Proposed Comprehensive Plan for Fiscal Year 2000

SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is

publishing this notice of its Proposed Comprehensive Plan for fiscal

year (FY) 2000.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 29, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Shay Bilchik, Administrator,

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 810 Seventh

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20531.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eileen M. Garry, Director, Information

Dissemination Unit, at 202-307-5911. [This is not a toll-free number.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is a component of the Office of Justice

Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice. Pursuant to the provisions

of Section 204(b)(5)(A) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5601 et seq. (JJDP

Act), the Administrator of OJJDP is publishing for public comment a

Proposed Comprehensive Plan describing the program activities that

OJJDP proposes to carry out during fiscal year (FY) 2000 under Parts C

and D of Title II of the JJDP Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5651-

5665a, 5667, 5667a. Taking into consideration comments received on this

Proposed Comprehensive Plan, the Administrator will develop and publish

OJJDP's Final Comprehensive Plan describing the particular program

activities that OJJDP intends to fund during FY 2000, using in whole or

in part funds appropriated under Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP

Act.

OJJDP acknowledges that at this time its reauthorization

legislation is in conference and the Department of Justice's FY 2000

appropriation is not yet final. Depending on the outcome of these

legislative actions, the structure of OJJDP's programs may be altered.

If that occurs, OJJDP will make any necessary modifications to this

Proposed Program Plan when it is published in final form following the

public comment period. The programs described here represent OJJDP's

current thinking and initial priorities for this fiscal year. These

priorities also reflect feedback from OJJDP's ongoing outreach to the

field asking for their ideas on priority areas and the most promising

types of programs for those areas.

Notice of the official solicitation of grant or cooperative

agreement applications for competitive programs to be funded under the

Final Comprehensive Plan will be published at a later date in the

Federal Register. No proposals, concept papers, or other forms of

application should be submitted at this time.

Background

In developing its program plan for Parts C and D each year, OJJDP

must take into consideration the latest available data on juvenile

crime and victimization in the United States and view these statistics

in relation to those of recent years. To know where the Nation's

juveniles are headed, it is necessary to know where they are and where

they have been. OJJDP's Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National

Report (National Report) 1 uses the latest data available

from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other sources to provide a

comprehensive picture of the nature of juvenile crime and violence

across the Nation.

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\1\ Copies of the National Report can be obtained by calling

OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800-638-8736 or by

visiting OJJDP's Web site at www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org and clicking on

``Publications.''

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At the end of the 1990's, juvenile crime and violence are

continuing a downward trend that began in 1994, bringing a halt to the

dramatic annual increases that had alarmed the Nation since 1988. The

National Report indicates that in 1997, homicides of juveniles, which

had peaked in 1993, fell to their lowest level in the decade (p. 16).

Despite well-publicized instances of shocking school violence, students

are safer at school than elsewhere, and school crime declined from 1993

through 1996 (p. 31). In 1997, homicides involving a juvenile

perpetrator were the lowest in the decade but still 21 percent above

the average of the 1980's (p. 53). Serious violence by juveniles

dropped 33 percent between 1993 and 1997, compared with a reduction of

25 percent in violence by adults in the same period (p. 62). On the

other hand, gang problems now affect more jurisdictions than ever

before--including rural and suburban areas (p. 77). Illicit drug use by

juveniles, which had declined during the 1980's, has increased since

1992 (p. 74), although the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

reported that the percentage of 12- to 17-year-olds who reported using

illegal drugs in the preceding month dropped from 11.4 percent in 1997

to 9.9 percent in 1998. Looking at arrest data, while drug arrests

continued to increase for both juveniles and adults between 1993 and

1997, arrests for most serious violent offenses and property offenses

declined--with violent crime arrests down 6 percent for juveniles and

property crime arrests down 3 percent (p. 117). In 1997, the juvenile

violent crime arrest rate, which had increased 62 percent from 1988 to

1994, was at its lowest level in this decade: just 7 percent above the

1989 rate, but still 25 percent above the 1988 rate (p. 120).

Even in the area of violent behaviors that do not reach the

attention of the justice system, positive trends are seen. A recent

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) biennial survey of

16,000 9th through 12th graders found sharp decreases in certain

categories of violent activity by teenagers between 1991 and 1997. For

example, 18.3 percent of the students surveyed in 1997 reported having

carried a gun, knife, or club in the previous month, compared with 26.1

percent of those surveyed in 1991, and the percentage carrying such

weapons on school property decreased from 11.8 percent in 1993 to 8.5

percent in 1997. The frequency of fighting also declined, with 37

percent of the 1997 surveyed youth reporting involvement in a physical

fight in the previous year, compared with nearly 43 percent of those

surveyed in 1991.

This mixture of some reassuring and some still troubling statistics

serves as a reminder that while great progress has been made in

reducing juvenile delinquency, violence, and victimization, much more

needs to be done. Although it is impossible to definitively identify

the reasons for the downward trend in juvenile violence, factors cited

by the authors of the CDC study include community policing and an

expansion of violence prevention programs. As research and evaluation,

much of it supported by OJJDP funding, continue to provide information

about what works in the areas of prevention and intervention,

policymakers, practitioners, and citizens can make informed decisions

as to what programs and approaches will best serve to reinforce and

continue existing trends away from juvenile delinquency, violence, and

victimization.

In this Proposed Comprehensive Plan, OJJDP describes its priorities

for funding

[[Page 56085]]

activities authorized under Part C (National Programs) and Part D

(Gang-Free Schools and Communities; Community-Based Gang Intervention)

of Title II of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP)

Act. The activities authorized under Parts C and D constitute part, but

not all, of OJJDP's overall responsibilities, which are outlined

briefly below.

In 1974, the JJDP Act established OJJDP as the Federal agency

responsible for providing national leadership, coordination, and

resources to develop and implement effective methods to prevent and

reduce juvenile delinquency and improve the quality of juvenile justice

in the United States. OJJDP administers State Formula Grants under Part

B of Title II, State Challenge Grants under Part E of Title II, and

Community Prevention Grants under Title V of the JJDP Act to assist

States and territories to fund a range of delinquency prevention,

control, and juvenile justice system improvement activities. OJJDP

provides support activities for these and other programs under

statutory set-asides that are used to provide related research,

evaluation, statistics, demonstration, and training and technical

assistance services.

Under Part C of Title II of the JJDP Act, OJJDP funds Special

Emphasis programs and--through its National Institute for Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention--numerous research, evaluation,

statistics, demonstration, training and technical assistance, and

information dissemination activities. OJJDP funds school and community-

based gang prevention, intervention, and suppression programs under

Part D and mentoring programs under Part G of Title II of the JJDP Act.

OJJDP also coordinates Federal activities related to juvenile justice

and delinquency prevention through the Concentration of Federal Efforts

Program and serves as the staff agency for the Coordinating Council on

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; both of these activities

are authorized in Part A of Title II of the JJDP Act. Another OJJDP

responsibility under the JJDP Act is to administer the Title IV Missing

and Exploited Children's Program.

Other programs administered by OJJDP include the Drug Prevention

Program, the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program, the Safe Schools

Initiative, the Tribal Youth Program, the Safe Start: Children Exposed

to Violence Initiative, and the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block

Grants Program. OJJDP also administers programs under the Victims of

Child Abuse Act of 1990, as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 13001 et seq.

OJJDP focuses its assistance funding and support activities on the

development and implementation of programs with the greatest potential

for reducing juvenile delinquency and improving the juvenile justice

system by establishing partnerships with State and local governments,

American Indian and Alaska Native jurisdictions, and public and private

agencies and organizations. OJJDP performs its role of national

leadership in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention through a

cycle of activities. These include collecting data and statistics to

determine the extent and nature of issues affecting juveniles, funding

research and studies that can lead to demonstrations funded by

discretionary grants, evaluating demonstration projects, sharing

lessons learned from the field with practitioners through a range of

information dissemination vehicles, providing seed money to States and

local governments through formula and block grants to implement

programs, projects, or reform efforts, and providing training and

technical assistance to assist States and local governments to

implement programs effectively and to maintain the integrity of model

programs as they are being replicated.

As noted previously, OJJDP is a component of the Office of Justice

Programs (OJP). This Department of Justice agency emphasizes the

importance of coordination among its components and with other Federal

agencies whenever possible in order to obtain maximum results from OJP

programs and initiatives. OJJDP's coordination efforts include joint

funding, interagency agreements, and partnerships to develop,

implement, and evaluate projects. This proposed plan reflects OJJDP's

coordination efforts. For a more complete picture of OJP program

activities that affect the field of juvenile justice, readers are

encouraged to review the Office of Justice Programs Fiscal Year 2000

Program Plan when it becomes available. (Readers should check the OJP

Web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov periodically for an announcement of the

availability of the OJP Program Plan.)

Fiscal Year 2000 Program Planning Activities

The OJJDP program planning process for FY 2000 is being coordinated

with the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP),

and all OJP components. The program planning process involves the

following steps:

Internal review of existing programs by OJJDP staff.

Internal review of proposed programs by OJP bureaus and

Department of Justice components.

Review of information and data from OJJDP grantees and

contractors.

