Project PACT: Linking At-Risk Youth to Prevention, Academics, and Community Transition

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.

Project PACT is a local initiative that will provide hope for at risk youth in an area with low educational attainment and 22% unemployment. Youth in Martinsville and Henry County need empowerment and need positive caring role models who are passionate about helping them succeed. The purpose of Project PACT is to reduce the number of juveniles who offend or re-offend by providing opportunities and options to at risk youth in the 9th-12th grades. Project PACT is designed to provide counseling and case management services that will implement both prevention and intervention strategies. These strategies of increasing the number of youth who finish high school and attend college are based on research, and have been proven to be successful in national studies. Project PACT students will come from partnering school divisions alternative education centers where students are the most likely to leave without an education credential or marketable skills, and have little hope of finding sustainable employment. This will be coupled with intensive counseling services, and interaction with local law enforcement and community agencies. Project PACT will reduce the number of juveniles who offend or re-offend through increased educational attainment, increased marketable employment skills, and preventive services. NCA/NCF