Feature articles in this issue report on the National Mentoring Summit (January-February 1, 2019), OJJDP's Special Victims and Violent Offenders Division, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month (January), the U.S. Justice Department's and OJJDP's observance of AMBER Alert Awareness Day, an OJJDP-funded study of mentors' teaching and advocacy roles, and upcoming events.
The National Mentoring Summit featured just over 80 workshops that showcased exemplary program models, collaborations, research, and innovations that have positive implications for strengthening the mentoring field. The article on OJJDP's Special Victims and Violent Offenders Division notes that it focuses on protecting children from victimization, preventing and responding to youth violence, and holding delinquent youth appropriately accountable to both crime victims and communities. This article is the third in a series that highlights the work of this division. The article on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month (January 2019) focuses on raising public awareness of human trafficking, including the exploitation of children and youth. OJJDP's efforts to counter this exploitation are described. The article on the Justice Department's and OJJDP's observance of AMBER Alert Awareness Day describes the ways in which they have informed the public about how to become engaged in the safe recovery of missing and abducted children, which is the mission of AMBER Alert. The article on the study of the teaching and advocacy roles for mentors of juveniles reports on the effects of incorporating teaching roles (e.g., organizing activities to develop skills or knowledge, providing assistance with school work) and advocacy roles (e.g., facilitating access to community resources, collaborating with other professionals to support the mentee) for mentors. Also included in this issue are the following sections: Upcoming Events, News in Brief, New Publications, and News From the Coordinating Council.