South Carolina Palmetto Mentoring Network

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act'). Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention made awards to support local organizations that develop, implement, or expand local mentoring programs leading to measurable, positive outcomes for at-risk youth. This program furthers the Department's mission by enhancing the capacity of local mentoring programs to develop and implement mentoring strategies to reduce juvenile delinquency and prevent violence.

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and community-based and faith-based partners will implement a site-based, community mentoring project to serve 590 at-risk children in grades 1'3 with 590 mentors in Charleston, Greenville, Orangeburg, and Richland counties to prevent and reduce gang recruitment and address juvenile violence. The goal of the Palmetto Mentoring Network (PMN) is to help at-risk children and their families develop healthy, positive behaviors and resiliency that enable them to resist gang recruitment and violence. To achieve this goal, PMN will provide sub-grants to four local coalitions to match at-risk children in four communities with mentors to create and support long-term mentoring relationships. Participation in the PMN will help the children acquire key developmental assets that lead to improved academic performance, avoidance of negative outcomes, and lead to positive growth and development. PMN also focuses on strengthening support services for children and parents or caregivers and increasing the capacity and sustainability of mentoring programs through collaborative community partnerships. SCDE will monitor programs through technical assistance and site visits, quarterly and annual reports, and formal external outside evaluations during the program cycle to address progress towards objectives and program quality.

This grant award will retain two jobs and create four jobs, thus the project achieves the Recovery Act objective of promoting economic recovery by preserving or creating jobs.

CA/NCF