WASHINGTON – The following is a press release from the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). OJP has awarded more than $293 million in grants to help at-risk youth. The grants are expected to help prevent crime and protect public safety.
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced Oct. 3 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.
Recognizing the multifaceted needs of youth, OJJDP invested more than $71 million this year to help develop and enhance the capacity of communities to provide mentoring services to at-risk youth and support anti-gang strategies nationwide.
“OJJDP has long been a leading supporter of mentoring programs as an effective way to prevent at-risk youth from becoming involved in delinquency and to help already delinquent youth change their lives for the better” said Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, assistant Attorney General for OJP.
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.
This week, the Department also announced the launch of its new crime prevention initiative, Celebrate Safe Communities (CSC). In partnership with the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National Crime Prevention Council, OJP is promoting the new event throughout the country, Oct. 2 – 4.
Celebrate Safe Communities is a new initiative taking place throughout the country and will help local communities organize safety-focused events. October is Crime Prevention Month, and CSC observes the month by spotlighting communities’ crime prevention efforts, enhancing public awareness of vital crime prevention and safety messages, and recruiting year-round support for ongoing prevention activities that help keep neighborhoods safe from crime.
OJP Oct. 3, 2008 press release
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