ARETGroup

Johnny Craig - Founder & Executive Director of Teens Inc and the Timbrook Achievement Center

TEENS, Inc. is a vocational agriculture non-profit organization that provides training for at-risk youth in Winchester City, Frederick County, Clark County, Warren County, and Shenandoah County, Virginia. The primary objective of the program is to prepare students to enter the workforce better equipped for obtaining and maintaining gainful employment. Their program, Timbrook Achievement Center, partners with local Juvenile District Courts and probation to provide services to justice-involved youth ages 15 and older as a “last chance” alternative to incarceration in the community.

The program’s Founder and Executive Director, Johnny Craig, has been working with youth and in the behavioral health field for over 26 years. As a program leader, Johnny has encountered serious challenges when managing organizational data. Prior to adopting ARETGroup, critical records and program information from schools, courts, and mental health agencies were spread across paper files. Grants management was a tedious task because necessary data needed to be better organized, easier to collect, and compiled in one place.

Teens Inc adopted ARETGroup’s comprehensive services in 2023, implementing a centralized data-management software for the first time. Now, whenever a young person enters the program, they check in at the door and that information goes directly into the case management system.

Teens Inc. staff no longer waste time chasing down information; they launch ARETGroup Engage360 links to collect school, behavioral health, and parent information electronically when youth are enrolled. Every piece of data—attendance, programming, demographics, visitations, disciplines—can be recorded in one place.

Major benefits now include:

·       Compliance for justice-involved youth records;

·       Collaboration features for information sharing with courts, schools, public health, and families;

·       Dynamic system configurability for multiple projects;

·       Accurate program tracking and monitoring tools;

·       Stronger credibility and outcomes for reporting;

·       Empowering staff with innovative tools like Engage360.

Technology system adoption requires patience and effort over time, but for the staff at Teens Inc., it has been well worth it. Not only is Teens Inc. now delivering meaningful impact to youth in the community, but it can now share and advocate for program growth in a different way. This stands as proof that any early-stage program, with the right tools, can transform its operations and its outcomes.