Project MATCH (Mentors about Teaching and Coaching for Hope)

The goal of the Juvenile Drug Courts Mentoring and Support Services Initiative is to build the capacity of states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and tribal governments to enhance juvenile drug courts by developing and establishing a comprehensive support service initiative that would include mentoring and other appropriate support services (i.e., educational services, health services, employment services, community services, recreational activities, parenting programs, housing assistance) to serve substance-abusing youth who are assigned to the juvenile drug court program. This program is authorized under 42 U.S.C. 3797u.

Denver Juvenile and Family Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (TASC), which serves as the substance abuse and mental health component for the Denver Juvenile and District Probation Departments, requests funding to augment the existing Denver Youth Development Court (DYDC) to establish a comprehensive support service initiative that will include mentoring to serve substance abusing youth. The current DYDC is critically lacking a social support component that could help to decrease risk factors and increase protective factors for the target population. Project MATCH (Mentors about Teaching and Coaching for Hope) will serve 90 substance using court involved youth ages 12 - 17 in the City and County of Denver. Through gender specific, wellness focused mentoring programs; the project will provide at-risk youth with the adult assistance and positive role models they require. Goals for the project include the development of a comprehensive training curriculum in order to incorporate best practices into existing mentoring programs, and expansion of the existing DYDC program to provide comprehensive mentoring services to 30 at-risk youth per project year. Progress will be measured by qualitative reviews with project staff, program completion rates, decreased substance abuse, reduced criminal recidivism, and improved family functioning. CA/NCF