Fattah Announces Recipients of $78 Million in National Youth Mentoring Awards for FY15

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (PA-02), a senior Appropriator and leading Congressional advocate for youth mentoring, announced today that 28 mentoring organizations will receive nearly $78 million in combined funds from the Department of Justice. The grants, from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), will increase mentoring programming around the country and include funding to four national mentoring programs, 13 multi-state initiatives, plus research, evaluation, training and technical assistance support.

The four national mentoring programs to receive funds are: Boys & Girls Clubs of America ($25 million), the National 4-H Council ($9.8 million), the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association ($4.5 million), and the National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations ($2.35 million).

Three Philadelphia organizations will receive multi-state mentoring initiative grants. These include AMACHI, Inc. ($1 million), Nueva Esperanza, Inc. ($1 million), and The Moyer Foundation ($2 million).

"It is a great honor to congratulate each of the organizations who are recipients of this year's youth mentoring grant awards from the Department of Justice. Youth mentoring has been one of my top priorities on the CJS committee and I am proud of our success in boosting its levels of funding," Congressman Fattah said. "Mentoring programs are a critical and effective resource in pushing our young people towards greater success in school and their careers. This funding further invests in 28 organizations that have demonstrated their ability to inspire, challenge, and change the trajectory of life for young individuals due to the influence of an adult mentor."

"Thanks to the youth mentoring grants from The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Boys & Girls Clubs can strengthen their outreach to kids in need, and increase the impact of programs that promote academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles—the core outcomes of the Club experience," said Jim Clark, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). "On behalf of our 325,000 adult staff and volunteers and four million young people and their parents, we thank the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Justice Programs for their longtime support of our life-changing programs for youth most in need, and to Congressman Fattah for recognizing the critical impact of our efforts."

MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership is a recipient of the $1.5 million Training and Technical Assistance grant from OJJDP. They will use the funds to provide technical assistance to partnership organizations across the country.

"The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention along with Congressman Fattah have created a legacy of investments in high-impact mentoring programs that deliver powerful relationships to connect young people with opportunity," said David Shapiro, President and CEO of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. "They also recognize the value and return on investment in providing mentoring programs with the resources, training and technical assistance necessary to strengthen their practices and achieve national quality standards. MENTOR and our network of affiliate Mentoring Partnerships are able to deliver these building blocks to programs through the National Mentoring Resource Center, which in just over one year has provided 2,765 hours of technical assistance to mentoring programs representing nearly 75,000 young people."

Congressman Fattah has introduced two pieces of legislation in the 114^th Congress that would make great strides in closing the mentoring gap: H.R. 1360, America's FOCUS Act, and a resolution that would allow Congress to steer funds toward federally chartered nonprofits that provide evidence-based youth mentoring programs. He has also been successful in developing collaborations between the government and nonprofit organizations that provide mentoring services to low-income students, including forging the American Innovation and Mentorship Agreement (AIM) in robotics between NASA and BGCA.

Additional organizations that will receive OJJDP funding are: AARP Foundation, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Catholic Charities USA, Center for Supportive Schools, Goodwill Industries International, Leadership Foundations, Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth & Family Services, National Urban League, Sea Research Foundation, the ASPIRA Association, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Sun"aq Tribe of Kodiak, Be A Mentor, Inc., Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, Greater Wyoming Big Brothers Big Sisters, Pima Prevention Partnership, Friends of the Children, Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry, Development Services Group, and the Urban Institute.

Further information on the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs and OJJDP funding awards can be found at http://ojp.gov.

www.fattah.house.gov

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah

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