OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A new multi-faceted facility for youth in the juvenile justice system, Radius, celebrated its opening on Wednesday morning.
The nonprofit is located on a five-acre campus in North Omaha and will begin providing services in July.
They'll host up to 24 youths ages 12-18 who are ordered to go there by a judge in the juvenile justice system.
The creators of Radius aimed to fill a gap they saw in care options for youth in the Omaha area such as youth facing challenges in many areas, including mental health, trauma and substance abuse.
"There's some areas where youth are still falling through the cracks," said Howard Liu, Radius' board chair and a University of Nebraska Medical Center psychiatrist, after complementing the work of other organizations in the metro. "Particularly youth with complexity, multi-factorial needs, they often are still needing services...The youth we will serve here will often be a combination of mental health, substance use, trauma and extreme behavior that does not always lend itself well to existing programs in the city, state, or surrounding communities."
Those children are then often sent outside the community, Liu said.
"Radius was created intentionally to serve that population," he said.
Radius says it will have four services under the same roof: residential, a school, in-home services with families starting early, and healthcare provided by the Charles Drew Health Center, including behavioral health and general healthcare needs.
The new Charles Drew location on the campus will also be open to the community at large.
At full operation, Radius will have 50 staff. They have about 25 now, said the CEO, Nick Juliano, but that will grow as youth enter.
The building project was funded by $25 million in philanthropic support, and ongoing funding for services will be provided by the state for placing youth in the juvenile justice system there and the school. The health center is funded by traditional means.
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