Gang Prevention Youth Mentoring Program

OJJDP seeks applicants to establish mentoring programs that offer a mixture of core services and engage youth with activities that enable them to practice healthy behaviors within a positive pro-social peer group. The target population should be youth at risk of gang activity, delinquency, and youth violence. This program should develop and strengthen protective factors against gang involvement and other problem behaviors. It can be based in a school or community setting. Successful applicants will include organizations, local school districts, and communities dealing with demonstrated gang problems who are a part of a communitywide strategy to combat gang activity. This initiative is authorized under the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2009, Pub. L. 111-8.

The City of Norwalk has established a cross-disciplinary team comprised of the Family and Children's Agency, the Human Services Council, Norwalk Public Schools, Norwalk Youth Service Bureau, the Police Department, Juvenile Probation and SAVE to build on the City's Gang Prevention Coordination Program. The team aims to reduce gang-related youth violence in Norwalk and in youth's lives through implementing a coordinated evidence-based mentoring program for 60 at risk ages 10-18. This site-based mentoring program will provide weekly one-on-one mentoring for youth. The program will create a sense of belonging and group identity through group activities, which may include community service projects, outdoor challenges, games, field trips, and summer employment for older youth. Each youth will be enrolled in afterschool and summer activities at the YMCA. Mentors will visit the youth on-site, and participate in these activities. The City of Norwalk will capture qualitative, quantitative and process data with Civicore, a specialized database and will conduct an internal evaluation. The Mentor Consulting Group will conduct an external evaluation of the program as well. CA/NCF