Nancy E. Gist, Director

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Assistance

Kid’s Korner joins law

enforcement, public health, and

social service agencies with a

myriad of other public and

private organizations to assist

low-income children and

families in the Reno, Nevada,

area. Through this special

partnership, Kid’s Korner works

to ensure that all children,

regardless of economic

circumstances, have the

opportunity to lead healthy

and productive lives. The

Bureau of Justice Assistance

(BJA) supports this innovative

program through a grant

awarded under the BJA fiscal

year 1998 Open Solicitation

Grant Program.

Washoe County, Nevada,

which includes the cities of

Reno and Sparks, is a thriving and growing community

with an estimated resident

population of 300,000

people. The area is known

for its tourist attractions,

including casino gambling.

Approximately 850 people

move to Washoe County

each month, many seeking

employment in the region’s

casinos and hotels, which

offer many low-paying jobs

with few employee benefits.

Housing costs in Washoe

County are 25 percent

above the national average,

with scarce affordable housing in the region. Many lowincome workers cannot rent

apartments in the area due

to the large deposits and

credit checks that are required. These workers end

up living in older motels that

often are poorly maintained

and in violation of building, safety,

and health codes. Weekly motel

rates average between $120 and

$200, and are often much more

than a comparable apartment

would cost.

Kid’s Korner Program: City of Reno,

Nevada, Police Department

by Brian Crane, Program Manager, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and

Kelly Dedel Johnson, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, The George Washington University

Young patients come for a checkup at the Saint Mary’s

Take Care-A-Van.
2

In June 1996, two Reno police officers investigated several incidents

involving small children and their

parents living in the motels on Reno’s

Fourth Street Corridor. The police

officers found children who were

unsupervised, hungry, and living in

extreme filth and poverty. Parents

were frequently intoxicated, and

there were indications of severe and

chronic substance abuse. These families needed considerable help, but

they were unaware of community

resources that could provide assistance. The Reno Police Department

created the Kid’s Korner program to

help meet the needs of these vulnerable children by linking families to

community resources and services.

Kid’s Korner Program

Kid’s Korner is a “Knock-and-Talk”

program in which police officers visit

and check on the welfare of children

living in local motels and provide

families access to resources in the

community. A public health nurse

accompanies a police officer to offer

on-the-spot health and social assessments of the families, “well-baby”

checkups, and immediate medical

referrals. The nurse also provides

education on hygiene, nutrition, child

development, parenting skills, and the

effects of drugs and alcohol. Funding

from the Bureau of Justice Assistance

(BJA) has allowed the Reno Police

Department to add a full-time police

officer and a full-time public health

nurse to Kid’s Korner, enabling the

program to significantly increase the

number of children and families it

serves.

The Kid’s Korner program has grown

considerably since its founding in

1996 and is now an integral part of

the Reno Police Department. Within

the program’s first year of operation,

the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office

and the City of Sparks Police Department each assigned one officer to

Kid’s Korner, allowing the program

to serve communities outside the

Reno city borders. The Saint Mary’s

Community Outreach “Take Care-AVan” was added to the program

shortly thereafter, enabling Kid’s

Korner to provide medical services

to families at their doorsteps. Kid’s

Korner is now a collaboration of six

agencies in the Reno area: the Reno

Police Department; the Sparks Police

Department; the Washoe County

Sheriff’s Office; the Washoe County

District Health Department; Saint

Mary’s Community Outreach; and,

most recently, the Washoe County

Department of Social Services, which

added social work staff to the program in September 1999.

goals. These goals are clearly connected to the program’s design and

mission.

❑ Improve the physical and emotional safety of children by

a. Addressing immediate safety

concerns.

b. Reducing the incidence of child

abuse and neglect.

c. Improving parenting skills.

❑ Improve the physical health of

children by

a. Addressing immediate

health-care needs.

b. Providing preventive health

care, such as immunizations,

and educating parents about

health care.

c. Providing and improving access

to health and dental care.

d. Making referrals to other

agencies as needed.

❑ Educate parents about

a. Child health and safety.

b. Prenatal and infant care.

c. Family planning.

d. Prevention of sexually

transmitted diseases.

