OJJDP announces more than $293 million in grants.

Office of Justice Program website:

WASHINGTON, Oct 03, 2008

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey today announced more than $293 million in grant awards to help at-risk youth and improve juvenile justice systems nationwide. These grants, administered by OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), support community efforts to prevent crime and protect public safety through focusing on the well-being of our nation's young people.

"The Department is committed to fighting gangs and gang violence through both enforcement and prevention," said Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. The grant awards announced today are an important investment in our efforts to provide youth with alternatives to the destructive lifestyle of crime and gangs."

OJJDP awarded more than $125 million directly to states and territories in formula and block grants to implement a range of programs that support safe communities. These funds will support delinquency prevention activities, efforts to enforce underage drinking laws, and accountability-based programs to reduce juvenile offending and strengthen juvenile justice systems. The Office also awarded more than $167 million in discretionary grants to support a range of delinquency prevention and child protection activities.

This year, mentoring grants will focus on the needs of underserved populations, including at-risk youth in Native American and Alaska Native communities and Latino communities that have gang problems. The funding also supports a variety of child protection activities. OJJDP awarded more than $17 million in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies under its Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force program to support joint local, state, and federal efforts to investigate and prosecute online crimes against children and keep children safe from online predators.


Interesting. So, the focus is on native, Alaskan, and latin communities that have gang problems.

From Youth Today, here were two examples of organizations that were funded from the OJJDP scandal under J. Robert Flores:

Applicant: Native American Children's Alliance, Ohio
Leadership: Linda Logan, executive director
Assets: $38,000
Revenue: $63,000
For: To introduce the Child Advocacy Center model to Native American communities (Native Child Advocacy Centers).
Web: http://www.nativechildalliance.org/
Rank: 47 (tie)
Average Score: 82
Requested Amount: $1 million
Award Amount: $247,000
Percent Change: -76

Applicant: The Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives,
Calif.Leadership: Richard Ramos, executive director
Assets: $104,000
Revenue: $3.2 million
For: The Reclamando Nuestro Futuro (Reclaiming Our Futures) Project.
Web: http://www.latinocoalition.org/
Rank: 25
Average Score: 89.5
Requested Amount: $3 million
Award Amount: $1.2 million
Percent Change: -60

Funded

Native American Children’s Alliance: To help tribes set up child welfare advocacy centers. “There are over 600 of these centers throughout the U.S. … We have less than five in Indian Country,” says Executive Director Linda Logan.

The plan is to increase awareness of the centers among tribal leaders and to help them adapt and implement models through training and other assistance. The grant is not to actually set up the centers.

Latino Coalition for Faith and Community Initiatives: To expand efforts to provide services, including mentoring, http://www.data.com for youth in gangs or at risk of gang involvement. The grant will also be used to provide “leadership training for parents,” says Executive Director Richard Ramos.

Aspira: The 46-year-old organization’s website bills it as “national nonprofit organization devoted solely to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Latino youth,” largely through school-based Aspira clubs.

Aspira President Ronald Blackburn-Moreno says the grant will help to accomplish three objectives: to do a “comprehensive analysis … of our youth leadership development material” in order to create a “national model” for youth development programs, especially for Hispanic youth; to “fully integrate our parent involvement and our mentoring programs”; and to conduct a research-based evaluation of Aspira’s programs over the past 40 years.

On a side note:

Jeff Sedgwick Confirmed Assistant Attorney General
On Thursday, October 2, 2008, Jeffrey L. Sedgwick was confirmed by the United States Senate as Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Justice Programs. President Bush nominated Dr. Sedgwick to the position in April 2008. He has served as Acting Assistant Attorney General since January 2008 and Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics since March 2006.

Sedgwick testified for the House subcommittee on September 18 in the Office of Justice Program hearings to discuss the operations of the Office of Justice Program division. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is under the umbrella of the Office of Justice Program. OJJDP Adminstrator J. Robert Flores reports to Sedgwick.