Experience Corps Academic Mentoring Program

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) National Mentoring Programs initiative is authorized by the statutes appropriating funds for fiscal year 2009. OJJDP made awards to applicants that proposed the enhancement or expansion of initiatives that will assist in the development and maturity of community programs to provide mentoring services to high-risk populations that are underserved due to location, shortage of mentors, special physical or mental challenges of the targeted population, or other analogous situations identified by the community in need of mentoring services.'

Experience Corps recruits older adults (55+) to serve as mentors for school age children in 22 cities nationwide to address child illiteracy as it relates to juvenile delinquency,. This application proposes implementation of the Experience Corps Academic Mentoring Program, with five affiliates (in Boston, Cleveland, New York, San Francisco, and Tucson) to improve the academic performance of high-risk youth (ages 5-11), while decreasing truancy and reducing high-risk behaviors. The program will serve 930 elementary school students during year one expanding to serve 1,030 students in 2011 and 1,130 students in 2012. Program goals include (1) Reducing truancy and other incidents of 'high-risk behaviors' in school, including withdrawal from peer group and instructors, aggression, and inattention, (2) Increasing academic outcomes among participants, and (3)Addressing achievement gaps before they widen, giving the youngest students the tools they need to be successful in school and life. To support these goals, every participating student will receive one-to-one academic mentoring twice a week throughout the school year from older adults who are screened and highly trained.
CA/NCF