About Juvenile Court Book Club

Juvenile Court Book Club is a 501(c)(3) public-benefit nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers.  We operate innovative literacy programs inside San Diego's youth detention facilities.

Since 1996, JCBC volunteers have collaborated with Court School employees and the San Diego County Probation Department to provide students who are wards of Juvenile Court to share books, develop reading skills, and meet new people.  Our programs include monthly Book Club discussions, one-on-one tutoring, independent reading libraries, and college scholarship awards.

Students gather monthly with community volunteers to discuss a wide range of literature in a roundtable book club setting. The books they read serve as a springboard for discussions of real-life challenges, experiences, inspiration, and issues that are relevant to students in detention.

JCBC was founded by Judge Maria Arroyo (Ret.), Juvenile Court Referee, with support and encouragement from Judge James Milliken (Ret.), former Presiding Judge of the San Diego Juvenile Court.  Many of our volunteers are attorneys and retired teachers, and have volunteered with us for more than ten years.

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from numerous partners in the local community.  Our supporters include:

• CECO County Employees Charitable Organization
• Dr. Seuss Foundation
• Friends of Children United Society
• Hervey Family Non-endowment Fund
• Lawyers Club Fund For Justice
• Price Charities
• Rancho Santa Fe Women's Fund
• San Diego Council on Literacy
• San Diego Indigent Criminal Defense Fund
• Wong Family Foundation
• And many others

JCBC is the proud winner of the award for "Outstanding Program for Youth" from the San Diego Juvenile Justice Commission, as well as the 2015 “Distinguished Organization” Service Award from the San Diego County Bar Association and the 2011 "Celebrate Literacy Award" from the Greater San Diego Reading Association.





Thank you Girl Scout Troop 2208

Thank you to the girls and leaders of Girl Scout Troop 2208 who made and painted a beautiful bookshelf and stocked it full of over 400 books for babies and toddlers for the girls at Girls Rehabilitation Facility (GRF) to read to their children and younger siblings during visits.  The children will also be able to take a new book home with them.  Thanks also to San Diego Council on Literacy for the $500 grant for baby books for this project.

Bookshelf and books provided by GS Troop 2208 to GRF.

Girl Scouts of Troop 2208 who built a bookshelf and provided baby and toddler books for girls at GRF.



Supervisory Probation Officer Tyra Myles explains the programs at GRF to GS troop 2208.

Supervisory Probation Officer Tyra Myles answers questions about GRF during visit from GS Troop 2208.

Open Letter to FOCUS -  Friends of Children United

To the members of FOCUS,

Thanks for your generous grant monies recently donated to our Juvenile Court Book Club. In the past two years, you have given us approximately $4300 which acquired 430 copies of 18 different titles for the boys of Unit 800, San Diego Juvenile Hall.

I tell the students, “Your books are given to you by people who’ve never met you. These people feel you are worth their time and their money.” It’s hard to assess if this sinks in – they are teenage boys, after all.

But I hope it does. This is the challenge volunteers working with these kids face. We invest time and effort trying to give skills and viewpoints to this population, yet we’ll never know if we succeed.

However trying is worthwhile. Certainly, if no effort is made, changes won’t occur. Most of the boys openly share that they never read before being detained at juvenile hall. Now without phones, computers, internet, TVs or iPods, books are all they have. They are discovering reading is something you do for yourself, not for a school assignment.

And they are affected by the books. I remember a boy in one of the discussions emphatically stating how he “hated the book.” He then proceeded to analyze it with animated, well thought out ideas. Another book had a character that lost his parents at a young age. One of the students opened up about the death of his own parents. Another shared (after reading “Hamlet” no less!) the regret of actions taken or not taken that cannot be undone. How many students are affected by reading but don’t share? We’ll never know, but I feel there are many.

Mr. Rogers said, speaking of the tragedies occurring in the world and in our lives, “My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” In this day and age, we can all benefit from doing this.

You at FOCUS are true helpers. Your generous donations help these boys to read, think, format ideas and express them aloud. Hopefully this gives them skills and insights to change their lives. Again, thank you for your generous donations to the Juvenile Court Book Club. They are vastly appreciated.

Tadd Mannino

Unit 800 Site Coordinator, Juvenile Court Book Club

Greater San Diego Reading Association Event April 23, 2016

President Jennifer Lawson, along with Board members Tomas Gayton and Barbara Gross, attended the 37th Annual Award Brunch put on by the Greater San Diego Reading Association on April 23rd.  JCBC received an award for its efforts to promote literacy.

Upon accepting the award, Jennifer asked the crowd (mostly teachers) to go out of their way to ensure that previously-detained teenagers feel welcome once they return to their regular classrooms.

