Mentoring Initiative for At-Risk Youth

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.

The purpose of this project is to assist at-risk youth in avoiding violence, negative behavior, and substance abuse and supporting them in staying in school and reaching academic success. Goals include: (1) Provide system-involved youth with a caring, trustworthy mentor; (2) Increase the capacity of mentoring organizations to meet the demand for services and sustain their programs; and (3) Improve mentoring program quality through training and technical assistance in using best practices in mentoring. This project will serve youth ages 6 -18 years of age living in King, Kitsap, or Snohomish counties who receive services from Washington's Department of Social and Health Services and/or who belong to one of Washington's federally recognized tribes. Activities include funding to 15-20 providers to increase the number of youth in formal mentoring relationships, undertaking a pilot project in collaboration with DSHS to serve youth living in foster care, coaching on fundraising and social media to mentoring providers, and training and technical support to mentoring providers. The Washington State Mentors will measure progress in quarterly partner new match reports, evidence of new fundraising tools, actions and revenue, products completed, training summit attendance and evaluated merit. NCA/NCF