Juvenile Justice Planning Committee

2010 Funding Priorities

Mission Statement
The mission of the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee is to provide resources for youth who are at-risk of becoming delinquent due to individual, school, family, peer or community factors. These resources will also provide services for youth who are delinquent, undisciplined, or involved in the juvenile court process from intake through aftercare.

All of the following program priorities are of equal importance, regardless of their order.

A. Services to Address Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) in the Juvenile Justice System

The Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) subcommittee previously identified targeted communities to receive priority in the planning and implementation of activities to reduce the disproportional number of minority youth with juvenile justice system involvement. These targeted reduction counties were chosen based on a multivariate analysis of such factors as school suspensions and expulsions, geographic location and delinquency involvement.

The Governor's Crime Commission will continue efforts to reduce disproportionality in the state's juvenile justice system by offering funding to other counties interested in implementing activities targeting the reduction of DMC. Selection of such proposals will be based on similar factors used to select the targeted reduction sites, namely: (1) geographic location, (2) minority population, (3) level of collaboration and commitment to reduce disproportionate outcomes, and (4) level of specificity and sophistication on how funding will decrease minority overrepresentation in the applicant's jurisdiction. In addition to these criteria, interested counties must be specific as to what defining variable(s) in the juvenile justice decision making system will be targeted for DMC reduction. Counties will be expected to measure reductions in minority contact using the Relative Rate Index (RRI). Please contact DMC Coordinator, Brandy Dolby, for your county's specific RRI indices. This information must be obtained and incorporated into your grant proposal.

Disproportionality may exist at all points of the Juvenile Justice system leading up to and including confinement and detention. A comprehensive response to disproportionality addresses disparate results at the many contact or decision points feeding into the system. All programs funded under this priority should clearly identify the particular contact point(s) to be addressed.

• Arrest
• Referral
• Diversion
• Secure Detention
• Petitioned
• Delinquent
• Probation
• Secure Confinement
• Transfer

Outcomes state the expected results of your program and the impact on program participants in measurable, definable ways. Outcomes should be stated in realistic, achievable forms in your application's goal(s).

Programs will be expected to demonstrate all of the following outcomes:

• Decreased disproportionality in the specific juvenile justice system contact points addressed by the proposal
• Improved DMC-specific data collection systems that document both system entry data as well as program-specific outcome data

B. Delinquency Prevention Through Skills-training and/or Vocational Programs

Programs which pair delinquency prevention efforts with measurable and specific benefits/outcomes toward the development of concrete skills that lead to definable improvements in pro-social behavior, and that may be used in a trade or vocation hold promise for our youth. Such programs prepare youth by imparting the concrete skills and competencies essential for functioning as productive, law-abiding members of society. All programs funded under this priority should seek to train program participants in acquiring the specific skills needed for readiness to succeed in academic, trade or vocational environments given value in today's marketplace. Programming should have a focus on specific career development and vocational opportunities which would lead to gainful employment.

Outcomes state the expected results of your program and the impact on program participants in measurable, definable ways. Outcomes should be stated in realistic, achievable forms in your application's goal(s).

Programs should demonstrate one or more of the following outcomes as a function of the activities and services:

• Measurable increases in pre-vocational, vocational and/or workforce readiness and development skills related to school success that lead to reductions in juvenile crime/risk, and the successful transition from academics to applied work settings
• Decreased percentage of youth abusing substances
• Improved outcomes for minority youth

Successful applicants are those programs that teach workforce preparedness, pre-vocational and vocational skills designed to assist students who may be considering alternatives to secondary and post-secondary education.

C. Community-based Intervention and Prevention Services for Youth Involved with Gangs, Abusing Substances, or in Detention while providing Educational Programming

Programs that receive funding in this category must be supported with research as to their theory and application for the population of youth being served. Preferred programs should be skill-based and not generic in focus. Community-based interventions (proposals) should follow from an evidence-based approach and be developed as an outgrowth of research or other evidence determining that they are more likely to be successful than non-researched approaches. Please note also that this priority is not intended as a supplemental educational or alternative schooling source.

