School Biz Match's K-12 Community-Based Pilot Partnership Program

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.

School Biz Match aspires to ascertain whether juvenile delinquency in the public middle and high schools in the District of Columbia (student age range: 14-17) can be reduced by focusing on academic performance, rather than socioeconomic factors. Increasing active engagement is essential among families to keep youth positively engaged in high school until graduation. Utilizing its web-based, patent pending tool, School Biz Match plans to increase community involvement by creating partnerships between community-based organizations and the District of Columbia public K-12 school systems. Activities include recruitment of volunteers who will mentor parents and guardians in assisting their children with homework and test preparation; identification of students (approximately 200) by schools in age range 14-17; training workshops for parents/guardians or for mentors of parents/guardians in homework assistance and test preparation; student career direction from business community; and workshops on business/community-school partnerships. The OJJDP Data Reporting Tool (DCTAT) will be utilized to report semiannual measures. A desired outcome of the project is to reduce juvenile delinquency among participants by 50% with 20% improvement in academic performance. NCA/NCF