The Holy Cross At-Risk Youth Empowerment Initiative

Through the Byrne Congressionally Mandated Awards program, the Office of Justice Programs helps communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and supports training and technical assistance programs and other efforts that strategically target local needs. This program is authorized to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010.

The College of the Holy Cross will work with six Worcester community partners to intensify existing collaborations and leverage resources to yield sustainable, measurable programs that deliver prevention, diversion and educational services to at-risk youth. The strategies put in place during the Initiative will be replicable and provide a model for maximizing the impact of institutions of higher learning on programs addressing at-risk youth. The appropriation will provide the College with the resources to work with the six community partners for three years to: (1) facilitate their delivery of vital services to at-risk youth; (2) establish the mechanisms for sustaining these programs; (3) create a transportation structure for effective utilization of critical Holy Cross student, faculty and facilities resources (reliable transportation has been identified the critical need for the College's campus partners); (4) develop a replicable blueprint that can serve as a template for other programming and partnerships; and (5) institute a formal assessment plan to measure the effectiveness of the partnerships' delivery of services to at-risk youth. While the Initiative will span three years, nearly all funds will be expended during the initial two years so that the programs can be rapidly put in place to address the pressing needs of Worcester's at-risk young people. Data will be collected during the three years to determine the efficacy of the appropriation. NCA/NCF