Outcomes state the expected results of your program and the impact on program participants in measurable, definable ways. Outcomes should be stated in realistic, achievable forms in your application's goal(s).

Programs should demonstrate one or more of the following outcomes:

• Prevent delinquency and undisciplined behavior as indicated by specified reductions of identified risk factors and/or quantitative increases in protective factors
• Decreased percentage of suspended students receiving subsequent suspensions
• Increased percentage of suspended students who return to school, improve school attendance, and improve academic performance
• Decreased percentage of youth exhibiting anti-social behavior
• Decreased recidivism rate of court-involved youth
• Increased number of court-involved youth who complete school (through out-of-school time programming)
• Increased percentage of court-involved youth who improve academic performance and school attendance (through out-of-school time programming)
• Tutoring and/or mentoring programs which provide improved outcomes for minority youth
• Reduction in gang activities or youth who associate with gangs as a function of their gang affiliations, involvement and/or crimes
• Measurable increases in specific skills or competencies that are directly linked to juvenile crime, gang or substance use/abuse reductions
• Decreased percentage of court-involved youth abusing substances
• Decreased percentage of youth in detention

D. Improved Response for Child Victims of Maltreatment

Funding under this priority is intended for systems change to improve outcomes to victims of maltreatment. Please note that should treatment or direct services be your goal, you should direct your proposal to the Crime Victims Services Committee, Priority B, which funds this program type.

Outcomes for improving systemic responses to child maltreatment should state the expected results of your program and the impact on program participants. Outcomes should be stated in realistic, achievable forms in your application's goal(s).

Programs should demonstrate one or more of the following outcomes:

• Improved outcomes with child abuse and neglect cases, particularly dual jurisdiction (child welfare and delinquency) cases, cases involving sexual abuse or exploitation, and cases involving youth aging out of the child welfare system
• Improved outcomes of cases involving children with disabilities or serious health-related problems who are victims of abuse or neglect
• Improved investigation and prosecution of cases of child abuse and neglect, particularly those involving fatalities, sexual abuse, and/or exploitation
• Improved outcomes from the processing and review of suspected child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities

Programs which may be funded include (but are not limited to) those designed t

• Strengthen Child Advocacy Centers and child abuse evaluation resources throughout North Carolina
• Establish centralized record keeping for abuse perpetrated by non-caretakers
• Implement North Carolina's Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan (PIP), a copy of which is available online at: http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/dss/stats/cw.htm

E. Specialized services to address noncompliance with the Deinstitutionalization of Status Offender Core Requirement (DSO) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA)

The Juvenile Justice Planning Committee is seeking proposals specific to alternative to detention programming and the provision of training and technical assistance to units of government on the issues related to the DSO requirement of the JJDPA. This is a specialized priority for statewide agencies, educational institutions and associations to provide training and technical assistance to promote voluntary compliance with the DSO requirement of the JJDP Act.

According to federal guidelines, status offenders in the state of North Carolina are not to be held in secure detention or law enforcement agencies in excess of 24 hours. The current state law allows for 72 hour detentions which has placed the state out of compliance with federal guidelines. Applicants would be charged with providing training and assistance in educating statewide decision-makers in law enforcement, juvenile justice, and the judiciary on best practices to reduce the use of detention and secure holding of North Carolina's status offenders.

All organizations receiving financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice are bound by the Equal Treatment Regulations codified at 28 C.F.R. pt. 38. With limited exceptions, these regulations prohibit the inclusion of inherently religious activities (such as worship, religious instruction, or proselytization) in the specific programs or services that are being funded. A religious organization that participates in the funded programs or services will retain its independence from Federal, State, and local governments and may continue to carry out its mission, including the definition, practice, and expression of its religious beliefs, though it must not use funding to support any inherently religious activity. In providing services, funded organizations shall not discriminate against a program beneficiary or prospective program beneficiary on the basis of religion or religious belief.

All applicants are required to notify their county Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) Chair in writing of the intent to apply for Governor's Crime Commission funding -- and to submit evidence that their local JCPC has been informed of their application and agrees that their proposed program fits into the local JCPC's annual resource needs/plans . A copy of this documentation must be received along with signature pages by the grant application deadline.

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