Quarterly Meeting Summary

June 4, 2004

White House Conference Center
Washington, D.C.

Abstract

This Quarterly Meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provided Council members and the public with information on mentoring programs. The Council heard presentations on mentoring programs managed by the Mid-Atlantic Network for Youth and Family Services, the Family and Youth Services Bureau (HHS), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Justice), and the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (Education). Practitioner members of the Council offered feedback on the presentations about federal mentoring programs. The Council reviewed the status of action items from the March 19, 2004, Quarterly Meeting and discussed and adopted a recommendation to establish a Council Planning Team to help plan meetings, implement Council decisions, and coordinate Council activities. A new Council member, Victor Rodriquez, was sworn in.

Members Present

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
J. Robert Flores, Vice Chair, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
For John P. Walters, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy
Tad Davis, Assistant Deputy Director, Demand Reduction

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
For Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Labor
Lorenzo Harrison, Administrator, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Services

U.S. Department of Education (ED)
For Roderick Paige, Secretary of Education
Deborah A. Price, Deputy Under Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
For Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services
Harry Wilson, Associate Commissioner, Administration on Children, Families, and Youth

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
For Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Donald P. Mains, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
For Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Christopher Battle, Chief of Staff, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Corporation for National and Community Service
For David Eisner, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for National and Community Service
John Foster-Bey, Senior Advisor, Research and Policy Development

Practitioner Members
Bray Barnes, Attorney/Consultant, Toms River, NJ
Larry K. Brendtro, President, Reclaiming Youth, Lennox, SD
Adele Grubbs, Judge, Juvenile Court of Cobb County, Marietta, GA
Michael J. Mahoney, Vice Chair, Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, Chicago, IL
Gordon A. Martin, Jr., Associate Justice, Massachusetts Trial Court, Brookline, MA
Victor Rodriquez, Chief of Police, McAllen Police Department, McAllen, TX

Welcome and Introductions
J. Robert Flores, Vice Chair, Coordinating Council; Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

Mr. Flores welcomed Council members and members of the public to the Quarterly Meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and thanked them for attending. He also noted the presence of members of the media and acknowledged their important role in informing the public about issues and advances in juvenile justice.

The Council is a collaboration of a number of federal agencies, not just representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice. Therefore, the site for each meeting rotates among the member agencies. The June 2004 meeting was hosted by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and was held at the White House Conference Center in Washington, DC . Mr. Flores introduced Tad Davis with ONDCP.

Opening Remarks
Tad Davis, Assistant Deputy Director, Demand Reduction, ONDCP

Mr. Davis welcomed participants on behalf of ONDCP Director John Walters and extended greetings from Mr. Walters and Dr. Andrea Barthwell, who are visiting high schools in Chicago to observe firsthand local drug-testing programs and a media event related to this year's "School's Out" initiative, which is sponsored by ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

Mr. Davis described two developments at ONDCP. President George W. Bush has requested increased funding (from $2 to $25 million) for the student drug-testing program, which will allow more schools and children to participate. He also discussed the ongoing media campaign to reach youth, parents, and guardians with antidrug messages. Spanish-language versions of these advertisements will soon be available in the United States and Puerto Rico .

Introduction and Swearing in of New Member Appointed by President George W. Bush:
Victor Rodriquez, Chief of Police, City of McAllen, McAllen, Texas
J. Robert Flores and Adele Grubbs, Judge of Superior Court, Cobb County, Georgia

Mr. Flores introduced Victor Rodriquez as a new member of the Council.

Mr. Rodriquez stated that he has worked in criminal justice and law enforcement for more than 25 years, including 6 years directing a parole agency. He expressed hope that his experiences in South Texas, an area bordering Mexico with a large Hispanic population, will help him contribute to the work of the Council.

Mr. Flores noted the current emphasis in juvenile justice on prevention, not just punitive measures. Members of the Council such as prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers are keenly aware of the need for prevention efforts. Mr. Flores welcomed Mr. Rodriguez to the council.

