Mentoring for youth involved in or at risk of becoming involved in gang activity.

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 Hartford will implement their gang prevention youth mentoring program entitled 'Youth Alive!' This effort will target youth ages 10-15 who reside in neighborhoods most affected by gang violence. The objectives of the program are to create a cadre of mentors well prepared to work with at-risk and gang-involved Hartford youth; build the capacity of HOYS and its partner agency staff to better serve at-risk/gang-involved youth; and incorporate additional best practices focused on strengthening Hartford's youth services systems. The Youth Alive! Coordinator will be responsible for the initial collection of data during triage, screening, and visits with the youth and family. Another, assistive tool is the Hartford Connects II data system (HCII is powered by Efforts to Outcomes technology developed by Social Solutions) which is web-based performance management software built on the philosophy that agencies and systems can and should transform data into knowledge. CA/NCF