In its efforts to prevent youth from being involved in delinquent behavior, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) has formed a partnership with the Department of Labor to increase communication between Youth Opportunities Grant (YOG) sites and State Advisory Groups. The program, supported by a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), is designed to increase information-sharing and joint programming between YOG sites and State Juvenile Justice Advisory Groups.
YOG targets 36 high poverty areas across the United States that include urban, rural and American Indian populations. Through YOG, skillful case managers provide critical support to youth who have been chronically truant and/or alienated from school and other education and youth development services. The support is aimed at re-engaging youth in education and employment skills training.
Many of the youth in the target population—ages 14-21—simply stay at home or roam their communities because of school failure and lost hope, or because they are influenced by negative peer groups such as gangs. Some YOG youth also face serious challenges with substance abuse and mental illness. Yet, YOG is re-connecting hundreds of thousands of such youth to educational and employment activities.
YOG places a strong emphasis on youth completing secondary school and participating in meaningful on-the-job training. The program is based on research that shows that youth development and employment programs work well when they are family-focused and community-centered and combine educational rigor with personal counseling from readily available mentors, as well as with skills training for jobs that are immediately accessible.
It is a hallmark of CJJ to create progress and change in the national arena of juvenile justice. Like YOG, CJJ and its member advisory groups place a strong emphasis on youth completing school and participating in meaningful on-the-job training. There are two key objectives for the partnership:
In order to achieve these objectives. CJJ will host one-day meetings where members of the local YOG sites and SAG members can network and set goals for joint activities to provide education and employment to youth.
For more information, please feel free to contact CJJ Executive Director Nancy Gannon Hornberger at 202-467-0864, ext. 111, or [1] nancy@juvjustice.org.
[1]: mailto:nancy@juvjustice.org