Review of information contained in State comprehensive

plans.

Review of comments from youth service providers, juvenile

justice practitioners, and researchers who provide input in proposed

new program areas.

Consideration of suggestions made by juvenile justice

policymakers concerning State and local needs.

Consideration of all comments received during the period

of public comment on this Proposed Comprehensive Plan.

Discretionary Grant Continuation Policy

OJJDP has listed on the following pages continuation projects

currently funded in whole or in part with Part C and Part D funds and

eligible for continuation funding in FY 2000, either within an existing

project period or through an extension for an additional project or

budget period. A grantee's eligibility for continued funding for an

additional budget period within an existing project period depends on

the grantee's compliance with funding eligibility requirements and

achievement of the prior year's objectives. The amount of award is

based on prior projections, demonstrated need, and fund availability.

The only projects described in this Proposed Program Plan are those

that would receive Part C or Part D FY 2000 continuation funding under

project period or discretionary continuation assistance awards and

program areas that OJJDP is considering for new awards under Part C or

Part D in FY 2000. This plan does not include descriptions of other

OJJDP programs, including mentoring programs under Part G of Title II

of the JJDP Act, the Drug Prevention Program, the Enforcing Underage

Drinking Laws Program, the Safe Schools Initiative, the Tribal Youth

Program, the Safe Start: Children Exposed to Violence Initiative, and

the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program. When

appropriate, OJJDP issues separate solicitations for applications for

funding for these or other programs that are not authorized under Parts

C and D. Readers interested in learning about all OJJDP funding

opportunities are encouraged to call OJJDP's Juvenile Justice

Clearinghouse at 800-638-8736 or visit OJJDP's Web

[[Page 56086]]

site at www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org and click on ``Grants & Funding.''

Consideration for continuation funding for an additional project

period for previously funded discretionary grant programs will be based

on several factors, including the following:

The extent to which the project responds to the applicable

requirements of the JJDP Act.

Responsiveness to OJJDP and Department of Justice FY 2000

program priorities.

Compliance with performance requirements of prior grant

years.

Compliance with fiscal and regulatory requirements.

Compliance with any special conditions of the award.

Availability of funds (based on appropriations and program

priority determinations).

In accordance with Section 262 (d)(1)(B) of the JJDP Act, as

amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5665a, the competitive process for the award of

Part C funds is not required if the Administrator makes a written

determination waiving the competitive process:

1. With respect to programs to be carried out in areas in which the

President declares under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and

Emergency Assistance Act codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5121 et seq. that a

major disaster or emergency exists, or

2. With respect to a particular program described in Part C that is

uniquely qualified.

Introduction to Fiscal Year 2000 Program Plan

In administering the discretionary grants program under Parts C and

D of Title II, OJJDP has identified four goals as the major elements of

a sound policy that ensures public safety and security while

establishing effective juvenile justice and delinquency prevention

programs. Achieving these goals, which are discussed below, is vital to

protecting the long-term safety of the public from juvenile delinquency

and violence.

OJJDP promotes delinquency prevention and early

intervention efforts that reduce the flow of juvenile offenders into

the juvenile justice system, the numbers of serious and violent

offenders, and the development of chronic delinquent careers. While

removing serious and violent juvenile offenders from the street serves

to protect the public, long-term solutions lie primarily in taking

aggressive steps to stop delinquency before it starts or becomes a

pattern of behavior.

OJJDP seeks to improve the juvenile justice system and the

response of the system to juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and

dependent, neglected, and abused children.

OJJDP supports efforts in the area of corrections,

detention, and community-based alternatives to preserve the public

safety in a manner that serves the appropriate development and best use

of secure detention and corrections options, while at the same time

fostering the use of community-based programs for juvenile offenders.

OJJDP seeks to support law enforcement, public safety, and

other justice agency efforts to prevent juvenile delinquency, intervene

in the development of chronic delinquent careers, and collaborate with

the juvenile justice system to meet the needs of dependent, neglected,

and abused children.

In 1993, OJJDP published its Comprehensive Strategy for Serious,

Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, which set forth a research-

based comprehensive approach for addressing the problems of juvenile

crime and victimization and for achieving its program goals. The

Comprehensive Strategy was developed to assist States and local

communities in preventing at-risk youth from becoming serious, violent,

and chronic juvenile offenders and in crafting a practical response to

those who do. Over the past few years, OJJDP has tested and refined the

prevention and graduated sanctions components of the Comprehensive

Strategy. In 1996, OJJDP began assisting three pilot sites to formulate

the Comprehensive Strategy plans at the local level. Lessons learned

from those sites are being used in eight States to implement a

strategic planning and implementation process through State

partnerships with up to six local jurisdictions that are developing and

implementing their own comprehensive strategies.2

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\2\ For more information about the Comprehensive Strategy,

readers can request a copy of OJJDP Fact Sheet No. 9883, An Update

on the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic

Juvenile Offenders, by calling the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at

800-638-9736. Additional information is available from the

Comprehensive Strategy program section of OJJDP's Web site at

www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/strategy/index.html.

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This Proposed Plan also supports the Coordinating Council's 1996

National Juvenile Justice Action Plan, which grew out of the

Comprehensive Strategy. This Action Plan, which the Coordinating

Council is currently updating, provides eight objectives to reduce

juvenile violence and describes ways to meet these objectives.

Together, the Comprehensive Strategy and the Action Plan constitute a

sound strategy for translating innovation and research findings to

infrastructure.

Continuation Programs

OJJDP organizes its proposed programs under four broad categories

that reflect its program goals and the principles of the Comprehensive

Strategy. The following summaries briefly describe some of the types of

activities proposed for continuation funding in each category, subject

to the appropriations for Parts C and D for FY 2000.

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Eight programs related to the important public policy issue of

proliferating youth gangs are a major focus of OJJDP's proposals in

this category. The programs range from demonstrations and replications

of models to technical assistance and from evaluation to data

collection and analysis. Funds would also be provided to a partnership

between youth and health services agencies to continue school-based

activities and efforts to address the effects on children of exposure

to domestic violence. Two programs deal with a problem of increasing

public concern, gun violence. An evaluation is looking at the effect of

transferring the responsibility for child protective investigations to

law enforcement agencies.

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

OJJDP proposes to fund a range of programs that focus on reducing

risk factors and increasing protective factors in children's lives. The

types of programs include demonstrations, pilots, and replications of

model programs; outreach; studies and evaluations; and training and

technical assistance. Beginning with early programs such as prenatal

nurse home visitation, OJJDP's delinquency prevention and intervention

efforts feature arts programs for at-risk youth and for those in

detention and corrections facilities; programs that assess the role of

alcohol, illegal drugs, mental health problems, and learning disorders

in juvenile delinquency and programs that study effective interventions

for these risk factors. Funding is also proposed for programs to reduce

truancy and keep students from dropping out of school, conflict

resolution programs, programs that discourage violence and hatred, and

programs that provide opportunities for positive development and

promote public awareness of effective solutions to juvenile crime.

[[Page 56087]]

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

In this category, OJJDP proposes to support efforts to develop

comprehensive approaches to juvenile justice and delinquency

prevention, including programs designed to reform juvenile justice

systems in specific locations. Some programs attempt to increase

youth's accountability for their behavior and to prevent violence,

while others seek to improve the quality of youth's legal

representation and the equity and efficiency of the treatment of youth

(including girls and minorities) at all points within the juvenile

justice system, including points where the justice and mental health

systems intersect and the time when youth return to the community from

residential facilities. In addition, OJJDP would fund programs focusing

on providing the information base necessary for sound policymaking.

Examples include censuses and surveys of juveniles in facilities and on

probation, an accurate program directory for use in the censuses and

surveys, and a data analysis project.

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

Three programs fall within this category: Safe Kids/Safe Streets:

Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and Preventing

Delinquency, its national evaluation, and a research program focusing

specifically on the issue of child neglect.

Overarching

In addition to the activities in the four categories described

above, OJJDP supports programs in a broader, overarching category.

These are programs with significant elements common to more than one of

the other four categories. Among the overarching programs is a major

longitudinal study of the causes and correlates of delinquency, which

is also providing an opportunity for an examination of the

intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior. School violence

is addressed by a university-based consortium and by a national

resource center. One initiative is assisting six communities in

implementing comprehensive programs to reduce youth violence and

delinquency. Another program is evaluating a demonstration program for

reducing truancy. Research-based guidance will be provided to States

and others to improve juvenile justice services for students with

disabilities. OJJDP proposes to continue a crime prevention center

whose tasks include investigating the reasons for the

overrepresentation of minorities in the Texas juvenile justice system.

Finally, national-level statistical support, training and technical

assistance programs, and a clearinghouse are included in the

overarching category, as are an OJJDP management evaluation contract

and telecommunications assistance.

Descriptions of the specific programs in each of the five

categories follow the discussion of new programs.

New Programs

As stated earlier, because this Proposed Plan is being published

before the FY 2000 appropriation is enacted, possible new programming

can be discussed only in the most general terms. If there should be

sufficient funding to support new programs in addition to those

proposed for continuation funding, OJJDP is considering 10 broad areas

in which new programs might be funded in FY 2000. The public is asked

to comment on these proposed areas, which are described briefly below.