Mr. Flores introduced Judge Adele Grubbs, who swore in Mr. Rodriquez.

Review of Status of Action Items From March 19, 2004, Quarterly Meeting of the Coordinating Council
Timothy S. Wight, Director, Concentration of Federal Efforts, OJJDP

Mr. Flores introduced Timothy Wight, who led a discussion reviewing the status of the action items from the March 19, 2004, Council meeting.

• School attendance/identifying programs. DOJ identified the National Youth Courts Center and Big Brother Big Sisters of America (BBBS) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) identified the state Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program as programs that will include a future school attendance goal. Remaining agencies are requested to identify similar programs that their agencies work with and complete the charts on pages 6 and 7 of the preread materials for the June 4, 2004, Council meeting, if appropriate. Lorenzo Harrison indicated that DOL has reviewed the attendance goal. DOL discretionary, not formula, grants can be and are used to address this issue.

• School attendance/identifying staff members. Mr. Flores stated that the ED liaison will be named in the near future and will provide input for each partner to identify a staff member (not necessarily a member of the Council) with substantive knowledge about school programs. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has more than 11,000 community-based programs, such as 4–H—and not just in farm areas. These programs could work in concert with the school program goals. In addition, ONDCP may know of additional programs that could be involved. Mr. Flores stated that he would like to see department liaisons identified within the next few weeks. He also urged that members bring to his attention any programs they know of, federal or otherwise, that could help ED improve school attendance. Larry Brendtro suggested that the Land Grant network is an untapped resource and that Dr. John Seita speak to the Council in the future. Another Council member noted that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has some good programs that should be identified.

• Redundancy and Duplication in Federal Child Welfare Programs. Mr. Flores stated that he, Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families (HHS), and Colien Hefferan, Administrator for the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service at the Department of Agriculture, testified on this issue before the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform on May 20, 2004 . The purpose of the hearing was to gain an understanding of the wide range of federal agencies and programs responsible for protecting and caring for the nation's most vulnerable citizens—abused and neglected children. The Committee's primary interest was to determine the extent to which overlap and duplication among federal child abuse and neglect programs creates inefficiencies and hinders overall effectiveness. These representatives from HHS, DOJ, and the Department of Agriculture spoke on behalf of the child abuse and neglect prevention programs located within their agencies and outlined the steps their agencies are taking—both ongoing and new targeted funding and legislative initiatives—to strengthen child welfare and combat child abuse.

• Relinquishing custody to obtain mental health services. Don Winstead, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy (HHS), has organized an internal meeting with representatives from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Family and Youth Services Bureau, among others, to discuss the issue of parents relinquishing custody of their children who are in need of mental health services, as reported in the GAO report Federal Agencies Could Play a Stronger Role in Helping States Reduce the Number of Children Placed Solely To Obtain Mental Health Services. Subsequently, it is hoped that an interagency meeting will be held on this issue.

• White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth. Council members agreed at the March 19, 2004, meeting to address 12 recommendations in the Final Report of the White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth (see page 9 of the preread materials for the June 4, 2004, Council meeting for the list of recommendations). The decision to determine priorities for the 12 recommendations was postponed until the September 10, 2004, Council meeting.

• Calendar approval/future meetings. Mr. Wight thanked HHS for hosting the March 19, 2004, meeting. He announced that the next meeting will be held at the main DOJ conference center in September 2004. The December 2004 meeting will be held at DOL.

Mr. Flores asked for members' comments on the agenda items.

• National conference on truancy. Mr. Flores announced that DOJ and ED will host a national conference on truancy and school attendance in December 2004. OJJDP will contact Council members and other agencies to see what role they want to have in the conference. The challenge is to approach truancy from a broader perspective—not just with law enforcement strategies.

• Truants sent to court. Michael Mahoney, Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, reported that more and more truant children are sent to court. He would like to query other states on how they deal with this compliance issue. Mr. Flores responded by saying that states participating in OJJDP's Formula Grants program should not be using detention as a way of punishing status offenses. If a state is not in compliance, formula grant funding from OJJDP may be at risk.

