Often the 'story' stops with the hero - or focuses on the drama. I want to delve deeper into this story. I want to share what happened over time that the hero thought, acted, and then others joined in. I just read an article that caught my eye...about how (Whatcom County) Teen Court Tops Decade of Helping Youths in Trouble.

And I realized that a friend of mine, Chuck Snyder, started it way back in 1998. Today the effect of one man's brainchild has caused a profound ripple effect on the lives of many teens, our community, and the ripple effect has snowballed.

And the wave is still compounding with other movements.  I see that a tipping point was reached with the launching of the National Association of Youth Courts in 2007.

Chuck is now a Superior Court Judge, and what he said about the program last night is that "I'm only one person in the process. It is really the kids who participate in the program who make the difference for themselves and for the others they work with. And,Teen Court is one of a number of innovations in juvenile justice that are designed to have an impact on kids early, before they get into deeper trouble. And it works."

"Administered through Northwest Youth Services, Teen Court is now in its 11th year. The first teen court in [Washington] the state, it began as a pilot program in 1998 and has inspired the creation of more than a dozen similar ventures in Washington," said Beaty, its longtime coordinator.

The program's nearly $65,000 budget is covered by a mix of local tax money, United Way support, and help from local attorneys and civic groups. Considering that it costs nearly $4,000 to hold a teen in juvenile detention for a month, nudging minor offenders back onto the straight and narrow can be a money-saver.

About 36 young defendants go through Teen Court each year, which mirrors the fall-through-spring school year.

More than 160 student volunteers participated last year, plus 14 adult attorneys who helped as mentors or fill-in judges. This year, teens from 12 high schools in the county are volunteering, up from 11 last year."

Here is the point, and I think it is significant. It started with one guy who had an idea and acted on it to enroll others. That guy was Chuck Snyder, who, at the time was a Whatcom County Superior Court Commissioner. How did it start?

He told me that he'd read an article about a type of youth court program in Texas. He decided to launch one here, and took it to a new level with a full-fledged 'in-the-courtroom' type of program.

Today his brainchild has become a model for others. It is what that article is talking about...it has spawned over a dozen programs they said. Now think about the ripple affect:

• Lives Changed: Over 11 years hundreds of teens have had an alternative to the old court system. That means thousands of lives have been changed for the better through this program - just in my county. Dozens of other start ups have rippled out. And every change in a family ripples out through the extended family, and it can have generational impacts.
  

• Multi-fold Economic Savings: I am not an economic genius, but the implications I would guess are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars redirected potentially every year, times many years and multiple new programs. Compound impact? I don't know - but it is significant.
  
  
• Community Collaboration: Notice that the funding this is not about just the government saving us, or a bunch of victim thinkers. This is all about pro-activity. It is a combination of public, private, tax, civic, and entrepreneurial contributions. The money is cross discipline, the volunteers come from all walks of life, the support is cross cultural. The result is institutional change. Wow!
  

How cool is that? It is a win-win-win. Years ago, this wasn't the story. Today it is...and our community is better for it. Someone had an idea and acted on it. Someone wrote about it. Someone read it, had another idea and acted on it. Others joined in and it got built up over time. Now we see a national organization growing, and the potential ripple effect on society over time is huge.

Congratulations Chuck, and to every other person, teen and adult, who participated, learned, grew and strove to make a difference in the lives of real people right now. The world is a better place because of you. That worked and is still working. You put your head, heart, hands and vision to work. Thank you from me and from our community.