1. Improving the Juvenile Sanctioning System

OJJDP is considering several efforts to improve the juvenile

sanctioning system. As a result of new State laws over the past decade,

juvenile correctional systems are increasingly being burdened with

older, more violent offenders, while still having responsibility to

serve less serious offenders. Areas of interest for possible new

programs concerning sanctions include screening and assessment, key

clinical issues, school-based probation services, educational needs of

juveniles in corrections and detention, training and technical

assistance for juvenile probation officers, improvements in and

alternatives to detention, and correctional treatment and transition

programs for juvenile offenders.

2. Developing and Studying Programs Addressing Female Offenders

OJJDP proposes to support demonstration projects to test promising

programs that target the unique needs of female offenders. Recent

research indicates that females have become increasingly involved in

more serious and violent delinquent behavior, but research on female

delinquency is often secondary to the study of males. Although male and

female delinquents experience many of the same problems (e.g., chaotic

home environments, poverty, substance abuse), female offenders have

unique needs (e.g., sexual abuse and teen pregnancy) that challenge the

ability of the justice system to provide appropriate treatment.

3. Monitoring and Understanding the ``Whys'' Behind Juvenile Crime

Trends

OJJDP is considering support for a rigorous study to better

understand juvenile crime trends. Numerous explanations have been

offered for the recent decline in the juvenile violent crime rate but

none with a solid empirical basis. A local-level inquiry would explore

a wide range of factors including policy, programmatic and community

initiatives, and other potential variables that may help explain

community trends. Both retrospective and prospective approaches are

contemplated for better understanding juvenile crime trends.

4. Developing Blueprint Programs Through Replication and Evaluation

Another effort under consideration involves building on the work

currently being done through the Blueprints for Violence Prevention

project at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV)

at the University of Colorado. In the course of identifying 10

effective ``blueprint'' programs, CSPV also found a number of highly

promising programs that fit some, but not all, of its criteria for

proven effectiveness. OJJDP is considering funding a new project that

would replicate some of these promising programs in communities that

demonstrate a capacity to implement and rigorously evaluate them, with

the goal of increasing the number of programs that communities can

confidently implement to reduce their levels of youth violence,

substance abuse, and delinquency through prevention, early

intervention, and treatment.

5. Replicating Effective Juvenile Delinquency Prevention and Treatment

Program Models on Native American Tribal Lands and in Alaskan Native

Communities

In this program area, OJJDP would support an effort to assist

Native American tribes in adapting a selected group of program models

proven to be effective in communities outside Native American settings.

The process would draw on ethnographic and applied behavioral science

skills and techniques. The end products would include a replicable

process to facilitate future tribal adaption and a set of ``generic''

program models with potential permutations reflecting variations across

Native American cultures. Four tribes funded by OJJDP

[[Page 56088]]

from 1992 to 1995 demonstrated that Native American tribes and Alaskan

Native communities can benefit from assistance designed to accelerate

program development but that they require a significant level of

technical assistance rooted in understanding of Native American

culture, history, and tradition.

6. Developing and Evaluating Model Practices Regarding the Efficacy of

Delinquency and Dependency Courts

OJJDP is considering two efforts to assist the juvenile court

system in appropriately and efficiently handling cases involving

juvenile delinquency and dependency: one would evaluate the

effectiveness of model dependency courts that are being implemented

throughout the United States and one would develop a model juvenile

delinquency court, including effective risk and needs assessment, best

practices intake and probation services, and placement options. OJJDP

would determine best practices by a survey of courts.

7. Reducing Lead and Environmental Hazards

OJJDP is considering support for a coordinated, interagency

prevention, education, and intervention program to build local capacity

through training and technical assistance to solve the problem of lead

and other environmental hazards that affect children. Funding might

also be provided for a limited pilot demonstration. Children with

elevated levels of lead in their blood frequently suffer from physical,

neurobiological, and cognitive impairment, and possibly from later

behavioral problems, including aggression and delinquency.

8. Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Sex Offending

OJJDP is considering support for an effort to inventory the

research, evaluation, and treatment efforts currently under way and

completed in the area of juvenile sex offending, to assess these

efforts, to identify needs that might be supported in the future, and

to outline an action plan to address these issues. An additional

product would be an assessment of the feasibility of developing a

technical assistance and training program. OJJDP would also consider

support for the development of assessment instruments. Multiple efforts

in the areas of research, evaluation, and service programs for juvenile

sex offenders are under way, but no unified inventory exists to provide

an understanding of the status of knowledge or treatment opportunities

in this area, nor is there an understanding of how these activities

relate to each other or build upon an existing knowledge base.

9. Developing Prevention and Treatment Programs for Status Offenders

OJJDP is considering funding programs that would identify the

extent and nature of status offending, inventory best practices in

addressing this behavior from around the county, and support

demonstration and replication of effective programs for dealing with

these offenders. Juveniles who commit status offenses (truancy, running

away, curfew violations, incorrigibility, etc.) are very often taking

their first steps into the juvenile justice system. Prevention and

treatment at this early stage are less expensive and more effective

than efforts to change subsequent delinquent behavior.

10. Supporting Field Initiated Research and Evaluation Programs

OJJDP is considering support for field-initiated research and

evaluation projects that complement the new and current programs

outlined in this Proposed Program Plan. OJJDP would provide funding for

innovative and rigorous research that supports its mission in

significant and creative ways. Topics explored in past OJJDP-funded

field-initiated research include mental health issues in the juvenile

justice system; juvenile sex offending; gangs; evaluation of juvenile

justice programs for female juvenile offenders; juvenile justice system

operations, sanctions, and treatments; and Native American juvenile

justice and delinquency prevention.

Fiscal Year 2000 Programs

The programs that OJJDP proposes to fund in FY 2000 are listed

alphabetically and summarized within each of the five categories:

Overarching, Public Safety and Law Enforcement, Strengthening the

Juvenile Justice System, Delinquency Prevention and Intervention, and

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts.

With regard to implementation sites and other descriptive data and

information, program priorities within each category will be determined

based on grantee performance, application quality, fund availability,

and other factors.

As part of the appropriations process, Congress is likely to

identify a number of programs for funding consideration with regard to

the grantee(s), the amount of funds, or both. These programs will be

listed in the Final Program Plan. Congress is also likely to direct

OJJDP to examine certain programs, provide assistance to them if

warranted, and report to the Committees on Appropriations of both the

House and the Senate on its intention for each one. These programs will

also be listed in the Final Program Plan.

Fiscal Year 2000 Program Listing

Overarching

Center for Students with Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System

Coalition for Juvenile Justice

Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Program

Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence

Insular Area Support

Intergenerational Transmission of Antisocial Behavior Project

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development

National Resource Center for Safe Schools

National Training and Technical Assistance Center

OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice Resource

Center

Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

SafeFutures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency

Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

Telecommunications Assistance

Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at Prairie View A&M University--

Enhancing Personal Training and Understanding Minority

Overrepresentation in the Juvenile Justice System

Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for the SafeFutures and

Safe Kids/Safe Streets Initiatives

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP)

Education on Gun Violence and Safety

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang

Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program

Evaluation of the Rural Gang Initiative

Evaluation of the Transfer of Responsibility for Child Protective

Investigations to Law Enforcement Agencies

Gang-Free Communities Initiative

Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach (Boys & Girls Clubs)

Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance

Program

[[Page 56089]]

National Youth Gang Center

Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence

Rural Gang Initiative Demonstration Sites

Technical Assistance to Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiatives

Training and Technical Assistance for the Rural Gang Initiative

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

America's Promise: Enhanced Collaboration

Arts and At-Risk Youth

Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections

Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Disorders

Communities in Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership

The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/

Violence Campaign (NADVC)

A Demonstration Afterschool Program

Diffusion of State Risk-and Protective-Factor Focused Prevention

Hate Crime

Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With Attention

Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

National Center for Conflict Resolution Education

Nurse Home Visitation

Partnerships for Preventing Violence

Proactive Youth Program

Professional Development in Effective Classroom and Conflict Management

Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development

Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and

Families

Training and Technical Assistance Program for the Arts Programs for

Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections Initiative

Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Training Project

Building Blocks for Youth

Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement

Circles of Care Program

Community Assessment Center

Comprehensive Children and Families Mental Health Training and

Technical Assistance

Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders

Development of Conduct Disorder in Girls

Evaluation of the Department of Labor's Education and Training for

Youthful Offenders Initiative

Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program

Evaluation of Teen Courts

Helping Communities To Promote Youth Development

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical

Assistance Program

Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center

The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

Juvenile Residential Facility Census

Linking Balanced and Restorative Justice and Adolescents (LIBRA)

National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Project

National Juvenile Justice Program Directory

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97

Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Correction and Detention

Facilities

San Francisco Juvenile Justice Local Action Plan--Delancy Street

Initiative

Survey of Juvenile Probation

Technical Assistance to Native American Tribes and Alaskan Native

Communities

TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams

To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program

Research on Child Neglect

Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and

Neglect and Preventing Delinquency

Overarching

Center for Students With Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System

During FY 1999, OJJDP undertook a joint initiative with the Office

of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of

Education to establish a Center for Students with Disabilities in the

Juvenile Justice System. The Secretary of Education and the Attorney

General expect this project to have a significant impact on the

improvement of juvenile justice system services for students with

disabilities. Improvements in the areas of prevention, educational

services, and reintegration based on a combination of research,

training, and technical assistance will lead to improved results for

children and youth with disabilities. The Center for Students with

Disabilities in the Juvenile Justice System will provide guidance and

assistance to States, schools, justice programs, families, and

communities to design, implement, and evaluate comprehensive

educational programs, based on research-validated practices, for

students with disabilities who are within the juvenile justice system.

