This funding opportunity seeks to enhance and expand mentoring services for youth who are at risk or high risk for juvenile delinquency, victimization, and juvenile justice system involvement. The program's goal is to improve outcomes for at-risk and high-risk youth, and reduce negative outcomes through mentoring. The program objectives are to increase the number of at-risk or high-risk youth receiving mentoring services; increase the number of screened and well-trained mentors; and develop and implement program design enhancements that align with research and evidence on effective mentoring approaches.
For this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), the target population should include youth who are at risk or high risk for delinquency or victimization and/or youth in the community who are justice involved. For this NOFO, OJJDP defines at-risk and high-risk youth as youth who are most likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system because they possess certain risk factors in key life domain areas (i.e., individual, family, school, community); are already involved in the juvenile justice system; and/or reside in environments that have high rates of parental incarceration, community violence, drug markets, gang concentration, and failing schools.