Expanded YMCA Black and Hispanic Achievers Local Youth Mentoring Program to Reduce Risk Behaviors

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 Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) with the Greensboro, North Carolina YMCA proposes to expand a high-impact, research-based youth mentoring leadership program throughout the Greensboro YMCA area (Guilford & Rockingham counties, combined population 560,000), to reduce delinquent and risky behavior, improve academic performance, leadership, job, and social skills. CCL proposes to expand the Black and Hispanic Achievers Mentoring Program in scope (from 1 year of curriculum to 4 years of curriculum) and scale (from 40 youth and 20 mentors at one YMCA to 160 youth and 80 mentors at four YMCA's). Grant funds will create: four new coordinator jobs at the YMCA; provide some assurance of retention for ten to twelve jobs at the YMCA and CCL; develop an enhanced mentor training program improving mentor-mentee matching and integration of mentoring into an expanded multi-year, age-appropriate youth leadership curriculum; develop an innovative summer program for youth including civic engagement activities and internships; conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all program components over four years; implement a sustainability plan to facilitate further expansion of the program beyond the grant period; compile curriculum and facilitation manuals for use by the YMCA to independently implement the program; and disseminate project findings through peer-reviewed publications and national presentations

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