Affirm Mentoring Program

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.

The Second Judicial District Court's Juvenile Drug Court (JDC), a state drug court and fiscal agent, is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada (BBBSNN), a not-for-profit youth mentoring agency, in an innovative, cross-system collaboration to provide mentoring services for the Affirm Mentoring Program. This partnership increases community capacity to implement evidence based mentoring for youth offenders age 12-17 years old involved in JDC. These youths, who are at great risk for recidivism, often live in poverty, in single parent homes, and in neighborhoods with high rates of crime. The program will feature cross-agency training, one-to-one mentoring, integrated case management, and vital transition services as the youth move from JDC back into the community. The mentoring relationship will begin while the youth are enrolled in the JDC and will transition with the youth as he or she graduates from the program. The short term goal is that 60 youth involved in JDC will be matched with mentors. The intermediate goal of the project is that 75% of mentored youth abstain from or reduce substance use. The JDC and BBBSNN will provide monitoring, tracking, project coordination, and reporting for progress to goals.

CA/NCF