ORDINANCE NO. 230293

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Sponsor: Director of the Municipal Court

Authorizing the acceptance of a $92,020.00 grant from the Jackson County COMBAT program to fund the Kansas City Municipal Court Truancy Court Program; estimating and appropriating $92,020.00 for the Jackson County COMBAT grant in the General Grants Fund to fund the Kansas City Municipal Court Truancy Court Program; designating requisitioning authority; and recognizing an accelerated effective date.

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WHEREAS, the purpose of the Kansas City Municipal Truancy Court is to ensure that children between the ages of 7 and 17 are in school as mandated by law, the Truancy Intervention Program (TIP) is designed to improve the school attendance of youths who are referred to the program by their school districts and to empower parents and guardians who were cited for their children not attending school as directed under the compulsory law while giving resources to the families as needed; and

WHEREAS, through this program, referrals are made to community agencies but due to extreme economic deprivation of program participants, many cannot afford needed services. COMBAT grant funding will pay for services that participants would not have received otherwise to increase program success and reduce violent risk factors; and

WHEREAS, with the COMBAT grant funding, the Municipal Court will serve up to 300 Truancy Court participants and provide a Case Manager to work with Truancy Court parents, guardians, and children by identifying and addressing barriers and root causes of truant behavior and providing field-based case management services, linkages, resource, and follow-up services to families who choose to participate in the program rather than receive imposed sanctions by the judge; and

WHEREAS, Truancy Court Intervention Program services include but are not limited to anger management and parenting classes for parents and guardians in need of those services; service referrals...

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