• Children held within federal jurisdiction. Mr. Brendtro reported that the South Dakota Coalition for Children submitted written comments to the Council in response to the Federal Register notice for the June 4, 2004, meeting of the Council. The Coalition notes that the standards of protection in confinement contained in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act are sometimes not applied when children are held within federal jurisdiction, such as Indian reservations and by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mr. Flores said that the Council will include this as an agenda item for the September 10, 2004 meeting.

Discussion of Recommendation To Establish Council Planning Team
J. Robert Flores

Mr. Flores posed a challenge to the Council: How can it be more effective between meetings? The establishment of a Council Planning Team to help plan meetings, implement Council decisions, and coordinate Council activities has been recommended. Attendance by senior-level members of agencies at Council meetings is critical, as is the followup work performed between meetings by designated staff. Meeting agendas must reflect the needs of all the member agencies.

Mr. Wight outlined the rationale and proposed activities of the Council Planning Team. An interagency planning team would ensure that representation from all Council agencies is included in all Council decisions. Each member of the team would brief their respective Council member regularly and prior to meetings on Council activities, represent the agency in planning the quarterly meetings, track Council decisions that affect each agency to report status at future Council meetings, and coordinate with other agencies on implementing council decisions. The Council Planning Team member would need regular and frequent access to the Council member, comprehensive knowledge of agency programs that relate to the statutory mandates of the Council, and the ability to attend Council Management Team planning meetings one to two times a month in person or by conference call.

Mr. Wight called for comments and questions from the members about the Council Planning Team recommendation.

• The group discussed the composition of the Council Planning Team and the role of current Council members, including practitioner members. Mr. Wight indicated that the individuals would need to have knowledge of the Council, but not necessarily be a Council member. Practitioner members could contribute by suggesting topics to be addressed by the Council Planning Team.

• Issues related to the number of meetings per month and the staff time potentially needed to fulfill the responsibilities of a position on the Team were raised. Mr. Wight explained that the estimate of one to two meetings per month is the maximum anticipated. The Team member might, for example, attend a Team meeting after the Coordinating Council meeting to discuss issues raised at that meeting, a Team meeting the following month to plan agenda items for the next Council meeting, and another Team meeting shortly before the next Coordinating Council meeting to finalize the agenda and preread materials.

Mr. Flores encouraged all members, including practitioner members, to let him know what issues they want on the agenda. He plans to meet individually with members to learn about the issues important to each one. He also assured members that Mr. Wight will share ideas and concerns with members through more formal communications, such as written correspondence, handouts, and electronic messaging. In addition, members should feel free to reach out to all agencies directly and to Mr. Flores and Mr. Wight.

Mr. Flores asked whether the group consented to adopt this recommendation. After no objections were raised, the recommendation to establish a Council Planning Team was adopted.

Introduction to Presentations on Coordinating Mentoring Programs
J. Robert Flores

Mr. Flores opened the panel of presentations on the coordination of mentoring programs in federal agencies by stating that federal funding overall for building strong youth through mentoring has increased. DOJ has more than 200 successful mentoring programs across the nation through Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) grants. In addition, the National Mentoring Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), and new faith-based mentoring programs are supported by OJJDP. (The faith-based initiative funds faith-based organizations to recruit their members to develop new programs and work with existing mentoring programs.) President Bush's budget for FY 2004 contains significant funding for mentoring programs in HHS and ED.

BBBS, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, has approximately 250,000 active mentors across the United States and has set a goal of 1 million mentors for the future. Large unmet needs still exist, and bringing ED and HHS to the table will help to meet these needs and expand the pool of adults who will work with youth.

