The Targeted Reentry Aftercare Mentoring Project (RAMP)

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 to transition successfully from incarceration to the community. OJJDP will provide grants to support mentoring and other transitional services essential to reintegrating juvenile offenders into their communities. Grants will be used to mentor juvenile offenders during secure 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. This program is authorized by the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Pub. L. 112-110.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme (BGCOP), and Ventura County Probation Agency (VCPA), with oversight from Ventura County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), will implement an evidence-based Targeted Reentry Aftercare Mentoring Program (RAMP) in Ventura County, California. RAMP will increase availability of reentry mentoring to reduce recidivism, enhance community safety, and strengthen collaborative community linkages that support successful reintegration. RAMP objectives are to: 1) reduce mentee recidivism to 25% or less during participation, and 12 months afterward; 2) recruit, train, and supervise three staff members and 40 volunteers (20 per year) who will mentor about 50 juvenile ex-offenders annually, ages 13 to 17; 3) expand the amount of JDAI members and reentry partners; 4) train mentors about reentry mentoring best-practices; 5) provide evidence-based victim impact and ending the violence education; and 6) independently evaluate program effectiveness. Specific program activities include recruitment, training and supervision of staff, volunteers, and mentees; assessment-driven transition planning; two-hour weekly mentoring contacts that encourage academic, employment, and personal development; and JDAI collaboration. Analysis of pre-/post-assessments, VCPA data, case files, and participation records will measure progress.
CA/NCF