Hollenbeck PAL- Youth Crime Prevention

The OJJDP FY 10 Earmarks Program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Conference Report to accompany the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 111-366 at 702-714.

Funding from OJJDP will be used to support the Hollenbeck Police Athletic League (PAL) Program. This program will greatly impact underserved youth in the Hollenbeck area of Los Angeles with particular emphasis in the Boyle Heights community. The program aims at preventing youth crime and gang involvement. The strategy behind the program is to provide students with the right tools to resist the pressures of joining gangs, using drugs, and dropping out of school. Hollenbeck PAL will implement a comprehensive gang/crime prevention training, as well as a comprehensive leadership development training. The program will use innovative strategies that utilize digital media to make learning fun.

Additionally, Hollenbeck PAL will provide constructive after-school sports activities that will occupy youth during non-school hours. The program will be implemented by professional staff with years of experience in their respective fields. The requested funds of $250,000 will help sustain the program over a twelve-month period where 460 youngster ages 5-17 will be positively impacted and assisted in reaching their highest potential so that they may become responsible, contributing, and law-abiding citizens.

Some objectives and performance measures will focus on the following: 1. 90% of participants will successfully complete the 12-week training; 2. 85% of participants will increase personal communication skills; and 3. 75 % of participants will decrease parent/child arguments/confrontations. NCA/NCF