❑ Improve the quality of life for

families by

a. Helping families set priorities to

meet their basic needs.

b. Referring families to community

services.

c. Assisting families in enrolling

and equipping their children for

school.

To accomplish these goals, the Kid’s

Korner program has developed two

separate, but interrelated, components to provide services to lowincome children and families in the

Reno area. These two components—

Knock-and-Talk and Take Care-AVan—are described in detail below.

Knock-and-Talk

Kid’s Korner focuses on one of

Reno’s hidden crises: the significant

“Kid’s Korner fulfills the

core public health functions

of assurance through its

outreach to homeless and

near-homeless families. Its

provision of, and referrals

to, health-care services constitutes some of the most

important work we do.”

Barbara Hunt, R.N., M.P.A.,

Division Director, Clinical and

Community Health Services,

Washoe County District Health

Department, Nevada

Mission and Goals

The mission of the Kid’s Korner

program underscores the program’s

commitment not only to provide

immediate care to children and families but also to connect them with

long-term resources that will nurture

their overall health:

The Kid’s Korner program is committed to assisting the community’s vulnerable children by linking families

with resources and services to

increase their opportunity for a

healthy future.

To fulfill this mission, Kid’s Korner

has developed the following program
3

Kid’s Korner Program

needs of homeless children and families who have found temporary housing in the area’s motels. The program’s

target population is children ranging

from newborn to age 6 who are at

risk because of inadequate health care,

adult supervision, housing, and nutrition. Children in this age group are

among the most underserved population because they are often invisible

to the network of services that can be

accessed once a child attends school.

To locate these children, Kid’s Korner

staff visit about two dozen area motels, asking the occupants if they have

children.

The targeted motels are selected from

a combination of such sources as police records of service calls related

to child abuse and neglect, Washoe

County Child Protective Services reports, and informal discussions with

other professionals who are in contact with homeless and near-homeless

families.

During the Knock-and-Talk motel visits, the police officer and public health

nurse assess the family’s situation and

determine the types of services and

interventions appropriate for the family. The public health nurse brings a

baby scale and other medical supplies

to check the health of the infants and

children she sees on her visits. She

also educates families about parenting

skills, nutrition, hygiene, and other

health-related issues. While the nurse

is attending to the family’s medical

needs, the police officer spends time

with the children, encouraging them

to do well in school and to stay away

from drugs, crime, and other negative

influences. The Kid’s Korner police

officers have become positive role

models for the children, something

missing in many of their lives. Officers

recognize that by working with children at a young age they can help

them avoid future criminal involvement. Kid’s Korner, with its emphasis

on building positive relationships

between law enforcement officers and

the residents they serve, is an example

of community policing at its finest.

The direct and active participation of

law enforcement officers during the

Knock-and-Talk visits sets Kid’s

Korner apart from other similarly

focused initiatives and has greatly

contributed to the program’s early

success. Before the program began,

would attempt to remove the children.

They would not open their doors to

her and frequently hid. Now, with the

addition of a police officer and a team

approach, doors are opened, children

are seen, and services and referrals are

provided.

Kid’s Korner has found that families

new to the program are more willing

to see program staff when a uniformed

police officer initiates contact than

when the nurse is by herself. The police officer lends a reassuring presence

to families unfamiliar with the program.

Exhibit 1 illustrates the Knock-andTalk outreach protocol.

The overall philosophy of the Knockand-Talk component is to address family problems quickly and on the spot

whenever possible. In preparation for

the motel visits, the team assembles

resources: educational materials (social

service resources, Kid’s Korner brochures, health and child development

information), toys, school supplies,

children’s clothes, diapers, transportation vouchers, and resource guides.

This approach blends outreach visits

and immediate followup services. For

example, a family found with schoolage children at home who are not yet

“The Kid’s Korner program

is truly an example of

community-oriented

government. I believe this

is one of the most

important and effective

services we have provided

to members of the

community who are

traditionally forgotten.”

