A District Heights youth counseling program once in danger of being the victim of state budget cuts will stay alive for the remainder of 2010 thanks to grant funding.

The city's Family and Youth Services Center received $228,280 from the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention to continue its Children in Need of Supervision, or CINS, program, said youth services center director Priscilla Souto at the city council meeting March 4.

The GOCCP held a press conference at the city's municipal building Feb. 22 to announce the award, Souto said. Bill Toohey, a GOCCP spokesman, did not know if other Maryland CINS programs also received GOCCP money.

The CINS program, which began in April 2008 as a counseling and referral service to prevent youth from entering or sliding further into the juvenile justice system, had been in danger of ending in late June at the end of fiscal 2010, after the program was set to lose funding from the state's Department of Juvenile Services by last Dec. 31.

State budget cuts in the fall reduced the DJS budget for fiscal 2010 from $262 million to $255 million, according to the department.

District Heights' CINS program, which emphasizes including the whole family in the counseling process instead of one-on-one sessions between a youth and a counselor, is the only CINS program in Prince George's County, which surprised Mayor James L. Walls Jr. There are CINS programs in other Maryland counties such as Baltimore, Calvert, Charles and Harford, according to the state's Department of Juvenile Services Web site.

"I was shocked," Walls said March 4. "I thought other cities were doing something similar."

The GOCCP money will be enough to sustain the program until Dec. 31, Souto said.

Souto said she applied for GOCCP grant money in the fall and was "absolutely elated" to hear in early January that the GOCCP would help keep the program going. There were 195 youths and families that received CINS services in fiscal 2009, between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009.

"It also saved positions within the Youth Services Bureau," Souto said.

There are two full-time counselors certified specifically for CINS counseling, Souto said. She also hopes to train herself and a second person to do CINS counseling this year, she added.

Commissioner Eddie Martin (Ward 2) praised Souto for her work in the Youth and Family Services Bureau and was excited about the money awarded.

"In this economy, that's a lot of money," Martin said. "It's just a testament to what's being done down there."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.