Promote Respect and Instill Discipline for Excellence

The Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) authorizes grants to government agencies and nonprofit groups to provide employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victims' support, and other services to help adult and juvenile ex-offenders make a successful transition from incarceration to the community. In support of this goal, OJJDP will provide grants to support mentoring and other transitional services essential to reintegrating juvenile offenders into their communities. The grants will be used to mentor juvenile offenders during confinement, through transition back to the community, and post-release; to provide transitional services to assist them in their reintegration into the community; and to support training in offender and victims issues. Targeted youth must be younger than 18 years old. The initiative's legislative authority is found in the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117).

Texas A&M- Commerce and Grayson County Department of Juvenile Services (GCJDS) propose "Project PRIDE" (Promote Respect and Instill Discipline for Excellence), an innovative mentoring project to serve ten counties in Northeast Texas for youth ages 12-17 incarcerated in the post-adjudication facility. Project goals are to 1) reduce recidivism of juvenile offenders and ex-offenders in geographically isolated Northeast Texas and 2) improve long-term outcomes for rural youth by strengthening collaboration between the university, the juvenile justice system, public schools and appropriate agencies to maximize and leverage resources available to adjudicated youth and those at "high risk" for adjudication with a primary focus of establishing a sustainable mentoring program. Graduate social work interns will provide mentoring and support services partnered with Community Mentors after juveniles are released. A Network of Care will allow coordination of a variety of services in this isolated area to meet needs of juveniles and families. An Advisory Council will provide input and support for the project through monthly meetings. Data will be collected on all performance measures and analysis by the Project Evaluator will determine progress towards meeting project goals and objectives. The expertise of the faculty and staff of A&M-Commerce and GCDJS, partnered with the evidence based program of Big Brothers Big Sisters, will result in a lasting impact in increasing protective factors inherent in these rural communities. CA/NCF