Jerry Hoover, Chief of Police, Reno

Police Department, Reno, Nevada

many families were reluctant to see

the public health nurse when she

visited. Having prior experience with

child welfare agencies, families feared

the nurse was a social worker who

Police officers and a public health nurse pay a Knock-and-Talk visit to residents at a local motel.
4

enrolled in the local school may receive

immediate transportation to the

school, assistance in completing the

enrollment process, and a cab voucher

back to the motel. This action-oriented,

problem-solving approach is one of the

core strengths of the program. The

ability to offer immediate services is a

critical resource when working with

families who often do not know where

they will be living from one week to

the next.

Kid’s Korner staff regularly revisit families. These families may have received

help from the team in the past or may

have simply welcomed the offer of assistance. With families who are initially

resistant, the Kid’s Korner team continues to offer support and understanding.

All services are voluntary, and medical

treatment is not given without parental

consent.

An important objective of the Knockand-Talk visits is to treat medical

problems early, before they deteriorate

and become more difficult, and often

more expensive, to cure. For example,

many children and families seen by the

Kid’s Korner team do not have medical

insurance or a health-care provider.

With few options available, families often take their children to the hospital

emergency room for medical assistance, at great expense to the county

and area health-care agencies. Kid’s

Korner works with families to avoid

these costly trips to the emergency

room. In conjunction with the Saint

Mary’s Take Care-A-Van, social service

workers from the Washoe County Department of Social Services follow up

the Knock-and-Talk visits to help families obtain immunizations, physical examinations, and referrals to area health

clinics. By receiving regular medical

care, children and families can remain

healthy and avoid having to use the

hospital emergency room as their

primary treatment provider.

Occasionally, Kid’s Korner staff encounter situations requiring immediate and

direct intervention from law enforcement and child welfare agencies. These

cases include children who have gone

without food for days, children with

inadequate clothing, acutely ill children,

and children living in unsanitary conditions. Other examples are children

who have been abandoned and young

children who are left to care for their

younger siblings while their parents are

away. When these situations arise, the

Kid’s Korner team contacts Washoe

County Child Protective Services to

place the children in protective custody. The arrest of offending parents

and the removal of children to an

emergency child-care facility are sometimes necessary, but the goal of Kid’s

Korner’s proactive approach is to avoid

separating children from families whenever possible.

Take Care-A-Van

The Knock-and-Talk visits form the

foundation of the Kid’s Korner program. All other program activities originate from the contacts made during

these visits. One such activity is the

Saint Mary’s Take Care-A-Van. The Take

Care-A-Van is a fully equipped, 40-foot

mobile medical clinic donated by Saint

Mary’s Community Outreach, a nonprofit, health-care and philanthropic

organization. This component of Kid’s

Korner responds to a critical need

discovered early in the program.

Many children seen during the Knockand-Talk visits are not current with

their immunization schedules, a major

barrier to school enrollment. When the

Kid’s Korner program began, the public

health nurse administered immunization shots to children in the families’

motel rooms. Often, the rooms were

dirty and inappropriate for medical

procedures. Compounding this problem, the nurse could only see a few

children during her visits because the

children were scattered in different

motels throughout the area.

Medical services have been greatly

enhanced by the Saint Mary’s Take

Exhibit 1. Knock-and-Talk Outreach Protocol

Visit motel manager to

identify units housing

families with children.

Fill out Knock-andTalk contact form.

Provide services as

needed by family.

Knock on door,

introduce team, and

offer services.

Establish rapport.

Offer access to mobile

health van and other

onsite resources.

Give incentive (e.g.,

clothes, toys) to parent

and child for participating.

Identify needs (immunizations, living

conditions, food,

clothes, etc.).

Client willing

to use

services?

Record description of

services provided during 

visit on Knock-and-Talk 

information form.

Immediate

action

needed?

Provide referrals, educational 

information, and other resources, 

as appropriate.

Record planned followup services on

Knock-and-Talk information form.

Action by police or 

Washoe County Child 

Protective Services, 

as appropriate.