This program will be implemented by the University of Maryland

through an award by the U.S. Department of Education. No additional

applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Coalition for Juvenile Justice

This project supports the Coalition in its efforts to meet the

statutory mandates through the development of a technical assistance

capability that provides training, technical assistance, and

information to the State Juvenile Justice Advisory Groups. This would

be accomplished through a series of regional training and information

workshops and a national conference designed to address the needs of

the membership of the Coalition.

This project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

Coalition for Juvenile Justice. No additional applications would be

solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

In FY 1999, OJJDP awarded funds to eight sites around the country

to implement truancy reduction projects. These sites included Athens,

GA; Contra Costa, CA; Honolulu, HA; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; King

County, WA; Suffolk County, NY; and Tacoma, WA. Grantees represent a

diversity of models and geographic locations. OJJDP also selected the

Colorado Foundation for Families and Children (CFFC) to conduct the

national evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program. As

part of the evaluation, CFFC will (1) determine how community

collaboration can impact truancy reduction and lead to systemic reform,

and (2) assist OJJDP in the development of a community collaborative

truancy reduction program model and identify the essential elements of

that model. To this end, CFFC is helping project sites to further

identify and document the nature of the truancy problem in their

communities, enhance the process of effective truancy reduction

planning and collaboration, and incorporate that process into the

implementation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program at each

site. In addition, CFFC is assisting sites in collecting information on

truant

[[Page 56090]]

youth and documenting services. The project is scheduled to last 3\1/2\

years.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Colorado

Foundation for Families and Children. No additional applications will

be solicited in FY 2000.

Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence

The Institute, with assistance from OJJDP, was founded in 1997 to

serve as a national resource to test the effectiveness of school

violence prevention methods and to develop more effective violence

prevention strategies. The Institute's goal is to determine what works

and what can be replicated to reduce violence in America's schools and

their immediate communities. The Institute works with a consortium of

seven universities whose key staff have expertise in adolescent

violence, criminology, law enforcement, substance abuse, juvenile

justice, gangs, public health, education, behavior disorders, social

skills development and prevention programs. The George Washington

University develops and tests violence prevention strategies in

collaboration with the following universities: Eastern Kentucky

University, Florida State University, Morehouse School of Medicine,

Syracuse University, University of Oregon, and University of Wisconsin-

Milwaukee.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, George

Washington University. No additional applications will be solicited in

FY 2000.

Insular Area Support

The purpose of this statutorily required program is to provide

support to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Funds are available to

address the special needs and problems of juvenile delinquency in these

insular areas, as specified by Section 261(e) of the JJDP Act of 1974,

as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5665(e).

Intergenerational Transmission of Antisocial Behavior Project

The purpose of this project is to expand on the Rochester Youth

Development Study by examining the development of antisocial behavior

and delinquency in the children of the original Rochester, NY, subjects

of OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of

Delinquency. By age 21, 40 percent of the original Rochester subjects

were parents. This provides a unique opportunity to examine and track

the development of delinquent behavior across three generations in a

particularly high-risk sample. Results of the study should provide

useful findings with policy implications for prevention programs. The

program is being funded under an FY 1998 interagency agreement between

OJJDP and the National Institute of Mental Health.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, SUNY

Research Foundation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

A component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service

(NCJRS), the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) collects,

synthesizes, and disseminates information on all aspects of juvenile

justice. OJJDP established the Clearinghouse in 1979 to serve the

juvenile justice community, legislators, the media, and the public. JJC

offers toll-free telephone access to information; prepares specialized

responses to information requests; produces, warehouses, and

distributes OJJDP publications; exhibits at national conferences;

maintains a comprehensive juvenile justice library and database; and

administers several electronic information resources. NCJRS is

administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) under a

competitively awarded contract to Aspen Systems Corporation.

This program will be implemented by the current contractor, Aspen

Systems Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development Program

The Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development (SSD)

Program was competitively awarded in 1990 to the National Center for

Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) to improve national, State, and local

statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders. The SSD project has

traditionally consisted of three tracks of work: National Statistics,

Dissemination, and Systems Development. In FY 2000, NCJJ will continue

many activities under the first two tracks, including maintaining an

extensive library of data files, producing Easy Access software

packages and the Web-based OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book, and

continuing to service requests for juvenile justice information. In FY

2000, additional funding from OJJDP will also enable NCJJ to enhance

activities under the Systems Development track of the project.

To meet the challenge of managing the cases of youth within their

jurisdiction effectively and efficiently, juvenile court administrators

and judges need ready access to information that will support the

operation, management, and decisionmaking of the full-service juvenile

court system. Knowledge and decisionmaking (which should be the

hallmark of every juvenile justice system) requires not just the

collection of data, but the collaboration of the community leaders who

will give meaning to the data. This is the focus of the forthcoming

book, Juvenile Justice With Eyes Open, which will be published in FY

2000 as part of the Statistics and Systems Development Project (Systems

Development Track). Also in FY 2000, NCJJ will use the principles

outlined in this publication to develop and field-test an approach that

local jurisdictions can employ to systematically identify and then

fulfill their local information needs. This includes training local

juvenile justice leaders in the rational decisionmaking model (RDM) as

a design tool for management information systems; developing data

specifications for an effective information system to meet operational,

management, and research needs; identifying data needs from collateral

service providers and data that would be of use to collaterals; and

modeling agreements and protocols with collateral service providers to

share case-level and/or aggregate data.

This project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Center for Juvenile Justice. No additional applications would

be solicited in FY 2000.

National Resource Center for Safe Schools

Since 1984, OJJDP and the U.S. Department of Education have

provided joint funding to promote safe schools. This work has focused

national attention on cooperative solutions to problems that disrupt

the educational process. Because an estimated 3 million incidents of

crime occur in America's schools each year, it is clear that this

problem continues to plague many schools, threatening students' safety

and undermining the learning environment. With FY 1998 funding, the

U.S. Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program and

OJJDP established the National Resource Center for Safe Schools under a

3-year project period. This project expanded the scope and provision of

previous training and technical assistance to communities and school

districts across the country. The grantee is working to help schools

develop and put in place comprehensive safe school plans. It does this

through onsite training and consultation to schools and

[[Page 56091]]

communities, by creating and distributing resource materials and tools,

through Web-based information services, and by partnering with State-

level agencies to build State capacity to assist local education

agencies. Through the inclusion on the project's Advisory Committee of

representatives of Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and

Community Violence and other school-related training and technical

assistance providers, this project has developed training materials and

information resources based on the latest research findings on

effective programs and best practices.

The project will continue to be implemented by the current grantee,

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

National Training and Technical Assistance Center

The National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training

and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) was established in FY 1995

under a competitive 3-year project period award. NTTAC serves as a

national training and technical assistance clearinghouse, inventorying

and coordinating the integrated delivery of juvenile justice training

and technical assistance resources and establishing a database of these

resources.

NTTAC's funding in FY 1996 provided services in the form of

coordinated technical assistance support for OJJDP's SafeFutures and

gang program initiatives, continued promotion of collaboration between

OJJDP training and technical assistance providers, developed training/

technical assistance materials, and completed and disseminated the

first OJJDP Training and Technical Assistance Resource Catalog.

In FY 1997, NTTAC disseminated a second, updated Training and

Technical Assistance Resource Catalog; created a Web site for the

Center and a ListServe for the Children, Youth and Affinity Group; held

three focus groups on needs assessments; and coordinated and provided

38 instances of technical assistance in conjunction with OJJDP's

training and technical assistance grantees and contractors.

In FY 1998, NTTAC finalized the jurisdictional team training and

technical assistance packages on critical needs in the juvenile justice

system, updated the resource catalog, facilitated the annual OJJDP

training and technical assistance grantee and contractor meeting,

continued to update the repository of training and technical assistance

materials and the electronic database of training and technical

assistance materials, and continued to respond to training and

technical assistance requests from the field.

In FY 1999, NTTAC was operated by OJJDP staff with the support of

the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, providing clearinghouse services

and maintenance of the 800 number. The Fourth Grantee-Contractor

meeting was conducted by OJJDP staff in Chicago and the training and

technical protocols developed in 1998 were discussed for final issue.

These are being finalized and will be disseminated in FY 2000. A

contract was awarded to Caliber Associates to continue implementation

of the Center.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Caliber

Associates. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

This contract was competitively awarded in FY 1999 to Caliber

Associates for a period of 3 years to provide OJJDP with an expert

resource to perform independent program evaluations and assist in

implementing evaluation activities. Evaluations may be conducted on

OJJDP-funded programs and on other programs designed to prevent and

treat juvenile delinquency. The time and cost of each evaluation

depends on program complexity, availability of data, and purpose of the

evaluation. Because the purpose of many evaluations is to inform

management decisions, the completion of an evaluation and submission of

a report may be required in a specific and, often, short time period.