JCBC is grateful to GSDRA for recoginizing its efforts to encourage students attending Court schools to read.

San Diego Council on Literacy Affilated Programs

Juvenile Court Book Club is represented by board member Joan Stein (middle row, second from left) at a meeting of the Affiliate literacy groups of San Diego Council on Literacy.  Executive Director of San Diego Council on Literacy, Jose' Cruz, is in the back row center. 

Honors for JCBC

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Juvenile Court Book Club has been selected as the Distinguished Organization of the Year by the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA). The award is given annually for "outstanding service by a group, the contributions of which over a period of time have had a significant favorable impact on some facet of the legal system."  View the press release here.

JCBC is a proud member of the San Diego Council on Literacy

JCBC Program Update

Probation is beginning to allow our volunteers into juvenile detention facilities again after being closed due to Covid19. 

All volunteers (including attorneys and judges) must complete the Volunteers in Probation (VIP) background check in order to be allowed into all Juvenile Detention Facilities.  Contact JCBC Volunteer Coordinator Bobbie Kunath for the VIP form at info@juvenilecourtbookclub.com.  This VIP process will also be valid for participation in the new S.A.F.E. (Supportive Advocacy for Female Education) program in La Mesa and Vista, CA.

Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon

October 5, 2019

Solare Ristorante

12-2 p.m.

Click here to see pictures

from the event.

How to Volunteer

Volunteers are needed to lead monthly Book Club meetings and as tutors!

JCBC provides Book Club programs and tutoring for students in three programs at two of San Diego’s juvenile detention facilities – the Girls’ Urban Camp (formerly called Girls’ Rehabilitation Facility), located at 2861 Meadow Lark Drive, and the Kearny Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility (Juvenile Hall Unit 700-Girls and Juvenile Hall Unit 800-Boys), located next door at 2801 Meadow Lark Drive.

Book Club meetings are scheduled once a month at each program. Sessions are held on weekdays at 10 a.m. or 12 p.m. and last for about an hour. Volunteers facilitate the discussions of the books – which include modern literature, classics, Shakespeare, poetry, and nonfiction – and the issues and ideas they address.

Tutoring opportunities are from 12 p.m. to 2 pm weekdays and two evenings a week from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information about tutoring, see our Tutoring Program page.

The San Diego County Probation Department requires all volunteers working inside detention facilities to undergo a Volunteers In Probation background clearance. Background checks are conducted externally by the Probation Department and normally take 4 to 6 weeks to complete. All information you submit will be kept confidential.

For more information about volunteering for our program and the background check requirements, contact our Volunteer Coordinator at info@juvenilecourtbookclub.com.

If you would like to volunteer with Juvenile Court Book Club but are unable to attend the lunch hour book discussions or other on-site events, contact us to find out how you can lend your time and support!

Support JCBC by Shopping at AmazonSmile

Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases when you shop at smile.amazon.com and designate Juvenile Court Book Club as the recipient of your donations!

How does it work?

1. Sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser using your regular Amazon login information.
2. Choose to donate to Juvenile Court Book Club on AmazonSmile.
3. Begin Shopping!

Once you've selected your charity, everything else functions the same. You can check out normally. No extra cost is passed onto you. Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to Juvenile Court Book Club!

Scholarships

Scholarships are available to attendees of book club meetings who complete high school.  Applications are available through the teachers who are involved with the JCBC or by clicking here.

Applications are also accepted electronically. Click here to access the scholarship application page. The form is also accessible from the Contact Us page.

JCBC Video

View a video featuring JCBC  provided by Paul Friedman of Avalon Video Productions.

Facts about JCBC 

• JCBC is composed entirely of adult volunteers and youth who are wards of the Juvenile Court.
• Volunteers work with teachers, Probation staff, and other employees in the Juvenile Court and Community Schools to create an annual Book Club curriculum (one book per month) to complement the California Public High School English curriculum.
• JCBC raises funds from private grants and donations to purchase copies of each month's title. We serve approximately 140 students per month at three different sites.
• We purchase extracurricular media when it is available, such as related books, movies, magazines and audiobooks, to enrich the Book Club experience for students.
• Adult volunteers attend monthly meetings and interact closely with students to discuss the book. The group leader brings refreshments, and volunteers encourage participation by the students.
• In addition to monthly Book Club discussions, we coordinate author visits, book signings, visiting performers, speakers, film screenings, and field trips.

Did you know...

• 70% of juveniles who are incarcerated for first-time offenses never have further delinquency charges.
• The average 16-year-old Juvenile Court student reads at the level of a fifth-grader.
• More than 70% of prisoners in the United States are functionally illiterate (reading at or below the fourth-grade level).

Want to know more about how the juvenile justice system works? Click here.