unique faith based partnership focused on assisting the state juvenile justice services’ reform efforts in moving from a correctional model to a rehabilitation model for incarcerated male youth.
A subcommittee of the Social Action Committee, known as UU Friends of the J. Paul Taylor Center, provides a variety of social service programs for the clients of the J. Paul Taylor Youth Correctional Center. This is a medium risk prison that houses youth, ages 13 to 21, as they are preparing to be paroled back into the community. The subcommittee sponsors dinners on a regular basis with small groups of the young men and local church members to establish rapport and begin a relationship with the clients. This relationship enables us to then engage the clients in program activities that have been identified by the prison staff as crucial for their success in the community upon parole. These activities have included:
- Follow-up visitations with the clients after dinners to encourage their progress toward preparation for parole,
- A workshop on the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and a Four Spiritualities Seminar so they better understand the impact of their personality on their relationships with others and the different spiritual paths that are personality related,
- Recruitment and training of volunteers to conduct classes to work on stress management and anger control, critical thinking skills, journaling, academic skills, art projects, appreciation of literature, and twice yearly classes on sex education using a time proven curriculum developed jointly by the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist denominations.
- Hosting a photography show at our church art gallery that allowed the clients to sell their own photography to raise money for a local human service agency,
- Assisting eligible clients 18 years and older in becoming registered voters and casting absentee ballots during the 2004 elections, and
- Compilation of a Dona Ana County community resource directory in both English and Spanish, which gives a list of resources that the clients can draw on for help upon release from prison.
This project was initiated in 2004 and grew out of an effort of the prison superintendent (at that time), Paul Martinez, to find faith based organizations that were willing to assist the prison staff in moving from a correctional model to a rehabilitation model, an effort inspired by the leadership of the State Secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department, Dr. Mary-Dale Bolson. The project is moving into its sixth year of operation. During our first year of operation, we secured a modest grant of $6,400 from the Unitarian Universalist Funding Program to develop materials and expand program projects that the JPTC staff believed would be important in implementing successful rehabilitation strategies.
The success of this project and satisfaction of the prison staff with our church’s capacity and willingness to help the youth has encouraged us to expand on this program and bring it to scale over the next several years by collaborating with other community groups to build a base of volunteers to sustain activities throughout future years. We are hopeful that many in our community will be inspired by what has been accomplished to date and will want to join us in this initiative.