This program will be implemented by the current contractor, Caliber

Associates. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice Resource

Center

This contract has been competitively awarded since the mid-1980's

when OJJDP identified the need for technical assistance support in

carrying out its mission. The Juvenile Justice Resource Center (JJRC)

provides technical assistance and support to OJJDP, its grantees, and

the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

in the areas of program development, evaluation, training, and

research. With assistance from expert consultants, JJRC coordinates the

peer review process for OJJDP grant applications and grantee reports,

conducts research and prepares reports on current juvenile justice

issues, plans meetings and conferences, and provides administrative

support to various Federal councils and boards.

This contract will be implemented by the current contractor, Aspen

Systems Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000

Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

Since 1986, this longitudinal study has addressed a variety of

issues related to juvenile violence and delinquency and has produced a

massive amount of information on the causes and correlates of

delinquent behavior. Three project sites participate: Institute of

Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder; Western

Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh; and

Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, University at Albany, State

University of New York. The sites pursue both collaborative research

efforts and site-specific research. Results from the study have been

used extensively in the field of juvenile justice and contributed

significantly to the development of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for

Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders and other program

initiatives.

This program will be implemented by the current grantees. No

additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Safe Futures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency

OJJDP is awarding grants of up to $1.4 million annually to each of

six communities for a 5-year project period that began in FY 1995, to

assist in implementing comprehensive community programs designed to

reduce youth violence and delinquency. Boston, MA; Contra Costa County,

CA; Fort Belknap, MT (tribal site); Imperial County, CA (rural site);

St. Louis, MO; and Seattle, WA, were competitively selected to receive

awards under the SafeFutures program on the basis of their substantial

planning and progress in community assessment and strategic planning to

address delinquency.

SafeFutures seeks to prevent and control youth crime and

victimization through the creation of a continuum of care in

communities. This continuum enables communities to be responsive to the

needs of youth at critical stages of their development by providing an

appropriate range of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions

programs.

Each of the six sites will continue to provide a set of services

that builds on community strengths and existing services and fills in

gaps within their

[[Page 56092]]

existing continuum. These services include family strengthening; after

school activities; mentoring; treatment alternatives for juvenile

female offenders; mental health services; day treatment; graduated

sanctions for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders; and

gang prevention, intervention, and suppression. During the fourth year

of the project, specific attention will be given to care coordination

and program sustainability.

A national evaluation is being conducted by the Urban Institute to

determine the success of the initiative and track lessons learned at

each of the six sites. OJJDP has also committed a cadre of training and

technical assistance (TTA) resources to SafeFutures through a full-time

TTA coordinator for SafeFutures and a host of partner organizations

committed to assisting SafeFutures sites.

SafeFutures activities will be carried out by the six current

grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

Since FY 1995, OJJDP has awarded annual grants to the National

Conference of State Legislatures to provide relevant, timely

information on comprehensive approaches in juvenile justice to aid

State legislators in improving State juvenile justice systems. Nearly

every State has enacted, or is considering, statutory changes affecting

the juvenile justice system. This project has helped policymakers

understand the ramifications and nuances of juvenile justice reform.

The grant has improved capacity for the delivery of information

services to legislatures. The project also supports increased

communication between State legislators and State and local leaders who

influence decisionmaking regarding juvenile justice issues.

The project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Conference on State Legislatures. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

Telecommunications Assistance

OJJDP uses information technology and distance training to

facilitate access to information and training for juvenile justice

professionals. This cost-effective medium enhances OJJDP's ability to

share with the field salient elements of the most effective or

promising approaches to various juvenile justice issues. In FY 1995,

OJJDP awarded a competitive grant to Eastern Kentucky University (EKU)

to produce live satellite teleconferences. To date, EKU has produced 21

telecasts. In FY 1999, OJJDP continued the cooperative agreement with

EKU to provide program support and technical assistance for a variety

of information technologies and to explore linkages with key

constituent groups to advance mutual information goals and objectives.

During the past year, EKU has experimented with cybercasting ``live''

satellite videoconferences on the Internet.

This project would be implemented by the current grantee, Eastern

Kentucky University. No additional applications would be solicited in

FY 2000.

Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at Prairie View A&M University--

Enhancing Personal Training and Understanding Minority

Overrepresentation in the Juvenile Justice System

This 3-year project was initially funded in FY 1998. The purpose of

the program was to create the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at

Prairie View A&M University (the Center) and to have the Center

undertake three initial tasks. These tasks included the development of

a master's degree in Forensic Psychology, the development of a training

institute for the coordinators of 13 community youth development

projects, and a study to investigate the factors contributing to the

disproportionate representation of minority youth in the Texas juvenile

justice system.

The master's degree in Forensic Psychology includes a minimum of 30

semester hours, exclusive of thesis. The development of the curriculum

and an instrument to test its effectiveness will occur in the first 2

years of the grant. The courses for the master's degree will be taught

in the second and third years with the testing of the effectiveness of

the curriculum being completed by the end of the third year. The

objectives of this curriculum development are to increase the

understanding, knowledge, and skills of in-service professionals

regarding juvenile behaviors; to increase the number of qualified

professionals working with juvenile offenders; and to decrease the

number of juveniles who become repeat offenders.

The training institute at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) will

focus training on the coordinators of the Texas Department of

Protective and Regulatory Services Community Youth Development Project.

The 12 counties in Texas with the highest number of juvenile arrests

were selected to design comprehensive approaches to support families

and enhance the positive development of youth. PVAMU is offering the

project coordinators program management and evaluation skills courses.

Each year for 3 years an intensive 2-week course will be offered to the

coordinators on managing and monitoring service delivery and basic

research and evaluation skills development.

Funding in FY 2000 will allow PVAMU to implement and test the

curriculum that has been developed in the first 2 years, hold a third

2-week seminar that develops skills in managing and monitoring services

and basic research and evaluation skills of the youth development

coordinators, and continue support for the study of the

overrepresentation of minorities in the Waller County Juvenile Court.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Texas

Juvenile Crime Prevention Center at Prairie View A&M University). No

additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for the SafeFutures and

Safe Kids/Safe Streets Initiatives

OJJDP would continue funding for long-term training and technical

assistance to the SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets initiatives.

This coordination effort builds local capacity for implementing and

sustaining effective continuum-of-care and systems chance approaches in

six SafeFutures and five Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites. Project

activities include assessment, identification, and coordination of the

implementation of training and technical assistance needs at each of

the sites and the administration of cross-site training.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, Patricia

Donahue. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Child Development--Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP)

The Child Development--Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program

is an innovative partnership between the New Haven Department of Police

Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of

Medicine that addresses the psychological burdens on children,

families, and the broader community as children witness increasing

levels of community violence. In FY 1993, OJJDP provided support to

document Yale'New Haven's child-centered, community-oriented policing

model. The model consists of interrelated training of police officers,

consultation, and teaming mental health

[[Page 56093]]

clinicians with law enforcement in intervening onsite with children and

families who witness violence. OJJDP, with first-year support from the

Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice Assistance, funded a 3-

year replication of the model in Buffalo, NY; Charlotte, NC; Nashville,

TN; and Portland, OR. Other OJP components joined OJJDP in funding an

expansion of CD-CP in FY 1998. This expansion moved the project into

school-based activities and the area of addressing exposure to violence

in domestic settings and would continue to do so in FY 2000.

This project would be continued by the current grantee, the Yale

University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the New Haven

Department of Police Services. No additional applications would be

solicited in FY 2000.

Education on Gun Violence and Safety

OJJDP proposes to continue partnering with the Bureau of Justice

Assistance to support Education on Gun Violence and Safety. This

project seeks to educate gunowners and parents about how to safely use

and store guns and how to protect children from gun violence. Through a

coordinated communications, education, grassroots, and media campaign,

the project will reach gunowners and other caring adults with important

information on preventing youth's illegal access to and unlawful use of

guns. In FY 2000, based upon critical communications research with

gunowners, the communications campaign will disseminate appropriate

educational materials.

The program will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Crime Prevention Council and the Ad Council. No additional

applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang

Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

OJJDP will continue funding this evaluation in FY 2000. Under a

competitive cooperative agreement awarded in FY 1995, the evaluation

grantee assisted the five program sites (Bloomington, IL; Mesa, AZ;

Riverside, CA; San Antonio, TX; and Tucson, AZ) in establishing

realistic and measurable objectives, documenting program

implementation, and measuring the impact of this comprehensive

approach. It has also provided interim feedback to the program

implementors and trained the local site interviewers. The grantee will

continue to gather and analyze data required to evaluate the program,

monitor and oversee the quality control of data, provide assistance for

completion of interviews, and provide ongoing feedback to project

sites.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. No

additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program

This project began with a competitive award in FY 1997 to document

and evaluate the process of community mobilization, planning, and

collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach

to reducing gun violence involving juveniles. The Partnerships to

Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program is being implemented in three

sites: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California: and Syracuse, New

York. The grantee, COSMOS Corporation, would complete data collection

for the impact portion of this evaluation and submit a final report in

the next year. In addition to working with the three Partnership sites,

COSMOS Corporation completed work in FY 1998 on the Promising

Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence Report. COSMOS would develop a

training and technical assistance protocol based on its experience with

the Partnership sites and the gun violence report. This training and

technical assistance package would be used with additional communities

across the country that are focused on reducing gun violence through a

collaborative planning process.

