NIYLP's Multistate Group Mentoring Initiative will provide group and peer mentoring services to underserved American Indian and other youth in 6 states via evidence-based Project Venture.

The Multi-State Mentoring Program provides funding to support established mentoring organizations in their efforts to strengthen and/or expand their existing mentoring activities within local chapters or sub-awardees in five or more states to reduce juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, truancy, and other problem and high-risk behaviors. FY 2014 funding will address the factors that can lead to or serve as a catalyst for delinquency or other problem behaviors in underserved youth, including youth in high-risk environments, children of incarcerated parents and tribal youth. The program is comprised of three categories: Category 1 for organizations implementing one-on-one mentoring programs, Category 2 for Group mentoring programs and Category 3 for a combination of both one-on-one and group mentoring.

The National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) will implement Project Venture, a culturally relevant model recognized as evidence-based by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (SAMHSA), the National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP), and OJJDP for the prevention of alcohol and substance abuse and delinquent behaviors in AI youth. NIYLP will provide group and peer mentoring services to at-risk, high-risk and underserved youth, focusing primarily on American Indian (AI) youth. Under this project, NIYLP will enhance, expand and strengthen Project Venture's group and peer mentoring services by increasing the number of trained and supported peer mentors and increasing experiential mentor training and support. The project will implement a "cascading" model of group mentoring that provides several layers of mutigenerational support. Subawardees in 6 states will implement NIYLP's enhanced mentoring model. Project Venture group and peer mentoring program supports a structured relationship between an adult, trained peer and more than one youth and takes place in multiple and informal settings including school, community and the outdoors. The program incorporates essential mentoring program features as well as all of OJJDP's suggested research-based strategies into group mentor programming. The program goal is to reduce negative outcomes associated with juvenile delinquency and improve outcomes for at-risk, high-risk, or underserved American Indian (AI) and other youth, including life skills, social emotional learning, and academic performance. Over the past decade, NIYLP has worked with over 70 communities to replicate Project Venture across 25 states.

NIYLP will measure participant outcomes in the academic, social/emotional, and life skills domains. The grantee has developed and/or adapted tools and strategies over the years to inform and assess their programs' impact on these and other domains. It will utilize the School Success Rubric developed by the Thrive Foundation for Youth to assess participants' progress on six factors related to school success; for older, high school-aged participants, they will also collect information on grade level advancement, being on track with credits, and graduation and dropout rates. The Thrive Foundation works closely with National 4H and the Search Institute and is considered a leading authority on positive youth development. CA/NCF