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The Community Intensive Treatment for Youth Program (C.I.T.Y.)

The Community Intensive Treatment for Youth Program (C.I.T.Y.) was founded in January 1981 by Edward E. Earnest (1943-2005) in Gadsden, Alabama. With the assistance and support of the Honorable Judge Robert E. Lewis (1927-1993), the city of Gadsden, and the Gadsden City Board of Education, the C.I.T.Y. Program began enrolling students on February 1, 1981. C.I.T.Y. is designed to be a multidimensional program emphasizing habilitation (i.e., equipping at-risk youth on juvenile probation with skills needed to meet the demands of modern society). Its objectives are: 1. to identify the at-risk youth’s individual strengths and weaknesses, 2. to provide an individualized environment in which the at-risk youth can develop skills, and 3. to alter the natural environment of the at-risk youth so that new acquired skills are nurtured and encouraged. To achieve these objectives, C.I.T.Y. offers academic remediation in reading, math, language; intensive counseling that involves behavior modification, consumer education, and job readiness training. After all objectives have been met, C.I.T.Y. provides GED preparation, return to public school, and placement into technical school, college, job, or military service.

From February 1, 1981-September 30, 1984, C.I.T.Y. operated under an organization known as Innovative Resources.  In 1984 program funds were channeled through the Upward Mobility for Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization.  On November 1, 1988, C.I.T.Y. became part of the State of Alabama under the Department of Post-Secondary Education and became known as the C.I.T.Y. Skills Training Consortium.  Due to politics and budget funding, on October 1, 2009, C.I.T.Y.’s name was changed to Special Programming for Achievement Network (S.P.A.N.) and presently functions under the directorship of the Alabama Department of Youth Services. 

In 1983, C.I.T.Y. Program of Etowah County (Gadsden) received the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Unique and Innovative Project Award.

Edward E. Earnest’s dream was to have ten C.I.T.Y. Programs located throughout the state of Alabama.  Today there are eleven S.P.A.N. Programs (formerly C.I.T.Y. Programs of Alabama) located in the following counties in the state of Alabama:  Etowah (Gadsden), Jefferson (Birmingham), Madison (Huntsville), Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Chilton (Clanton)), Houston (Dothan), Dallas (Selma), Franklin (Russellville), and Lauderdale (Florence).