A game of cards can change things.

A few months ago, James Eversole was in a stolen car being chased by police. The friend who was driving wrecked it, and Eversole, 17, ended up before a judge. Eversole learned about his new life on house arrest with an anklet and a crew of adults breathing down his neck.

Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette ABOVE: James Eversole, right, plays cards with Viola N. Vano at Glenshire Woods Personal Care Home in McKeesport. Eversole and three others were hired by the home after taking part in the Community Intensive Supervision Project. All youth in the program are required to do 100 hours of more of community service. BELOW: Tim Chavis shares a laugh with Glenshire Woods resident Ruth Smith. Click photo for larger image.

One of the few places he was allowed to go was a McKeesport personal care home, where he was to put in community service hours.

Now Eversole is an employee of Glenshire Woods Personal Care Home, serving coffee and setting tables for the senior citizens he's been playing cards with on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for the past several months.

Eversole and three others hired by the home are in the Community Intensive Supervision Project, a house-arrest program started in 1990 by the Allegheny County juvenile court system.

An integral part of CISP is community service, said Jim Rieland, director of juvenile court services in Allegheny County. The program aims to make children who have broken the law understand the effects of their actions and to build up connections between them and others in their communities.

Youth at all five CISP centers do 100 hours or more of community service, such as picking up litter or cutting grass, during their six to eight months in the program. The McKeesport center, started in 2001, has been strong in making community links, Rieland said.

"We require community service as a way for our clients to give back to the community they victimized," said John Fiscante, supervisor of the McKeesport center. He was interested in finding a way to create one-on-one relationships with residents.

"We tried to go around the community and find a place. At first we were unsuccessful," he said. But last year, he talked with the administrators of Glenshire Woods, who agreed to try evening visits from four or five of the center's youth each week.

It was a bit awkward at first, but once the cards and checkers were broken out, the conversation started flowing, said David Herchelroath, probation counselor at the CISP center. The kids initially had to be badgered into going to Glenshire, he said, but now they all want to go. The Glenshire residents, who hadn't done much card playing before, now have the tables set up and are ready to start games of Tonk, 500 and Uno as soon as the boys walk in the door.

"Miss Mary, Miss Viola, Miss Karen, they are waiting for us when we come," said Derrick Stanford, 16, who was arrested on charges of using and selling drugs.

Officials from both CISP and Glenshire were happy with the results -- livelier seniors, kids forming bonds with older people in their community.

A month or so ago, Fiscante and the center's administration began to discuss the possibility of hiring some of the boys to work there. Two -- Eversole, 17, and Claude Sims, 16 -- are working there now as nutrition aides. They set and clear tables, serve beverages and help residents at mealtimes.

Stanford and Tim Chavis, 16, will begin work shortly. All four are nearly done with the CISP program.

Everyone involved is taking a risk. The personal care home, the court system, the supervisors of the CISP center and the boys all stand to lose if they blow it.

A spokeswoman for the corporation that owns Glenshire said it was the first arrangement of this kind she'd ever heard of.

"We do work with other community organizations, like job corps, but this is the first one of this kind I'm aware of," said Holly Gould, director of communications for Glenshire Woods' owner, Milwaukee-based Extendicare Health Services Inc., which runs 440 nursing homes, assisted living centers, rehabilitation clinics and retirement communities in the United States and Canada.

Fiscante knows he's out on a limb. But the CISP philosophy is based on the idea that juvenile offenders are most likely to change their behavior permanently by being at home, closely supervised, rather than in a juvenile facility.

Most ordered into the program are property offenders, Rieland said -- "burglary, auto theft, misdemeanor retail theft, charges related to drugs, drug use and sales." Judges do not send those who have committed violent crimes or who are repeat offenders to the program.

They are supervised 24 hours a day. They are permitted to be at home, at the CISP center, at school and at work if they have a job. At the McKeesport center, a staff of 14 supervises a group which ranges from 15 to 22 juveniles who live in the McKeesport Area School District.

The boys report to the center every afternoon and are dropped off at home around 9 p.m. After that, center staff members make phone checks and home visits. The electronic monitoring devices the juveniles wear on their ankles let CISP staff know if they are anywhere they aren't supposed to be; violations show up on a computerized system that is monitored day and night.

Police have photos of all the CISP youth in case they disappear. If they are in violation, they are taken to Shuman Juvenile Detention Center.

Probation officers are involved in the program, which includes frequent group meetings to discuss problems or successes. There is a drug and alcohol counselor on staff, and the juveniles are regularly drug tested. They also pay restitution, where required, and write letters of apology to victims, where appropriate.

"We're trying to change everything," Fiscante said. Boys must respond with "yes, sirs" and "ma'ams" to all adults.

During a card game last week, resident Viola Vano dealt and the game clicked along with the efficient ease of familiar routine. The boys talked to their older companions, leaning over to discuss the hands and play. They were routinely and consistently polite, minding their "yes, ma'ams."

Gould, the spokeswoman for Extendicare, said that, because CISP itself is so unusual, she didn't expect to get more requests of this sort from other facilities.

"I think it's fairly unique. We will evaluate the success after a period of time. We are always looking for ways to bring people into the long-term care industry, and volunteering, to see if they are interested in the work, is a good way to do that."