This evaluation and training development would be implemented by

the current grantee, COSMOS Corporation. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Rural Gang Initiative

This initiative is a continuation of ongoing efforts to test

OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model. In FY 1999, four rural sites began

conducting comprehensive assessments of their local gang problem and

engaging in program design to implement the Comprehensive Gang Model.

These sites are Elk City, OK; Glenn County, CA; Mt. Vernon, IL; and

Longview, WA.. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) is

conducting case studies to document and analyze the 1-year community

assessment and program planning efforts in the four sites. These case

studies will contribute to the development of a model approach to

assessment of community gang problems in rural areas. NCCD will also be

developing an outcome evaluation design for sites that are funded to

implement the model in subsequent years. FY 2000 funding would support

the first year of the outcome evaluation.

The current grantee is the National Council on Crime and

Delinquency. A decision regarding the funding mechanism to support an

outcome evaluation would be made in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Transfer of Responsibility for Child Protective

Investigations to Law Enforcement Agencies

In response to concerns about the increasing demands on public

child welfare agencies, the safety of children, and the effectiveness

of law enforcement and social service agencies to deliver critical

services, the State of Florida has passed legislation that allows for

the transfer of the entire responsibility for child protective

investigations to a law enforcement agency. Currently, three counties

in Florida are in various stages of implementing this transfer of

responsibility. This new project for FY 2000 will compare the outcomes

in the three counties where responsibility is being transferred to the

Sheriff's Office with three comparison counties in the State of

Florida. The project will primarily be concerned with whether children

are safer, whether perpetrators of severe child abuse are more likely

to face criminal sanctions, and whether there are impacts on other

parts of the child welfare system. Also, a thorough process evaluation

will be conducted to describe and compare the implementation process

across the three counties.

This project will be conducted by the School of Social Work at the

University of Pennsylvania. No additional applications will be

solicited in FY 2000.

Gang-Free Communities Initiative

In FY 2000, OJJDP will continue to explore the possibility of

supporting up to 15 communities in assessing the youth gang problem and

replicating the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model. Although funding levels

for these projects have not yet been determined, these communities will

most likely receive ``challenge'' grants or ``seed'' money to establish

these programs and to conduct a self-evaluation of their efforts.

Technical assistance and support will be provided to these communities

through OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center.

A separate program announcement for this initiative is tentatively

planned in FY 2000.

[[Page 56094]]

Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach (Boys & Girls Clubs)

The purpose of this program is to enable local Boys & Girls Clubs

to prevent youth from entering gangs, intervene with gang members in

the early stages of gang involvement, and divert youth from gang

activities into more constructive programs. This program reflects the

ongoing collaboration between OJJDP and the Boys & Girls Clubs to

reduce problems of juvenile delinquency and violence. The Boys & Girls

Clubs of America provides training and technical assistance to local

gang prevention and intervention sites, including some at SafeFutures

and OJJDP Comprehensive Gang sites, and other clubs and organizations

through regional trainings and national conferences. In FY 1999, the

Boys & Girls Clubs added as many as 30 new gang prevention sites, 5 new

gang intervention sites, and at least 2 ``Targeted Reintegration''

sites where clubs work to provide services to youth returning to the

community from juvenile correctional facilities to prevent them from

returning to gangs and violence. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America will

also hold a Delinquency and Gang Prevention Symposium in March 2000. A

national evaluation of this program is being implemented by Public/

Private Ventures.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys

& Girls Clubs of America. No additional applications would be solicited

in FY 2000.

Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance

Program

Over the past decade, alarming reports of youth violence have

appeared with increasing frequency in publications and the news media.

Law enforcement agencies across the Nation are responding to this sense

of national emergency by changing many of their policies and practices

to cope with juvenile crime and victimization.

The Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical

Assistance Program examines adolescent violence in the United States

both as a social phenomenon and a policy issue. The program covers the

range of youth violence issues from crime statistics to new

legislation. The program also sets forth comprehensive analysis of key

areas of youth violence policy and practice: youth firearm possession

and use, school violence and safety, youth-oriented community policing,

gang and drug involvement, serious habitual offenders,

multidisciplinary communitywide youth violence reduction strategies,

police management of youth programs, tribal juvenile crime, and Chief

Executive Officer responses to delinquency and violence.

Throughout the program, the core issues of youth violence are

examined through an appropriate set of responses to youth violence that

are consistent with effective police practice and a positive future for

America's youth. In addition, key leaders from law enforcement,

prosecution services, the courts, corrections, probation, and other

juvenile justice agencies are offered information, materials, solutions

to management issues, and technical assistance in the prevention and

control of youth crime.

FY 1998 and 1999 funds supported the continuation of eight State,

local, and tribal program workshops: The Chief Executive Officer Youth

Violence Forum (CEO Forum); Managing Juvenile Operations (MJO); Gang,

Gun, and Drug Policy; School Administrators for Effective Operations

Leading to Improved Children and Youth Services (SAFE POLICY); Youth-

Oriented Community Policing; Tribal Justice Training and Technical

Assistance; the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program

(SHOCAP); and the Youth Violence Reduction Comprehensive Action

Program.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, the

International Association of Chiefs of Police under a cooperative

agreement with OJJDP. No additional applications will be solicited in

FY 2000.

National Youth Gang Center

The proliferation of gang problems over the past two decades led

OJJDP to develop a comprehensive, coordinated response to America's

gang problem. This response involved five program components, one of

which was implementation and operation of the National Youth Gang

Center (NYGC). Competitively funded with FY 1994 funds to expand and

maintain the body of critical knowledge about youth gangs and effective

responses to them, NYGC provides support services to the National Youth

Gang Consortium, composed of Federal agencies with responsibilities in

this area. NYGC is also providing technical assistance for the Rural

Gang Initiative planning and assessment phase. OJJDP proposes to extend

the NYGC project an additional year and provide FY 2000 funds to NYGC

to (1) conduct more indepth analyses of the National Youth Gang Survey

results that track changes in gang membership and gang-related crime,

(2) produce timely information on the nature and scope of the youth

gang problem, and (3) continue efforts to foster integration of gang-

related items into other relevant surveys and national data collection

efforts.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, the

Institute for Intergovernmental Research. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence

OJJDP will award continuation grants to each of three competitively

selected communities that initially received funds in FY 1997 to

increase the effectiveness of existing youth gun violence reduction

strategies by enhancing and coordinating prevention, intervention, and

suppression strategies and strengthening linkages among community

residents, law enforcement, and the juvenile justice system. Baton

Rouge, LA; Oakland, CA; and Syracuse, NY, were selected to receive 3-

year awards. The goals of this initiative are to reduce juveniles'

illegal access to guns and address the reasons they carry and use guns

in violent exchanges. A national evaluation currently under way will

document the process of community mobilization, planning, and

collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach

to reducing juvenile gun violence.

The Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence program will be

carried out by the three current grantees, Baton Rouge, LA; Oakland,

CA; and Syracuse, NY. No additional applications will be solicited in

FY 2000.

Rural Gang Initiative Demonstration Sites

In FY 1999, OJJDP supported four rural communities (Elk City, OK;

Glenn County, CA; Longview, WA; and Mount Vernon, IL) to conduct a

comprehensive assessment of the local youth gang problem in these

communities. Each site has collected relevant data from multiple

sources, including police, schools, courts, and community residents,

and has gathered various types of data, including gang crime data, data

on the presence of risk factors for gang membership, community

demographics, and community surveys and focus groups. Once data

collection is complete, the communities will use these data in a

comprehensive program planning process to adapt and implement the OJJDP

Comprehensive Gang Model. In FY 2000, OJJDP will consider supporting

these communities in the implementation of the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang

Model. An

[[Page 56095]]

independent evaluation of this effort will also be conducted, along

with technical assistance through the National Youth Gang Center.

This initiative would be implemented by the four current grantees:

Elk City, OK; Glenn County, CA; Longview, WA; and Mount Vernon, IL. No

additional applications will be solicited for this initiative in FY

2000.

Technical Assistance to Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiatives

In FY 1999, OJJDP began planning for a potential school-centered

gang initiative and a multisite replication of the OJJDP Comprehensive

Gang Model. In FY 2000, OJJDP will consider supporting the National

Youth Gang Center with funds to provide technical assistance during the

developmental stages of this initiative and during the implementation

of these efforts in selected communities across the country. The

National Youth Gang Center is currently providing technical assistance

on OJJDP's model to communities involved in OJJDP's Rural Gang

Initiative and to other OJJDP grantees.

OJJDP will consider a supplemental award to the National Youth Gang

Center to provide the technical assistance. No new applications will be

solicited in FY 2000.