OJJDP worked with ED and HHS to gather mentoring programs currently funded by the three agencies and has identified 350 mentoring programs. Mr. Flores directed attention to a wall map, which displayed the locations of these mentoring programs and illustrated the need for mentoring programs in rural areas. The potential exists, however, to reach into every community through schools, hospitals, and other local organizations. In addition, many agencies represented on the Council have facilities across the country, and the Council could help leverage support for initiating mentoring programs in those facilities.

Presentation: Empowering and Partnering With Youth
Megan Klein, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth and Family Services

Mr. Flores introduced Megan Klein of the Mid-Atlantic Network for Youth and Family Services, an organization that works with other youth-service agencies.

Previously, Ms. Klein has worked for direct service providers for youth and has learned from those experiences that mentoring relationships and programs that promote positive youth development usually include two critical components: empowerment and partnership. Empowerment means providing opportunities for young people to improve their own lives and solve their own problems. Partnership means that mentoring is a two-way, give-and-take relationship in which each partner learns from the other.

Ms. Klein has observed that mentoring programs funded by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (HHS) involve young people in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of all their programs. In addition, AmeriCorps, which works with young people, includes mentoring in every program and places youth on its proposal review panels. These are only two examples of how federal and other agencies can empower and partner with youth to provide opportunities for youth to make a difference.

Presentation: Mentoring Programs of the Family and Youth Services Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rayanne Darensbourg,Family and Youth Program Specialist, HHS

Ms. Darensbourg informed the Council that the Family and Youth Services Bureau awarded 52 grants of $60,000–$525,000 to community- and faith-based organizations to serve children of incarcerated parents in federal or state facilities. This year, $40 million in new grants and $10 million in continuation grants were made available. The goal of this program is to place 100,000 children ages 4 to 15 in one-on-one mentoring relationships with caring adults in the community. Studies have shown that mentoring reduces substance abuse and increases academic performance.

Volunteer mentors are recruited through community- and faith-based organizations and community partnerships and then screened and trained. Grantees are required to obtain 1-year commitments from mentors to spend at least 1 hour per week with the children, use a "positive youth development" approach within the relationship (working with their strengths), and coordinate with partnering groups to develop a plan for the whole family regarding reentry reunification issues.

In this grant program, youth are represented on application review panels, and applicants are asked to include youth in the design and assessment of the program.

The Family and Youth Services Bureau held two grantee conferences for peer-to-peer learning and is beginning to provide training and technical assistance to grantees. The Bureau also sponsors a mentor exchange listserv, where mentoring organizations can share information, ideas, and resources. The contract to evaluate the national program was recently awarded to Abt Associates.

Ms. Darensbourg suggested two actions that the Council can take to coordinate mentoring programs among agencies: (1) provide a mechanism for training and technical assistance providers across agencies to share experiences, resources, and data and (2) connect grantees at the local level so they can share resources.

Presentation: Overview of Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP)
Eric Stansbury, Social Science Program Specialist, OJJDP

Mr. Stansbury noted that OJJDP has been at the vanguard of mentoring for a number of years and he is delighted that others are joining the effort. He explained that mentoring originally was considered an intervention program and is now considered to be preventive, bringing together law enforcement, social services, and other community resources.

Since 1994, OJJDP's Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) has funded 299 sites in 48 states and territories to recruit, screen, and train volunteers; identify at-risk youth; and obtain a 1-hour-per-week commitment from mentors. JUMP is no longer funded.

The National Mentoring Center is funded by OJJDP to provide training and technical assistance to grantees, including new grantee training, cross-site training, and peer-to-peer training. Training and technical assistance are important to the success of JUMP because they provide opportunities for grantees to learn from one another and share their experiences. Mentoring programs have higher turnover rates than most types of prevention programs, making training a very important component and the Center an important resource.

The Center has developed a structured protocol on the case management approach; has developed and distributed more than 100,000 copies of printed materials on such topics as fundraising and sustainability, program evaluation, and special populations; and maintains a mentor exchange and a Web site that contains more than 10,000 technical assistance reports and 170 links.

