Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $200,000)
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 U.S. Soccer Foundation (Soccer Foundation or Foundation) and its two community partners in Los Angeles will use soccer as the vehicle to attract an anticipated 500 young boys and girls ages 7-17 into an anti-gang initiative including a strong prevention component as well as training and technical assistance for professional staff and workforce development opportunities for promising teenage participants. The program will mitigate the presence and influence of gangs in some of Los Angeles's poorest neighborhoods where gang activities are prevalent-including Pico-Union, Boyle Heights and Pico-Aliso.
In the "Champions for Change" Program, at-risk youths from East Los Angeles will participate in one of two well-organized and structured recreational, educational and social after-school programs offered through either the L.A. Red Shield Youth & Community Center (Red Shield) or the California Youth Soccer Association South (Cal South). Champions for Change will have two basic goals:(1) to create a cross-sector, public-private partnership providing a mixture of services to support anti-gang activities--particularly the prevention of delinquency risk behaviors; and (2) to establish a sustainable platform from which comprehensive research-based prevention programs can be built utilizing best practices and lessons learned from existing successful soccer-based anti-gang initiatives. The U.S. Soccer Foundation will measure progress toward these goals by using OJJDP's performance measures. NCA/NCF.