WARREN — Youth housed in the Trumbull County Juvenile Detention Center will have the opportunity to receive guidance thanks to a new program.

Juvenile Court Judge David Engler said Thursday that the Trumbull County Juvenile Court is launching MyTribe, a voluntary, faith-based program designed to provide the facility’s detainees with structure, role models and life skills.

The program is being led through a partnership between Engler and Pastor Jason David, a national touring speaker, award-winning recording artist and creator of the MyTribe curriculum and its content.

The program, set to have its first session in early February, will last approximately 75 minutes and open with a Positive and Negative Affect Schedule survey, followed by MyTribe video content and a guided group discussion.

The surveys, a tool used to measure emotional well-being, will evaluate the program, allowing court officials to study whether it is having a positive impact and make data-driven decisions moving forward.

Engler said his interest in a program like David’s was sparked after hearing the story of a young man sentenced to “juvie life” — meaning they were being imprisoned until the age of 21.

Engler said he was approached by the probation officers, who asked him if he wanted to let the man out early because he intended to join a trades program as a mason.

“I was struck by how terrible he had been doing — this is in Columbus, at the Department of Youth Services — he was bad, bad, bad,” Engler said. “He was not participating, not engaged. And then all of a sudden, it all turns around, and he’s doing great things.”

Engler said the man offered to come clean and apologize to his other victims, noting to the man that he did a 180 — asking him what had changed.

Engler said the man, 20, told him that he had “found Jesus.”

“To a cynical person, you may think that’s a jailhouse conversion or something someone’s just saying to get out of it,” Engler said. “I know the power that can be found in finding religion, finding spirituality, finding Jesus.”

Engler said he sometimes sits with the youth housed at the detention center, noting that some are thirsty for leadership and attention, and almost all of them feel unworthy.

“What this is, is showing them love, showing them unconditional love, and the remarkable thing that happens when you say, ‘I don’t care what you went through, what you did to put yourself in this position — you are loved,'” Engler said. “For some of these young men and women, they don’t have a father figure in their life. And to get the message that there’s a father figure God that loves you unconditionally — no matter what you’ve done.”

“It’s that sense of love, that unconditional love, that really transforms a young person; I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and I’ve talked to the young people downstairs.”

Engler said he hopes the program will be a “big success” so that other places throughout Ohio and the system will start utilizing it.

David said the program is called MyTribe because it follows the story of the 12 tribes of Israel in the Bible, and the Bible is full of characters who make mistakes — whether for their own well-being or for their families, hurting themselves and those around them.

David noted that many of the characters were redeemed — despite believing their stories were over.

“Maybe if you don’t believe the stories are true, there’s still truth in the stories that people can be transformed, that it’s not too late, that the mistakes that you made in your past don’t have to define you,” David said. “And that’s what we want to do with this program; we want to speak love to these kids, we want to speak joy — we’re going to have them laughing.”

David said the program will also hit some harsher topics, such as depression, self-harm and the mistakes people make that go beyond themselves.

David, who lost 80% of his tongue to cancer, said he was told he was never going to speak again, and his wife was told he was going to die.

“I know what it feels like to want to give up and want to kill yourself; I’ve been there, I’ve been in so much pain, and the thing is, all of our stories have tragedy in them,” David said. “And many of these young people who have found themselves in the situation they’re in are because their story began with tragedy — how you and I respond to tragedy defines who we become, the hero or the villain.”