Presentation: National Evaluation of JUMP
Elizabeth Mertinko, Senior Analyst, Information Technology International

The Casey Foundation recently released data from the Kids Count program: 15 percent of the nation's children (3.8 million) say they are disconnected. This finding illustrates the need for and importance of mentoring. In 1996, Information Technology International was awarded a contract to conduct a process and outcome evaluation of JUMP.

The projects assessed as part of the JUMP evaluation represented a broad spectrum of mentoring models, target audiences, age ranges, and levels of risk, among other factors. Some grantees were large national organizations, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and some were local community-based organizations.

Challenges revealed by the study include recruiting adequate numbers of mentors (especially minority male mentors), maintaining mentoring matches beyond 6 to 9 months, and identifying same race/same gender matches.

The Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT), developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was used to assess the degree to which JUMP youth demonstrated changes in risk levels. Significant reductions in risk were found in three domains: aggressive behavior/delinquency, mental health, and peer relationships. A meta-analysis examined pre-JUMP and post-JUMP levels of risk across projects to differences, if any, across project types: 77 percent of projects had positive effect sizes (indicating reduced risk) on aggressive behavior/delinquency, 82 percent on mental health, and 70 percent on peer relationships.

JUMP had a measurable, positive impact on at-risk children. When surveyed, many of the children responded that they were happy with their mentors, enjoyed the experience, and felt that the mentors had a positive impact on their lives.

Although some JUMP projects had few resources, including little existing infrastructure at startup, many projects have continued beyond the grant period. Some now receive funding through ED or HHS, which demonstrates that JUMP was able to help these communities develop the infrastructure they needed.

Presentation: Mentoring Programs of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Deborah A. Price, Deputy Under Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools

The U.S. Department of Education's first mentoring program was awarded in 2002, with additional funds added each year since then. In January 2004, President Bush announced a new 3-year mentoring program funded for $300 million that seeks to involve 1 million students. This program targets disadvantaged middle school youth (grades 4–8) through school-based programs. The funding for FY 2004 mentoring programs is approximately $50 million, including new awards, continuing awards, and training and technical assistance. Funding requested for FY 2005 is approximately $100 million. Programs must be school-based, and mentors must be volunteers.

ED's mentoring programs focus primarily on academic achievement, improving school attendance, reducing the dropout rate, and building and maintaining long-term interpersonal relationships. Goals for the program include providing general guidance; promoting personal and social responsibility; increasing participation in, and enhancing the ability to benefit from, elementary and secondary education; discouraging illegal use of drugs and alcohol, violence, use of dangerous weapons, promiscuous behavior, and other criminal, harmful, or potentially harmful activity; encouraging participation in community service and community activities; encouraging setting goals and planning for the future, including graduation from secondary school and planning for postsecondary education or training; and discouraging involvement in gangs.

The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is developing a training and technical assistance center to ensure that funded programs receive assistance, as appropriate, in the management and implementation of their projects and to ensure their capacity to sustain their efforts over time. Other methods of providing training and technical assistance include a new grantee orientation meeting at the beginning of the grant period, a national conference, technical assistance/monitoring visits, a mentor listserv, biannual conference calls, and annual performance reports.

Mentoring programs must have a strong evaluation plan that includes various measures of accountability. The evaluation plan will focus on three performance indicators: the length of the mentoring relationship, improved academic performance, and improved school attendance.

Note: The grant application for FY 2004 funding ($50 million) was posted in the Federal Register on Friday, May 28, 2004, for 40 days.

Feedback From Practitioner Members of the Council on Mentoring Presentations
J. Robert Flores

Mr. Flores asked the practitioner members of the Council their thoughts on the mentoring programs presented by HHS, DOJ, and ED.

