U-Care Waterloo
The Waterloo U-CARE office is located in the Waterloo Quakerdale Campus at 140 South Barclay Street. The U-CARE program has heavily relied on community buy-in to facilitate this process. The community’s goal for the Waterloo U-CARE program is to reduce the percent of Black Hawk County minority youth confined in detention and entering the Juvenile Justice system by 5% compared to the average of the past five years.
The Waterloo U-CARE program will work to reduce DMC through several different projects. First, the U-CARE Coordinator serves as the Black Hawk County DMC Coordinator. In this role, Belinda Creighton-Smith co-facilitates monthly taskforce meetings, coordinates communication between all community partners, and serves as a community resource contact for DMC-related issues.
Other Waterloo U-CARE projects include developing a culturally competent foster care program that will serve as an alternative for 48-hour juvenile court holds in detention. Too often kids are placed in detention because parents/guardians cannot be contacted. In these instances the foster care program will provide 48-hour care instead of detention placement.
Currently study circle sessions are being conducted in the Waterloo community to inaugurate the process of building communication between law enforcement and the minority community. These sessions allow representatives from both sides to openly discuss issues and dispel misunderstandings. The first round of study circles has recently been competed and preliminary post-program evaluations provide excellent outcomes in changing attitudes between all parties involved.
The final priority area of the Waterloo U-CARE program is to continue raising public awareness of the DMC issue in Black Hawk County. The Waterloo DMC coordinator conducts regular radio programs, responds to newsworthy events, conducts community presentations, and works with social service providers to increase the community’s capacity to address these issues.
The U-CARE program is currently sponsoring a Waterloo basketball league with the Boys and Girls Club to provide much needed recreational opportunities for minority youth.
The U-CARE program has greatly benefited from the community buy-in that has occurred throughout the implementation of the program. Some of our most active partners in Waterloo are Juvenile Court Services, Quakerdale, State Rep. Deborah Berry, Boys and Girls Club, Waterloo law enforcement, Families First, Dept of Human Services, Cedar Valley Promise, UNI, Talent Search, Lutheran Social Services, Urban Ministries, Social Action Inc, Pathways, Four Oaks, local public officials, and other interest community leaders.
For information regarding the Waterloo U-CARE program, please contact Belinda Creighton-Smith, Waterloo U-CARE DMC Coordinator, at 319-236-1955 or belinda.crieghton_smith@urbandreams.org.For additional information about Urban Dreams’ statewide U-CARE program, please contact Zachary Wilson, State U-CARE Program Director, at 515-288-4742 or zachary.wilson@urbandreams.org.
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