Yes

No

Yes

No

Source: Munns, Jack. 1998. Kid’s Korner Operations Manual. Reno, NV: Reno Police 

Department, p. 26.
5

Kid’s Korner Program

Care-A-Van. The van is staffed by an

immunization nurse, a clerk, a nurse

practitioner from the Washoe County

District Health Department, and two

human service workers from the

Washoe County Department of Social

Services. Twice each week, the Take

Care-A-Van drives to a different part

of the Reno area to provide free

health services, particularly immunizations, to families. Parents, often contacted the day before during the

Knock-and-Talk rounds, bring their

children to obtain free preventive

medical care. A wide range of healthcare services is available at the van:

❑ Immunizations.

❑ Education about illness signs and

symptoms, home safety, feeding, and

parenting skills.

❑ Well-baby examinations.

❑ Lice and scabies checks and

treatment.

❑ Medications, such as fluoride,

acetaminophen, and diaper rash

ointment.

❑ Referrals to other community

resources, such as counseling,

clinics, dentists, and public assistance programs.

The Saint Mary’s Take Care-A-Van is

now the second largest childhood

immunization clinic in Washoe County.

Immunizations and other services are

offered on a continuing basis but are

not intended as a substitute for regular primary care. Instead, the health

nurses work to avoid costly emergency treatment of clients, to ensure

that immunizations are current, and to

offer immediate short-term help. Following these services, many families

are referred to area clinics and other

health-care providers to obtain additional assistance. The van functions as

a “hub” where social service workers,

public health nurses, and police officers can assess the welfare of their

clients and encourage a long-term

relationship with the program.

Community Linkages

An important aspect of the program is

its emphasis on community referrals

and linkages. Through the Knock-andTalk and Take Care-A-Van components,

Kid’s Korner seeks to eliminate service

gaps that hinder families and children

from obtaining needed assistance.

Several programs in the Reno area are

available for low-income residents.

These programs range from federal

programs, such as Medicaid and WIC

(a nutrition program for women, infants, and children), to local services,

such as community health clinics, food

banks, and thrift stores. Unfortunately,

many families do not use these services. Families seen by Kid’s Korner staff

are often new to the area or move

so frequently that they do not know

about the services available in their

neighborhood. Such barriers as illiteracy,

lack of funds, cultural differences, lack of

transportation, mental health issues, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect,

and drug and alcohol addiction also

hinder families from accessing and receiving community services.

To overcome these obstacles, Kid’s

Korner staff work hard to educate

families about and, more important,

link them to these resources. Regular

tasks include helping families to obtain

stable housing, birth and immunization

records for school enrollment, and

information on emergency food pantries and places that serve meals.

Program staff also refer clients to appropriate agencies and monitor their

progress to ensure that they receive

the services they need. Two full-time

human service support specialists

from the Washoe County Department

of Social Services are responsible for

overseeing this effort. The goal of

these activities is to help families become self-sufficient and increase their

chances for a healthy and productive

future.

Collaborative

Partnerships

Partnerships are essential to the success of the Kid’s Korner program. Not

only does the program depend on the

contribution of resources and staff

from several agencies, it also requires

a diversity of perspectives and expertise on how best to serve disadvantaged children and families in the

community. Kid’s Korner staff have the

freedom to step outside traditional

boundaries when providing services.

For example, during the Knock-andTalk visits, the public health nurse may

be accompanied by a Reno, Sparks, or

Washoe County law enforcement

Getting vaccinated by a Take Care-A-Van nurse.
6

officer, regardless of the jurisdiction

that the team may be in that day. If

jurisdictional lines were held fast, program operations would suffer as program staff tried to juggle the needs of

the clients, the staff schedules, and the

city of residence. Instead, the officers

conduct outreach and followup services across jurisdictional lines while

ensuring that required official police

actions are handled by the appropriate

department. The Kid’s Korner staff

work as a team, irrespective of jurisdictional boundaries.

Many other organizations contribute

to the success of the Kid’s Korner

program. Kid’s Korner works with religious groups, nonprofit organizations,

taxi companies, grocery stores, and

others that contribute funds and supplies. Service groups such as the Junior

League of Reno, Lions Club, Girl Scouts,

and Soroptimists have donated money,

supplies, and volunteer time to the

program. Many local community human service agencies such as Family

Counseling Services, Project Restart,

Gang Alternative Partnership, Crisis

Call Center, Health Access Washoe

County, Family Court Judges, Head

Start, Washoe County School District,

and Catholic Community Services

offer assistance and donate services.

