Youth Diversion Project

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

The Youth Diversion Program seeks to serve at-risk youth, 12-18 years old, who are: "School Age Siblings" of gang involved young adults who are currently participating in the City of Pasadena's Gang Intervention Program ' Northwest Outreach Workers (NOW); truant youth with extreme school truancy and at risk of further delinquency, gang involvement, or community violence, currently enrolled in Pasadena Unified School District; or "First Offenders" who have committed their first non-violent crime and are connected to the Pasadena Police Department's Youth Accountability Board.

By engaging in strategic outreach, peer support, linkage to community resources and evidence based therapeutic interventions, the Youth Diversion Program expects to achieve an increase in pro-social behaviors exhibited by youth, a reduction in youth's participation in gang related activities, a reduction in the rate of recidivism or re-arrests of first offender youth participants, an increase in school attendance by youth enrolled in Pasadena Unified School District schools and positive changes/improvements in family relationships between youth and identified family members.

The Youth Diversion Program will incorporate a number of pre and post assessments administered by program staff, youth and family self reports collected by staff at planned intervals, along with school and police data to measure the extent to which youth achieve anticipated outcomes during the program reporting period. The Youth Diversion Program will also launch a networking practice that will invite others in the field of youth diversion/violence prevention/gang intervention programming to actively participate in a scheduled and planned exchange of information about local, regional, and national efforts to address the problem.
NCA/NCF