ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Juvenile Corrections & Prevention Services (JCAPS) program does a lot of work with youth in the community and recently, there was a change in leadership.
Longtime employee Chelsea Droste was recently announced as the new director for the entity, and her journey to her new role began many years ago.
“I was born and raised in Dodge City, and I moved to Liberal in 2004 and ended up ultimately graduating from Liberal High School. I had my oldest son when I was 22, and I went to Seward County Community College for some school there,” Droste said. “I later moved to Lawrence for a few years and then moved back to Liberal, and from there I went to work for Liberal Area Rape Crisis/Domestic Violence Services (LARC/DVS) for a while. When I left LARC/DVS, the former JCAPS director, Cristy Mulanax, hired me, and that was in 2017. I started as a juvenile supervision officer, and in that position, I supervised youth who were on probation. While I was in that position, I also helped implement the art mindfulness program, which is similar to art therapy without the actual therapy since I don't have that licensure. There were also some changes made in regard to juvenile laws in 2017, including some alternative to detention programs – for youth who would go to detention, they were able to participate in one of those programs and still be supervised before being sentenced, and I also helped implement some of that.”
Then, Droste became the program coordinator under the Reinvestment Grant in 2019, and she did not slow down.
“In that position, I made sure all the youth we were working with completed the program and set up family engagement events to help encourage that. I was also in charge of making sure the officers were doing what they were supposed to in order to help our youth complete everything,” Droste said. “That position also included a lot of data analysis to determine what was and what wasn't working. In 2022 or 2023, we let go of that Reinvestment Grant, and when that happened, I went back to being a juvenile supervision officer, but I also oversaw all the probation youths and ensured the officers were also doing everything necessary with them in terms of compliance and checks and all of that. In 2023, I was promoted back to program coordinator, but this time, we combined the operations supervisor position we had with the previous coordinator position since we didn't have that Reinvestment Grant anymore, and that included a lot of the work from my previous positions in terms of compliance and reporting things to the state. I did that until just recently, when I was officially promoted to the director position.”
Droste added part of her interest in working at JCAPS was inspired by her time working with LARC/DVS.
“Working with LARC/DVS, I'd already had some experience with some of the darker sides of the community, and I wanted to continue helping and giving back to the community,” Droste said. “I knew I wanted to work with people who needed that type of help and support, but with JCAPS specifically, that rather fell into my lap. Cristy's husband worked at SCCC with security, and when I worked at LARC/DVS, I was the college advocate, and there was a training we were both at in Olathe, and after that, when the juvenile supervision officer position became open, he told me about it, I applied, and everything took off from there. It was not something I ever really thought would happen, but the fact that it did, it's amazing, and I've never felt so professionally fulfilled.”
Droste said her interest in the role was piqued in early 2024.
“Our previous director had let our team know a few years ago she was planning on retiring, and then in January 2024, she officially announced she would be retiring sometime during the year,” Droste said. “That timeline was never fully clear, and her final date ultimately ended up retiring in December. At that point, we started working on how that succession would go and whether the position would go to someone already in the organization or someone from outside the organization. Ultimately, it was decided it would be best to not train anyone while she was still here, because she wanted the new director to have more or less a clean slate and not be influenced by anything that had happened before. Applications were taken from November into December, during which I applied for the position. By the end of December, the interview process hadn't yet started, and the county appointed April Warden as the interim director, but I was in charge of the more day-to-day operations and that stuff. Then, our budget application was due in March, and I had to take it to our advisory board in January to present what the next fiscal year would look like. During that process, we determined it would be best budget-wise to get rid of the program coordinator position, and we presented the advisory board three options – hire someone from outside the organization as the new director, promote someone from in the organization to the director position, or continue running without a full-time director and have April continue working as our interim. The advisory board then decided to take the internal promotion option, and that's when I was chosen for the position.”
Upon being officially chosen for the position, Droste said there were many emotions.
“I felt really excited. I've worked with JCAPS since 2017, and I truly love my job and love working with everyone who comes through the door. I love working with the clients and their families, and my staff is amazing. I actually wish an agency like this had been around when I was growing up, I feel like I could have saved myself a lot of trouble,” Droste said. “We work hard to meet our clients where they are and guide them to make good decisions for themselves. Knowing I get to still be part of this agency and help my clients and help invest in them, it makes me feel great. I was a little overwhelmed with everything at first since it's completely different being THE person in charge, but after I took a breath, I felt better because I know I have a lot of connections in town to leverage and a lot of ways I can help. Overall, I'm very grateful and I truly appreciate everyone here, because they're all very supportive and very hardworking, and they've all been bringing some amazing ideas to the table. I'm very grateful I've been given this opportunity and that the powers that be decided I would be good in this role. I'm really excited for this opportunity to also strengthen some relationships with different opportunities throughout the area, because we serve six counties, and I can't wait to work with everyone possible.”
And as Droste tells it, she does not expect to slow down in her new role.
“A primary goal for me at the moment is to work on strengthening relationships with other area agencies and entities that also work with youth and increase that collaboration so we're all meeting the needs of every one of our clients,” Droste said. “Another goal of mine is for us to, as a community, really start investing in the youth more, because there's a lot more we could be doing for that age group and their families. JCAPS is not a preventative agency, but that doesn't mean we can't do some work in our communities to help youth realize they can make good decisions and not have to be sent to us. I would also love, at some point, for us to be able to set up a youth resource center that would be a one-stop place for everything necessary like DCF, youth empowerment, JCAPS, tutoring options, working with the Recreation Department, etc. That's a goal that's way down the road, but it's still something I think would be really beneficial. I also really want to help my team in terms of professional development so they can feel confident in themselves and do the best job they can.”
Overall, Droste said, she is ready for this new opportunity.
“I'm definitely excited for all the networking opportunities, and I'm also excited to hear from others in the community about what JCAPS can do for them and what they're expecting from our agency,” Droste said. “I want to hear all those voices from the community and help make those ideas a reality, if possible. Many people don't know JCAPS exists unless they actually have to deal with us and our staff, and I would love to help spread the word more about what we do as an agency and be a strong community partner. I'm again very grateful and excited for the opportunity, and I could not have done this without my team, because they're amazing. I'm really excited to see us become a bigger community partner and see how far we can take JCAPS, because we all have amazing ideas. I'm very appreciative of everyone and everything, and I can't wait to see how this all goes.”
