Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle - OJJDP - Category 4 - Mentoring in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties

The Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative, Category 4 (Project Sites and Mentoring Strategies for Youth Impacted by Opioids) supports youth mentoring organizations that have a demonstrated partnership with a public or private substance abuse treatment agency. The focus of this category is to provide mentoring services as a part of a prevention, treatment and supportive approach for those youth impacted by opioids. This program is authorized and funded pursuant to Pub. L. No. 116-6, 133 Stat. 13, 115.

The Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle will serve a priority target population of youth ages 9-13 residing in a three-county service area who have been impacted by opioids. The club's goal is to improve prosocial outcomes for at-risk youth within the service area while reducing negative outcomes (juvenile delinquency and substance use) through mentoring. There are two objectives associated with the goal statement: (1) to provide mentoring services tailored to the needs of at least 40 identified at-risk youth ages 9-13 each year (120 total children over the 3-year grant period) who are currently using or have used opioids, youth at high risk for using opioids (i.e., presence of individual, family, and community risk factors for substance abuse), and youth with family members who are currently using or have used opioids; and (2) to implement program design enhancements within three identified interventions (Camp Mariposa, Positive Action, Too Good for Drugs) that further align with research and evidence on effective mentoring approaches, all of which have been documented as effective at deterring opioid use among youth. The club will serve at least 40 children each year with a combination of evidence-­based programs chosen both for their research base and for their ability to fill in the gaps between what is available in the Eastern Panhandle and what is missing. The total mentoring intervention will include the three curricula with small-group and one-to-one mentoring enhanced by ongoing case management and family engagement. Partnering providers include one public substance abuse treatment agency and two private providers. CA/NCF