Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $1,314,500)
This solicitation invites applicants to propose initiatives that will support the development, maturation, and expansion of community programs that provide mentoring services to tribal youth populations that are underserved due to location, shortage of mentors, emotional or behavioral challenges of the targeted population, or other situations identified by the federally recognized tribes. This program is authorized by the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2009, Pub. L. 111-8.
The 7th Generation Community-based Mentoring Program for Court-Involved Tribal Youth (7th Generation) is designed to confront high rates of juvenile delinquency in American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities. Through 7th Generation, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) seeks to improve outcomes for 10- to 17-year-old court-involved tribal youth by assisting six tribes to build capacity by customizing two Indian-developed best practice approaches for mentoring youth: Strong Circle of Relatives and Sons and Daughters of Tradition.
Over two years, 7th Generation's AI/AN staff will support onsite tribal staff in six tribes'the Red Lake Band of Chippewa (Minnesota), Native Village of Kotzebue (Alaska), Ponca (Oklahoma), Hopi (Arizona), Taos Pueblo (New Mexico), and Yavapai-Apache (Arizona) to train up to 180 AI/AN mentors and match them with up to 180 AI/AN court-involved youth. The 7th Generation program will build tribal capacity to increase protective factors (e.g., connections to caring adults, improved school attendance) and to decrease youths' future involvement with alcohol, drugs, truancy, and juvenile justice. Program staff will provide training and technical assistance to tribes to help develop communication, evaluation, and sustainability plans that will support continuation of 7th Generation beyond funding.
The program objectives are to: (1) improve behavioral, academic, cultural, and social outcomes among up to 180 court-involved tribal youth referred to mentoring programs; (2) foster and strengthen collaborative approaches within six tribal communities to support mentoring efforts; (3) establish and improve the administration of six mentoring programs for court-involved tribal youth, including the expansion of mentoring strategies and program design, using culturally appropriate best practices; and (4) enhance and improve the organizational capacity, system efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of six mentoring programs for court-involved tribal youth through collaborative consultation.
The expected impact and outcomes of the 7th Generation project for the program youth are decreases in offense and re-offense rate, increases in school attendance, increases in cultural identity, and increases in feelings of connectedness to a caring adult. The expected outcomes for the tribe are increased capacity to implement a culturally based mentoring program, increased number of active partnerships to strengthen and sustain the program, ability to effectively evaluate the program for continuous quality improvement (CQI) and to communicate positive outcomes, and capacity to sustain the program beyond federal funding. CA/NCF