By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Growing up in a sports hub like Kansas City, Central Kansas Community Corrections Director Brooke Haulmark knows a thing or two about rebuilding a team. Many changes have taken place at CKCC since Haulmark took over as director in January. Now fully staffed for the first time since October 2023, part of the rebuild of the organization includes a new mission statement.
"The prior mission statement did talk about cognitive behavior, which is huge, and it did talk about, despite legal convictions, everyone has the ability for positive self-change," Haulmark said. "As a team, we felt the way the old mission statement was worded was maybe negative. We wanted to focus on the positives on how we're going to move forward."
The new mission statement is, "We commit to empowering individuals by equipping them with life skills, emphasizing accountability, and to assist in leading them towards a sustainable and lawful life in our community."
"It's not about overlooking things that are negative or are illegal," Haulmark said. "It's about addressing them, holding them accountable for those actions, and then how do we move forward in giving them the skills they need to correct that behavior or going back to court if they so choose with their behavior and actions."
Along with new staff at CKCC, the rebuild has included new vehicles, new office furniture, and even new paint in the office. In April, Haulmark reported that the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) was funding CKCC $10,000 less than the year before. On May 20, KDOC announced CKCC would receive an additional $136,693 in funding for fiscal year 2025.