Training and Technical Assistance for the Rural Gang Initiative

In FY 1998, OJJDP provided supplemental funding support to the

National Youth Gang Center to provide training and technical assistance

to demonstration sites under OJJDP's Rural Gang Initiative. In FY 2000,

training and technical assistance would continue to be provided to

those sites chosen to implement the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang model.

Training and technical assistance would focus on adapting the OJJDP

model to rural jurisdictions and on implementing the model in a

theoretically sound manner. Assistance would be delivered through

onsite visits, conferences, meetings, and other means such as telephone

and electronic media.

This initiative would be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Youth Gang Center. No additional applications would be

solicited in FY 2000.

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

OJJDP would continue its support, which began in FY 1997, of the

National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) advertising campaign Investing

in Youth for A Safer Future through the transfer of funds to the Bureau

of Justice Assistance (BJA) under an intra-agency agreement. OJJDP and

BJA are working with the NCPC Media Unit to produce, disseminate, and

support effective public service advertising and related media to

inform the public of effective solutions to juvenile crime and to

motivate young people and adults to get involved and support these

solutions. The featured solutions include effective prevention programs

and intervention strategies.

The program would be administered by the Bureau of Justice

Assistance through its existing grant to the National Crime Prevention

Council. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

America's Promise: Enhanced Collaboration

The Presidents' Summit for America's Future held in April 1997 in

Philadelphia represented the first-ever call to action by all living

Presidents on a social initiative to encourage concerned citizens,

communities, and the business, nonprofit, and government sectors to

work together to improve the lives of children in the United States.

The goals of America's Promise, the 501.c.3 established by General

Colin Powell in response to this summit, state that young people should

have access to five fundamental resources that are necessary to

maximize their potential: (1) An ongoing relationship with a caring

adult (mentor, tutor, coach); (2) safe places and structured activities

during nonschool hours to learn and grow; (3) a healthy start; (4)

marketable skills through effective education; and (5) an opportunity

to give back through community service. Hundreds of communities and

organizations have made commitments to reaching these goals. OJJDP has

been supporting those commitments through its various programs and

initiatives over the past 2 years but now proposes to commit funding

support to America's Promise, to enhance the program's focus on

volunteerism, and to support further coordination and expansion of

existing community resources, service programs, and initiatives that

address the needs of the Nation's children and youth.

The program will be implemented by America's Promise. No additional

applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Arts and At-Risk Youth

OJJDP is considering continuation funding for an afterschool and

summer arts program that combines the arts with job training and

conflict resolution skills. This project includes summer jobs or paid

internships to enable youth to put into practice the job and conflict

resolution skills they are learning. By combining the arts with

practical life experiences, at-risk youth gain valuable insights into

their own abilities and the possibilities that await them in the world

of work if they continue to attend school, study, and graduate. The

goal of this program is to prevent and reduce the incidence of juvenile

delinquency, crime, and other problem behaviors (e.g., substance abuse,

teen pregnancy, truancy, and dropping out of school) in at-risk youth

14 to 17 years old by providing a multicomponent arts program that

includes life skills training, the link between art and employment, and

practical experiences in the workforce. In FY 1999, in collaboration

with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Safe and Drug-Free Schools

Program of the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for

the Arts, and the U.S. Department of Labor, OJJDP awarded grants to

three competitively selected communities (Chicago, IL; Philadelphia,

PA; and Tulsa, OK) to develop and implement this pilot demonstration

program in the arts. The grantees are receiving training and technical

assistance support through a provider selected by the National

Endowment for the Arts and OJJDP

This program would be implemented by the current grantees, Chicago,

Philadelphia, and Tulsa. No additional applications would be solicited

in FY 2000.

Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections

OJJDP would provide continuation support for arts programs for

youth in juvenile detention centers and corrections facilities. This

initiative is designed to increase opportunities to establish visual,

performing, media, and literacy artist-in-residence programs in

juvenile detention centers and corrections facilities. The corrections

and detention sites are encouraging the development of these programs

by convening interested arts organizations and juvenile justice

agencies to provide training in arts program development to three

competitively selected demonstration sites (Gainesville, TX; Riviera

Beach, FL; and Rochester, NY) and three competitively selected

enhancement sites (Bronx, NY; Seattle, WA; and Whittier, CA). The

demonstration sites will develop and implement new arts-based programs

for adjudicated youth, and the

[[Page 56096]]

enhancement sites will demonstrate practices that have achieved

sustainable programs. In addition to being required to provide juvenile

offenders in detention and corrections facilities with arts

programming, sites also are required to develop collaborative arts

programs for youth returning to their communities. The grantees are

receiving training and technical assistance support through a provider

selected by the National Endowment for the Arts and OJJDP

This program would be implemented by the six current grantees. No

additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Disorders Among Juvenile

Detainees

This project would supplement an ongoing National Institute of

Mental Health longitudinal study assessing alcohol, drug, and mental

health disorders among juveniles in detention in Cook County, Illinois.

The project has three primary goals: (1) to determine how alcohol,

drug, and mental disorders develop over time among juvenile detainees;

(2) to investigate whether juvenile detainees receive needed

psychiatric services after their cases reach disposition (and they are

back in the community or serving sentences); and (3) to study the

development of dangerous and risky behaviors related to violence,

substance use, and HIV/AIDS. The study is investigating how violence,

drug use, and HIV/AIDS risk behaviors develop over time, what the

antecedents of these behaviors are, and how these behaviors are

interrelated. This project is unique because the sample is so large: it

includes 1,833 youth from Chicago who were arrested and interviewed

between 1996 and 1998. The sample is stratified by gender, race

(African American, non-Hispanic white, Hispanic), and age (10-13, 14-

17). Initial interviews have been completed, and extensive archival

data (arrest and incarceration history, health and mental health

treatment, etc.) collected on each subject. The investigators have been

tracking the subjects, and are now beginning to reinterview the

adolescents. Because of their extensive and thorough tracking

procedures, the investigators will be able to reinterview subjects

regardless of whether they are back in the community, incarcerated, or

have left the immediate area. The large sample size will provide

sufficient statistical power to study rarer disorders (especially

comorbidity), patterns of drug use, and risky, life-threatening

behaviors. OJJDP funding for this project began in FY 1998.

The project would be implemented by the current grantee,

Northwestern University. No additional applications will be solicited

in FY 2000.

Communities In Schools, Inc.--Federal Interagency Partnership

This program would continue an ongoing national school dropout

prevention model developed and implemented by Communities In Schools,

Inc. (CIS). CIS, Inc., provides training and technical assistance in

adapting and implementing the CIS model in States and local

communities. The model brings social, employment, mental health, drug

prevention, entrepreneurship, and other resources to high-risk youth

and their families in the school setting. Where they exist, CIS State

organizations assume primary responsibility for local program

replication during the Federal Interagency Partnership. The Partnership

is based on enhancing (1) CIS, Inc., training and technical assistance

capabilities; (2) CIS capability to introduce selected initiatives for

youth at the local level; (3) the information dissemination capability

of CIS; and (4) the capability of CIS to network with Federal agencies

on behalf of State and local CIS programs. With OJJDP's support, CIS,

Inc. would place a special focus within the CIS Network on family

strengthening initiatives that benefit both youth and their families.

The program would be implemented by the current grantee,

Communities In Schools, Inc. No additional applications would be

solicited in FY 2000.

The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/

Violence Campaign (NADVC)

The Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC) addresses the

problems of juvenile drug abuse, violence, and hate crime through its

national public awareness and mobilization strategy. The strategy

coordinates black religious leadership, in cooperation with the U.S.

Department of Justice and other Federal agencies and organizations, to

mobilize community residents to combat juvenile drug abuse and drug-

related violence. The CNBC National Anti-Drug Abuse/Violence Campaign

(NADVC) is a partner in the Education Development Center's (EDC's)

Juvenile Hate Crime Initiative. NADVC's training and technical

assistance have helped sites leverage funds from public and private

sources. The NADVC model for the development of prevention programs is

easily tailored to a local community's assessment of its drug,

delinquency, violence, and hate crime problems.

The program would be implemented by the current grantee, the

Congress of National Black Churches. No additional applications would

be solicited in FY 2000.

