On September 12, 2019, OJJDP hosted a public meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The meeting highlighted a Department of Education program that supports supplemental educational services for at-risk and delinquent youth. In addition, the event featured testimonial from a 4-H Club member on the impact mentoring can have on a young person’s educational and vocational success.

Faatimah Muhammad, Supervisory Education Program Specialist at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), and two OESE program officers—Jasmine Akinsipe and Elizabeth Witt—offered a presentation on Department of Education programs that award grants to state agencies and school districts to provide supplemental education services for youth in juvenile and adult correctional facilities, youth in residential facilities for neglected children and youth, and community day programs for neglected or delinquent youth. These services can include supplemental instruction in core subject areas, such as reading and mathematics, as well as tutoring, counseling, and services to help youth successfully transition to further schooling and employment. OESE also supports the National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth.

These resources are offered under Title I, Part D of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which contains provisions for disadvantaged students. In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the program awarded $46.4 million to state education agencies through Subpart 1, $104.3 million to local agencies through Subpart 2, and $1.2 million to support the national technical assistance center.

Ms. Muhammad said she and her staff would attend the OJJDP State Relations and Assistance Division National Training Conference in Kansas City, MO, in late September to share information with states about partnerships and funding opportunities available through the Department of Education. Opportunities for collaboration exist not only through OESE, but also through the Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Office of Civil Rights; and Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education.

Following OESE’s presentation, Clyde Van Dyke, winner of the 2019 4-H Youth in Action Award, spoke about how the club’s youth mentoring program empowered him to overcome challenges, including the loss of his mother at an early age and the lack of role models for educational success. “I was so discouraged and gave up, assuming all I could hope to be was another statistic. In seventh grade, I remember sitting in my homeroom, wondering where I would go in life,” he said.

His life changed when a friend invited him to a 4-H technology program in his hometown of Johnson City, NY. Not only did he learn about the technology field, but he was exposed to resources and opportunities that motivated him to do better in school and in life. “I walked into the next few years of school with a new mindset and a determination to try my hardest in school,” Clyde said.

Through the 4-H Club, Mr. Van Dyke learned how to create maps to visualize data, a technique known as “geospatial mapping.” He now uses geospatial mapping to help communities better understand the prevalence, trends, and contributing factors to critical issues such as the opioid epidemic. He also mentors young people in elementary schools near his hometown.

“I’m proud to say that because of 4-H and the adults who have supported me, I’m not a dropout,” he said. “I graduated from high school in June and just started college at the State University of New York at Delhi to pursue a career in digital forensics—a path I never would have discovered without 4-H.”

OJJDP has long supported the 4-H Club and other national and multistate mentoring programs. In FY 2018, OJJDP awarded more than $73.3 million through its Mentoring Opportunities for Youth initiative.