Mentoring for Success: SFUSD Student Mentor Program Expansion for Gang Prevention

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 will 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. Successful applicants should 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.

San Francisco Unified School District proposes 'Mentoring for Success,' a project to enhance and expand the SFUSD Student Mentor Program. We will reach 415 students in 21 middle/high schools citywide. Our target population is youth ages 11 to 17 at-risk of gang activity, delinquency, and youth violence. San Francisco's Comprehensive Community Gang Assessment found that SF schools are 'significant arenas' for gang activity. Our current SFUSD Student Mentor Program is a research-validated model, which offers a multi-modal mixture of core services and enables youth to practice healthy behaviors within a positive pro-social peer group. Project activities will include (1) school-based, 1:1 mentoring relationships sustained for 2+ years; (2) structured group activities and community service projects, providing protective factors against and alternatives to gang affiliation; (3) mentor training and oversight; and (4) linkages with a mixture of services such as life skills training, mental health counseling, and after-school activities. Our goals are to reduce gang involvement, delinquency, and youth violence; and to build organizational capacity for gang prevention. Outcomes for students will include increased school attendance, increased school connectedness, and low juvenile offenses. To measure progress, we will evaluate process, outcome, and OJJDP Performance Measures using web-based logs and student pretest-posttests. CA/NCF