Nevada County Mentoring Collaborative

The Nevada County Mentoring Collaborative (NCMC) is comprised of the County Health and Human Service Agency, four existing mentoring programs'Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nevada County, Friday Night Live Mentoring Program, Friendship Club, and Pupil Assisted Learning. As well as other key stakeholders, such as elected officials, law enforcement agencies, educational agencies, and other child and youth-serving agencies. The collaborative aims to expand mentoring services for children and youth (ages 6-18) who score high on possible risk factors for crime (i.e., histories of family dysfunction, poor socialization skills, substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and school problems). The principal goals of NCMC are to reduce and prevent juvenile delinquency and recidivism among system-involved youth, and to increase young people's feelings of connection to the community. This will be accomplished by establishing a mentoring collaborative in Nevada County, developing a centralized entity to receive child referrals and to recruit volunteer mentors, and increasing the number of youth receiving mentoring services by 30% over the three years. Some of the activities will include hiring a full-time Collaborative Coordinator, establishing an advisory board, hiring other staff to expand site-based mentoring services to more children, and establishing an over-arching evaluation system for gauging program impact and collaborative effectiveness. CA/NCF