KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — With juvenile crime spiking in Killeen during the first three months of 2025, community advocate Sandra Minor is taking action. As Executive Director of the AYADD Outreach Center, Minor is planning a new mentorship program aimed at guiding youth inside the juvenile detention center toward better choices.
For Minor, the first step in making a difference is simple: listening. “What we’re doing is one simple solution—listen. If you don’t listen, it’s virtually impossible to help them,” she explained.
Her approach is firm yet compassionate, ensuring young people are held accountable while creating a safe space for trust and personal growth. “The mentoring program is going to be a resource, an outlet where they can be in a room, trust, feel comfortable, and release,” Minor said. “We’re not here to punish you, we’re not here to beat you up. But you will be held accountable. So, go clean that room, paint that wall, rake that yard, and learn to make better choices.”
Beyond addressing individual choices, Minor wants to tackle bullying, a growing problem she says is escalating. “Let’s try and find a way to diffuse bullying, and to do that, we as parents have to stop encouraging violence,” she emphasized.
Her ultimate goal? Teaching responsibility. “What we would like to see come out of it is for children to own it. If you don’t learn how to own the choices you made, and own the repercussions of it, and don’t do what we call the blame game, that’s something we have to teach them to do,” she said.
Minor hopes to have plans in place by late June, though there is no official timeline for launching the program. While detention center officials were unavailable for comment, Minor remains committed to her vision, preparing to introduce real change for Killeen’s youth.
