Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $999,900)
OJJDP's Mentoring Best Practices Research program seeks to enhance the understanding of mentoring as a prevention strategy for youth who are at risk of involvement or already involved in the juvenile justice system. While mentoring appears to be a promising intervention for youth, more evaluation work is needed to further highlight the components of a mentoring program that are most effective. In addition, there is a need for research specifically demonstrating the components of mentoring programs that have a significant impact in reducing juvenile delinquency and offending. This research program supports studies on juvenile mentoring that will inform the design and delivery of mentoring programs. It is expected that the results of this effort will encourage a more effective utilization of resources as well as enhance the implementation of evidence-based best practices for juvenile mentoring. This program is authorized under the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub. L. 111-117.
The National Mentoring Partnership, Inc. will survey six juvenile justice settings (juvenile detention, juvenile corrections, juvenile probation, delinquency court, youth court/teen court, and dependency court) regarding the mentoring referral stage. The researchers will implement a mixed-methods, multisite design entailing a national level survey, on-site qualitative data collection and statistical analysis.
A major focus of this research intiative is the development of a partnership between several organizations in order to disseminate findings and provide training related to the referral stage. The proposed partnership includes the National Partnership for Juvenile Services, Inc. (NPJS); Global Youth Justice (GYJ); and American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF).
CA/NCF