Corporate partners such as Ralston

Foods and Silver Legacy Hotel/Casino

have also contributed to Kid’s Korner.

In April 1999, several partners joined

together to hold a Just for Fun spring

day camp at the Silver Legacy’s City

Center Pavilion. More than 70 children

enjoyed a day of games, arts and crafts,

and storytelling. Appearances by the

Washoe County Sheriff’s Office K–9

units and Darin the D.A.R.E. Lion

were also popular with the children.

For children who normally spend

A public health nurse discusses available resources and provides information to a parent.

Members of the Knock-and-Talk team.

most of their days inside a motel

room, this event was an opportunity

for them to be “regular” kids for the

day. Kid’s Korner plans to hold similar

events in the future.

Kid’s Korner has received a variety of

financial and nonfinancial resources to

support the day-to-day operations of

the program. The program’s operating

budget of more than $330,000 is a

combination of cash donations and

federal, state, and private foundation

grants. The Reno Police Department

administers these funds on behalf of

the program. In addition to the Bureau

of Justice Assistance, the E.L. Cord

Foundation, the Bretzlaff Foundation,

the Nevada Division of Child and

Family Services, and others have

awarded grants to support Kid’s

Korner.

The nonfinancial resources obtained

by Kid’s Korner are also critical to the

program’s success. The six major partners contribute more than $200,000

per year in combined salaries and

services. Donated clothing, food, baby

supplies, taxi vouchers, emergency

housing vouchers, school supplies, and

other materials were worth an additional $10,000 in 1999. These numbers

do not, of course, include the invaluable dedication and commitment of

Kid’s Korner staff and volunteers,
7

Kid’s Korner Program

Acknowledgments

The Bureau of Justice Assistance would like to thank Officer Jack Munns,

M.S.W., Reno Police Department; Sergeant Kandi Payne-Davis, Washoe

County Sheriff’s Office; Karyn Murray, R.N., P.H.N., Washoe County

District Health Department; and Karen Faehling, M.S.W., Washoe County

Department of Social Services for their cooperation in researching and

writing this bulletin. The preparation of this article would not have been

possible without their assistance.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice

Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National

Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

without which this program could

not continue.

Kid’s Korner is a true public-private

collaboration and its existence and

success are directly attributable to the

many partners who have joined together to help children and families in

need in their community. Their combined talents and resources have allowed the program to expand and

become an established source of support for low-income residents in the

Reno area. Perhaps the program’s

greatest assets are the spirit of collaboration and sacrifice evident among

the various program stakeholders and

their willingness to set aside traditional boundaries to achieve a comFor More Information

For more information about Kid’s

Korner, contact:

Kid’s Korner

City of Reno Police Department

P.O. Box 1900

Reno, NV 89505

775–321–8325

For additional information on the

Bureau of Justice Assistance and its

programs, contact:

Bureau of Justice Assistance

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

202–514–5943

World Wide Web:

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA

Bureau of Justice Assistance

Clearinghouse

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

1–800–688–4252

E-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org

World Wide Web: www.ncjrs.org

Clearinghouse staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

eastern time. Ask to be placed on the

BJA mailing list.

U.S. Department of Justice

Response Center

1–800–421–6770 or 202–307–1480

Response Center staff are available

Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

eastern time.

The Kid’s Korner program was

honored with the National Council

on Crime and Delinquency’s New

American Community Award on March

23, 2000, at a ceremony in Chicago,

Illinois. The award recognizes individuals, citizen groups, and organizations

across the country that are working

to reduce crime in their communities,

particularly programs that strive to

keep children from getting involved

in crime.

NCJ 181718

June 2000

mon goal. Created by a group of individuals and agencies committed to addressing child abuse and neglect in

Northern Nevada, Kid’s Korner can

serve as a model for other jurisdictions facing similar problems.