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- The Youth Justice Initiative (YJI) in West Des Moines is a restorative justice program helping youth improve their lives and avoid criminal records.
- Volunteer Dave Ball, whose son successfully completed the program, emphasizes YJI’s positive impact on families and students.
- YJI boasts a recidivism rate of less than 10% and utilizes “circle” meetings to foster accountability and support.
Dave Ball knows firsthand how the Youth Justice Initiative in West Des Moines can change lives, because he’s a parent whose child received help turning their life around.
The Youth Justice Initiative, or YJI, is a restorative justice program that encourages youth to do self-constructive things such as improve their academic performance, repair family relationships and avoid drug use, while avoiding a criminal record. The program also serves youth who have not committed an offense but may be at risk of doing so or dropping out of school.
Ball, 72 years old and a West Des Moines resident, is a marketing consultant who has volunteered with YJI for about 12 years. One of his sons used to be in the program and went on to become a lawyer.
“I think giving kids a second chance is important,” Ball said.
He started out as a mentor but also has been a driver taking youth to activities such as soccer practice and visiting Des Moines Area Community College to look at program options.
What is rewarding about volunteering at YJI?
“It’s the most rewarding thing I do in my life,” Ball said of his work at YJI.
He’s seen families come into the program with issues between parents and their children and walk out speaking to one another again. He’s seen students do better in school and have better relationships with the people around them.
“You see a change in someone’s life,” Ball said.
Friends of YJI, the nonprofit that helps support the program, includes on its website that YJI has the lowest recidivism rate among diversion programs in Polk County, with a recidivism rate of less than 10% in the 2024 fiscal year.
What are good qualities to have for this work?
“You need to be a decent listener,” Ball said.
It helps to be a neutral person who can give feedback to youth and their parents.
One part of the program that Ball has been a part of is monthly “circle” meetings that each youth individually has with their parents, community volunteers, YJI staff and sometimes school staff or police officers.
Youth in the first circle admit to what they’ve done, such as drugs at school or shoplifting. Those things are never brought up again, and at subsequent circles, youth give updates on how they’re doing in school, at home and in community service.
Circles usually last for about six months, though the clock starts over again if youth re-offend, Ball said.
“We’re not out to punish them,” but support youth to the point where they want to be in the program, Ball said.
He described the approach as “we want you to do better, and how can we help you do better.”
How to volunteer with the Youth Justice Initiative
YJI’s offices are inside the West Des Moines Police Department. More information about the program is available through the city’s website at wdm.iowa.gov and through Friends of YJI at yjifriends.com.
A volunteer sign-up sheet is available online.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X at @pslifeisabeauty. Find out more about him online through the Register’s staff directory.
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