“We did it! Someone is gonna look after our kids!”
Those were the words of Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling (D–Henrico) last month as she embraced Valerie Slater, executive director of the nonprofit RISE for Youth.
The Virginia Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee had just unanimously approved HB438, a bill LeVere Bolling introduced to create a diversion program that would keep certain delinquent youths out of the court system.
She said the bill would help people like her foster son, who got in trouble when he was in middle school, but has since turned his life around…