• "Universal design" of mentoring training. Mr. Brendtro discussed how mentoring taps people's natural ability to build relationships. Establishing longer time goals in grant programs is positive, but some youth have a hard time building relationships. Professionals in the field (including those in his organization, Reclaiming Youth) should ask, What characteristics make a mentor effective? What connects the mentor to the child? Even if a relationship is brief, like therapy, what can be done quickly? The short amount of time should be used to build a bond to respond to the child's needs. Mr. Brendtro's group is creating universal design systems, which originated in the field of architecture. Science-based research should guide a universal design of mentoring training. All mentoring programs have common goals: connecting with youth, helping them clarify their problems, and helping them fix those problems. These unified goals will keep numerous organizations from trying to "reinvent the wheel" and will prevent poorly trained volunteers from entering mentoring relationships with children they are not equipped to help. Mr. Flores asked in response, Should federal agencies collaborate on the science? Should we explore how to do this? What is our action item? Mr. Brendtro replied that federal agencies should collaborate on the science and that the Council should ask, How can we hone the most powerful tools to make mentoring work? It was suggested that a conference be held for Council members' technical assistance providers to discuss the state of the science on such topics as small-dose intervention.

• Change in target audience for mentoring programs. Council members discussed the change in the target audience of the program from K through 12th grade to 4th through 8th grade, thus eliminating high school students. It was noted that research shows that

youth older than 15 do not bond as well with mentors; they prefer to work with peers and coaches.

• Partnerships with existing organizations that serve youth. The three federal mentoring efforts could build partnerships with national youth-serving organizations that already exist, such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the Catholic Youth Organization. These organizations already have volunteers working with youth, who could join local mentoring programs and receive needed training and other services. Mr. Flores stated that one of the goals of the Council's mapping effort is to link local groups to enlarge the volunteer base. More ideas are needed about how to involve national organizations, how to get the word out, and how to encourage collaboration. Additional organizations that could be tapped to help the Council address some of these challenges include 100 Black Men, Concerned Black Men, and the Village Foundation.

• Involving former offenders. The Council discussed the potential role of former offenders and former gang members to enlarge the pool of minority male mentors. Background checks are required to protect children's safety. Although ex-offenders may not be appropriate as mentors, they can be a valuable resource when, for example, serving as speakers and moderators in small group settings. They also help minimize the stigma of former offenders being role models. What is done with the information gained from background checks is important as well.

• Sharing grantee histories among agencies. Mr. Flores asked whether federal agencies should consider it a strength or weakness if an applicant receives federal dollars from other grant programs. Would it be helpful to create a mechanism to share information among agencies about an agency's success—or lack of success—in managing a federal grant? How can the Council explore this possible coordination?

In the U.S. Department of Education, the history of an ED (but not another agency) grantee is available by computer—each agency has its own computer system. Timeframes are tight, and 2,000 applications must be reviewed to award 200 grants; therefore, there is no time to coordinate with other federal agencies.

The group discussed adding a question to grant applications about the applicant's history of receiving other federal sources of funding. Because ED focuses on new grantees and encourages novices to apply, such a question could be a deterrent. The possibility of applicants submitting false information would require a time-consuming process to verify its accuracy. Although the question could be phrased carefully to overcome some of these problems, issues of fiscal ineptness and competency remain.

Mr. Flores asked that the group consider two suggestions: (1) Could a sample of applications be fully vetted by a contractor 6 months after an award is made, when the contract is signed? (2) Are there areas where we can help each other? Can we bring together staff who are working on mentoring programs and pool ideas for the next grant cycle (FY 2006)? Mr. Flores asked for ideas on how the Council and its staff can help streamline the process and find existing programs.

• The end of JUMP funding. In response to a question about the status of JUMP funding, Mr. Flores stated that although the JUMP funding flow has ended, the mentoring programs have not. OJJDP will continue to provide training and technical assistance through the life of the award. JUMP grantees also can apply for ED and HHS grants, and JUMP grantees may apply for OJJDP block grant and formula funding through state advisory groups. OJJDP has a small program to test mentoring for children with siblings in detention. OJJDP will continue to work with BBBS and is looking at an antigang program for funding. JUMP grantees also can compete for new HHS and ED funding, which will total more than $100 million, compared with $15 million in the past.

