LINCOLN, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ) this week celebrated the grand opening of a new youth center that will serve youth from Central Illinois who are in state custody.
The Monarch Youth Center has a 30 bed capacity and is located on the site of the former Lincoln Development Center. Its development is the result of Gov. J-B Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Julia Stratton’s 21st Century Transformation Plan that was announced in 2020.
The center’s plan focuses on reducing the harm of incarceration by transitioning youth to smaller, regional centers close to home, and investing in community wraparound support and intervention services.
“The opening of Monarch Youth Center is an exciting, concrete step toward improving the quality of life for central Illinois’ most vulnerable youth,” Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton says. “One of the primary goals of my office’s Justice, Equity, and Opportunity initiative is to utilize restorative, inclusive, and cutting-edge practices and programs to transform Illinois’ criminal legal system. Monarch Youth Center will do just that, by giving youth who will reenter society a toolbox full of what they need to thrive.”
The Monarch Youth Center will offer continued high school education, career and technical education training in construction and culinary arts, and behavioral and mental health services, including substance use treatment.
The facility includes indoor and outdoor recreational spaces designed to help residents stay engaged.
Robert Vickery, acting director of IDJJ, says, “Monarch has ample natural light, outdoor green spaces, bright colors, and family friendly spaces. It was designed with youth and staff input to r the monarch butterfly, which emerges from hibernation completely transform and reflect best practices in trauma informed care.”
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