Circuit Rider Community Services staff lead Vista Academy youth on a hike in Yosemite National Park, part of an outdoor experience designed to build skills, confidence and connection. (Circuit Rider Community Services)

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a young person in Sonoma County gets court-ordered into the juvenile justice system, here’s one answer: Sometimes, they don’t go to Juvenile Hall.

They go to Vista Academy.

I learned about it watching SoCo Chat, a podcast produced by the County of Sonoma. Host Matt Brown, deputy communications manager for the county, recently talked with Rob Izzo, CEO of Circuit Rider Community Services, the nonprofit that operates Vista Academy in partnership with the Sonoma County Probation Department.

Brown described Vista Academy as an evening reporting program designed to keep court-ordered youth busy during the hours when trouble can find them — that stretch after school and before parents or

caregivers get home. Izzo put it more plainly: “We occupy that critical space between when school gets out and when parents are getting off work.”

Instead of detention, the program keeps youth at home, in school and in a structured routine five days a week. Circuit Rider staff pick youth up at school, transport them to the program’s facility on College Avenue, and drive them home after dinner.

The goal is simple and ambitious: change the trajectory.

“We can keep youth at home with their parents or caregivers and in their school still earning credits towards graduation,” Izzo said. “Juvenile hall is the last resort and is probably the least effective way of really getting them back into the communities.”

The program blends support with skill-building. “We do a whole host of activities,” Izzo said, from guided meditation to classroom-style work to physical fitness. “They’re running, they’re lifting weights, and we have a bunch of other pro-social activities. We’re making sure that we feed them dinner.”

Then there’s the part people don’t always see: wraparound services.

“We’re also offering wraparound services,” Izzo said. Some youth need housing support. Others face food insecurity. “Mental health is one that’s really popping up for us,” he said. “Being able to identify what a youth needs in that moment is really important.”

Vista Academy is meant to be intensive. Izzo said the program typically runs six to nine months, with youth attending five days a week. That matters, he said, especially when you’re trying to interrupt patterns that can escalate.

“Gangs are a tricky thing in Sonoma County,” Izzo said. “We have them everywhere, all the way from Cloverdale down to Petaluma, Sonoma, and into West County.” Youth may get pulled in for safety, belonging or family culture, he said, and earlier intervention can make a difference.

The most memorable moments in the episode came when Izzo talked about what happens when kids get a chance to be kids again.

Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Circuit Rider took youth to Tahoe. “For all but one of them, it was their first time seeing snow,” Izzo said. “To watch them go jump in the snow to make snow angels … it’s an opportunity to see them drop the mask.”

Another trip took youth to Yosemite. Some had never left Santa Rosa, Izzo said. On the drive in, they asked to stop before they even reached the park so they could take photos.

Photography is part of the program, Izzo said, both as a skill and as a tool for self-reflection. He described a day when professional photographers watched a young person frame shots with an older point-and-shoot camera. One photographer took his own camera off his neck strap and handed it over, telling the youth he had an eye and a future.

Those are the transformations Izzo said he values most: youth who arrive thinking they are there only because they are on probation, then begin to see “there’s something so much more out there.”

Izzo said Circuit Rider’s work depends on partnerships across the county, including Probation, Regional Parks and Ag + Open Space, along with other community organizations.

People can learn more or connect with Circuit Rider at circuitridercs.org, through its Instagram account or by visiting its offices at 401 College Ave., Izzo said. Volunteer opportunities include working with youth in mentoring programs, helping with restoration projects and sharing job skills through workforce readiness efforts.

Brown framed Vista Academy as part of a larger effort to help young people take responsibility, build skills and return to their communities with a real chance at success. In Sonoma County, at least, some leaders are betting that structure, support and time in the right place can work better than a locked door.