Closing Remarks
J. Robert Flores

Mr. Flores stated that substantial positive action is occurring regarding the involvement of private support for mentoring across the country, even though it is hard to cull from the numbers anecdotally. Mentoring has a real impact on children. The No Child Left Behind program needs mentoring. We need to do better job of showing the impact of current programs. We know that the continuation of funding is important: President Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft, and Secretary Thompson (HHS) have talked about this. However, a lot of programs and resources exist that are not on the mentoring map, such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition programs.

Mr. Flores opened the floor to members of the public.

• Herb Drake, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (AFT): The AFT's GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) program works, but the concern today is the reduction in program funding. Congress and the administration are not hearing the good results at the local level, and cuts continue to be made.

• Joyce Thomas, Center for Child Protection and Family Support, Washington, DC : The Center for Child Protection and Family Support was an original JUMP project. Ms. Thomas has firsthand experience regarding the success of mentoring and the impact on children's lives. Although her organization no longer receives federal funds, the mentoring program has continued. Technical assistance from JUMP helped create a viable, ongoing program. A need exists for coordination at the local and federal levels; she asked how local agencies can learn about each other.

• Toby Smith, practitioner, Charleston, SC : The federal grant process intimidates people at the local level. Federal agencies are encouraged to keep the process simple and applicant- friendly. Adding a question to the application about the applicant's history of receiving other federal sources of funding is problematic. Community centers are natural allies—reach out to them and faith-based communities are primed to get involved. They should be approached at the national level.

Mr. Flores thanked the Council members and participants for attending and adjourned the meeting.

Attendees

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Dawn Aldridge, Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary

U.S. Department of Education (ED)
Diane Badgley, Program Specialist
Diane McCauley, Research Analyst
Bryan Williams, Program Analyst

Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Earl Myers, Program Specialist

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Sonia G. Chessen, Special Assistant

Administration for Children and Families
Rayanne Darensbourg, Family and Youth Program Specialist

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
Herb Drake, Chief

National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
Betty Chemers, Chief, Evaluation Division

Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
Nelson Hernandez, Director, Community Capacity Development Office
Bob Samuels, Acting Director, Office of Weed and Seed
Catherine Sanders, Public Affairs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
Eric Stansbury, Social Science Program Specialist
Timothy S. Wight, Director, Concentration of Federal Efforts Program

U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Cheryl Neverman, Program Manager

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Javier Cordova, Policy Analyst

Other Participants
Dr. Patrick G. Aaby, Director of Government Affairs, Channing Bete Company
Chantal G. Bromage, Graduate Student Intern, National Center for State Courts
Doris A. Carroll, Executive Director, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
Jose Dimas, Legislative Representative, National Center for State Courts
Dawn Eslinger, Project Director, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. William L. Howard, Assistant Administrator, Maryland Judiciary
Megan Klien, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth and Family Services
Marion Mattingly, Editor, Juvenile Justice Update
Elizabeth A. Mertinko, Senior Analyst, Information Technology International
Dana P. Mills, President, Kids LEAD, Inc.
Laurence C. Novotney, President, Information Technology International
Ottoniel Perez, Program Manager, Bureau of Rehabilitation, Inc.
Mary Poulin, Project Manager, Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center, Justice Research and Statistics Association
Miriam A. Rollin, Federal Policy Director, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Jessica A. Sandoval, Juvenile Justice Policy Coordinator, Center for Youth as Resources
Tiana J. Sanford, Public Policy, Center for Youth as Resources, National Crime Prevention Council
Kia N. Scipio, Legislative Counsel, Committee on Human Services
Joseph J. Smith, Editor, CD Publications
Toby Smith, Consultant, 3 John 1:2 Strategies
Joyce N. Thomas, President/CEO, Center for Child Protection and Family Support, Inc.
Dennis L. White, Research Analyst, Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence
Roxanne J. Williams, President, Urban Ed, Inc.

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