Ball Brothers Foundation Awards JUMP Program with $60K

Delaware County, Ind. — In addition to the $5,000 given last year, The Ball Brothers Foundation awarded another $60,000 to the Judicial Users Manufacturing Partnership (JUMP) program this past fall (2022). 

The JUMP Program is a joint project with the Delaware County Courts Probation Department, IVY Tech Community College, and 23 local manufacturing companies to help individuals who have been a part of the justice system find jobs and stability as they transition back into society. Other key goals of the program include: connecting affected populations with more diverse opportunities to achieve self-supporting independence, developing and cultivating a more robust inter-agency cooperative in the justice system, reducing costs to taxpayers and the judicial system by diverting individuals to opportunity, reducing stagnation of unpaid costs, restitution or fees on pending user accounts and child support cases, addressing labor shortages, and launching a longitudinal partnership between the justice system and the Delaware County community. 

“The justice system has to learn to be a source of inspiration for individuals who are considering change,” said JUMP Program creator and Delaware County probation officer John Bush. “The justice system has to try and educate and assist these individuals—who are in a stage of crisis in their life—to find another way.”