Prevention, Access, Self-Empowerment and Support (PASS) / Juvenile Justice

The Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative, Category 3 (Mentoring Programs for Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System) provides funding to support youth mentoring organizations that have a demonstrated partnership with a juvenile justice agency. The focus is to provide mentoring services to those youth screened as being low risk to public safety by a juvenile justice agency as part of an overall diversion approach with a goal of rehabilitation and accountability. This program is authorized and funded pursuant to Pub. L. No. 116-6, 133 Stat. 13, 115.

Coordinated Care Services, Inc., in partnership with the Monroe County Office of Probation (which is the local juvenile justice agency), will provide the Prevention, Access, Self-Empowering, and Support Program (PASS) for at-risk juveniles. The target population is juvenile justice-involved youth, ages 12–17, in pre-petition diversion status, deemed to be of low risk to public safety by the local juvenile justice agency. The program will focus on youth residing in Monroe County, NY, located almost exclusively within the City of Rochester. PASS is a youth and family mentoring program with the goals of improving youth psychosocial, educational, and community outcomes and improving parent/guardian communication skills with their children, thereby strengthening their ability to make connections to community social supports and resources. Elements of “cultural infusion” are evident throughout the model—mentors are representative of the cultures of the participants; all receive cultural competence training; support is organized around teams of staff, mentors, youth, and parents; youth voices are incorporated; program delivery is within a culturally appropriate milieu; and techniques for curriculum delivery are person-centered, trust-building, and relationship-focused. The program is administered using a semi-structured 19-module curriculum delivered by adult and peer mentors, community members, and staff, which is geared toward the culture of the youth in the program and their families. The curriculum is offered using an “immersion” model whereby mentors, mentees, and parents participate in a series of weekend sessions, accompanied by weekly individual peer and adult mentor support for youth throughout their enrollment. A two-tier mentoring approach is used, with adult mentors assisting adolescents in applying strategies learned in the program to their unique life situations, and peer mentors serving as role models. CA/NCF