A Demonstration Afterschool Program

The Demonstration Afterschool Program was funded in FY 1998 as a

pilot afterschool program to reduce juvenile delinquency and increase

school retention. This program, known as Estrella, offers the basic

building blocks that are critical for preventing juvenile delinquency

and provides youth with a chance to succeed academically and physically

in an environment that is conducive to learning. Through a curriculum

of hands-on science and reading projects and supervised recreation,

Estrella is providing a constructive alternative to afternoons of

unsupervised free time. Elementary students are the target population

for this effort. New Mexico Mathematics, Engineering, Science

Achievement (NM MESA) provides the academic component of the program,

and middle and high school students act as mentors to the elementary

students in a highly interactive learning environment. The Regents of

the University of New Mexico's Institute for Social Research designed

this program and is evaluating it, using both qualitative and

quantitative methods. This project is at two sites, Loma Linda and

Desert Trail Schools in the Gadsden Independent School District, in Don

Ana County, New Mexico, and serves approximately 50 middle school

students and 100 elementary school students from the six Gadsden High

School feeder schools.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Regents of the University of New Mexico. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Diffusion of State Risk- and Protective-Factor-Focused Prevention

Since FY 1997, OJJDP has provided funds to the National Institute

on Drug Abuse, through an interagency agreement, to support this 5-year

study of the public health approach to prevention, focusing on risk and

protective factors for substance abuse at the State and community

levels. The study is identifying factors that influence the adoption of

the public health approach and assessing the association between this

approach and the levels of risk and protective factors and substance

abuse among adolescents. The study will also examine State substance

abuse data gathered from 1988 through 2001 and use interviews

[[Page 56097]]

to describe the process of implementing the epidemiological risk- and

protective-factor approach in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Maine,

Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Social

Development Research Group at the University of Washington School of

Social Work. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Hate Crime

Under an OJJDP grant competitively awarded in FY 1993, the

Education Development Center (EDC) developed Healing the Hate: A

National Bias Crime Prevention Curriculum for Middle Schools, a

multipurpose curriculum for hate crime prevention in middle schools and

other educational settings. In FY 1996, through an interagency

agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, OJJDP expanded this

grant to provide training and technical assistance to youth, educators,

juvenile justice and law enforcement professionals, representatives of

local public/private community agencies and organizations, and the

faith community. In FY 1999, EDC provided training and technical

assistance to new sites and further disseminated a training manual

through education and juvenile justice networks. In the training area,

EDC conducted a regional, multidisciplinary training for practitioners.

This training presented current knowledge and best practices in the

areas of hate crime prevention and response. EDC also conducted two

trainings designed according to a train-the-trainers model, to create a

cadre of trainers across the Nation to teach the importance of

innovative, effective hate crime prevention and response strategies.

Finally, EDC conducted hate crime prevention training sessions for

policymakers at 15 national/State trainings targeted to reach juvenile

justice, criminal justice, education, youth-serving programs, and

youth. EDC also developed a hate crime prevention World Wide Web site

(www.edc.org/hatecrime/html). During FY 1999, EDC produced a Spanish

language version of Healing the Hate: A National Bias Crime Prevention

Curriculum for Middle Schools. In addition, EDC established

partnerships with other national organizations involved in hate crime

prevention to maximize services, provide outreach opportunities, avoid

duplication of efforts, and promote interdependent relationships in

which referrals, information, and training are routinely exchanged.

With continuation funding in FY 2000, EDC would continue to conduct

hate crime prevention training sessions for policymakers at four

national/State trainings targeted to reach juvenile justice, criminal

justice, education, youth-serving programs and youth; develop a civil

rights and hate crime prevention guide for youth in English and Spanish

for hate crime response and prevention; and develop a training/resource

guide to assist juvenile justice, criminal justice educators, and other

professionals who may or may not attend the OJJDP policymaker training.

EDC would produce an English and Spanish version of the National Center

for Hate Crime Prevention brochure and continue to build partnerships

with other national organizations involved in hate crime prevention.

This project would be implemented by the current grantee, Education

Development Center. No additional applications would be solicited in FY

2000.

Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With Attention

Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

OJJDP will transfer funds under an interagency agreement with the

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to support this research,

funded principally by NIMH. In 1992, NIMH began a study of the long-

term efficacy of stimulant medication and intensive behavioral and

educational treatment for children with attention deficit/hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD). Although ADHD is classified as a childhood disorder,

up to 70 percent of afflicted children continue to experience symptoms

in adolescence and adulthood. The study will continue through 2000 and

will follow the original families and a comparison group. OJJDP's

participation, which began in FY 1998, will allow for investigation

into the subjects' delinquent behavior and contact with the legal

system, including arrests and court referrals.

OJJDP will support this study through an interagency agreement with

the National Institute of Mental Health. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

National Center for Conflict Resolution Education

Funded under a competitively awarded cooperative agreement in FY

1995, the National Center for Conflict Resolution Education works to

integrate conflict resolution education (CRE) programming into all

levels of education in schools, juvenile facilities, and youth-serving

organizations. In FY 1998, OJJDP entered into a partnership with the

U.S. Department of Education to expand and enhance this project. The

grantee provides training and technical assistance through onsite

training and consultation for teams from schools, communities, and

juvenile facilities; by providing resource materials including Conflict

Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools,

Youth-Serving Organizations, and Community and Juvenile Justice

Settings and an enhanced, interactive CD-ROM that teaches conflict

resolution skills through the presentation of real-life situations that

confront young people; and by partnering with State-level agencies to

establish State training institutes and otherwise build local capacity

to implement successful CRE programs for youth. The Center also

facilitates peer-to-peer mentoring.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Illinois State Bar Association--Illinois LEARN. No additional

applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Nurse Home Visitation

In FY 2000, OJJDP would continue the integration of Prenatal and

Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation into five Operation Weed and Seed

sites (Clearwater, FL; Fresno, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Oakland, CA; and

Oklahoma City, OK) and one combined Weed and Seed/Safe Futures site

(St. Louis, MO). Operation Weed and Seed is a national initiative to

make communities safe through law enforcement activities and to rebuild

crime-ridden communities across the country through social services and

economic redevelopment. SafeFutures is an OJJDP initiative to assist in

implementing comprehensive community programs designed to reduce youth

violence, delinquency, and victimization through the creation of a

continuum of care in communities. The integration of the Prenatal and

Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program is co-funded by OJJDP,

OJP's Executive Office for Weed and Seed, and the U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services.

Several rigorous studies of the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse

Home Visitation Program model indicate that it reduces the risks for

early antisocial behavior and prevents problems associated with youth

crime and delinquency, such as child abuse, maternal substance abuse,

and maternal criminal involvement. A 15-year followup of the original

Nurse Home Visitation program found that adolescents whose mothers

received home visitation services over a decade earlier were less

likely to have run away, been arrested, and been convicted of a crime

than those whose mothers

[[Page 56098]]

had not received a nurse home visitor. They also had lower levels of

cigarette and alcohol use.

The current program being implemented in the six sites targets low

income, first-time mothers and their infants to accomplish three goals:

(1) Improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women alter their health-

related behaviors, including use of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs;

improve their nutrition; and reduce risk factors for premature

delivery; (2) improve child health and development by helping parents

provide more responsible and competent care for their children; and (3)

improve families' economic self-sufficiency by helping parents develop

a vision for their own future, plan future pregnancies, continue their

education, and find work.

The project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

University of Colorado Health Services Center. No additional

applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Partnerships for Preventing Violence

This program will continue for a second year in a multiple funding

agreement among OJJDP, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services to provide support for distance

training using satellite videoconferencing as the medium. The project,

funded under a 3-year grant, consists of a series of six live,

interactive satellite training broadcasts that focus on violence

prevention programs and strategies that have proven promising or

effective. The training is targeted to school and community violence

prevention personnel, health care providers, law enforcement officials,

and other service providers representing a variety of community-based

and youth-serving organizations. To date, three events have been held

with a fourth planned by October 15, 1999.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, Harvard

University School of Public Health. No additional applications will be

solicited in FY 2000.

Proactive Youth Program

In FY 1998, OJJDP funded the New Mexico Proactive Youth Program.

The New Mexico Police Activities League (PAL) has implemented a

statewide prevention project consisting of recreational, educational,

and cultural activities for at-risk youth and their families. The goal

of this effort is to reduce negative behavior and promote healthy

behavioral patterns among New Mexico's youth by providing activities

that unite youth with law enforcement officers, educators, and other

positive adult role models. PAL programs and activities are open to all

youth between the ages of 5 and 18 and their families. Special outreach

efforts are made to target at-risk youth, including children from

persistently low-income families, children with incarcerated family

members, Native American youth living on reservations, and juveniles

involved in gang activities. Local PAL programs have been initiated in

the following New Mexico communities: Bloomfield, Cochiti, Gallup, Las

Cruces, Lordsburg, Roswell, Santa Fe, and Tohatchi. During FY 2000,

additional programs will be developed in Clovis, Grants, and Silver

City and in Dona Ana County. This program is being evaluated by the

Regents of the University of New Mexico's Institute for Social

Research. The research design includes a process and outcome evaluation

that will document and assess the implementation, effectiveness, and

impact of this program.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Regents of the University of New Mexico. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Professional Development in Effective Classroom and Conflict Management

This North Carolina pilot initiative was designed to improve

classroom management and to assist in the creation of safe learning

environments. Funds will be awarded in FY 2000 to the current grantee,

the Center for the Study of School Violence, to complete the initial

phase of its pilot in partnership with the University of North Carolina

and the North Carolina State Board of Education. The purpose of the

pilot program is to increase the ability of teachers and administrators

to model and use sound conflict resolution practices by integrating

skills training into preservice curriculums at North Carolina schools

of education and by working with the North Carolina State Board of

Education to change curriculum requirements to include conflict

resolution skills training in the context of effective classroom

management.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Center

for the Study of School Violence. No additional applications will be

solicited in FY 2000.

Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development

This program, also known as Early Alliance, is a large-scale

prevention study involving hundreds of African American and Caucasian

children in several elementary schools in lower socioeconomic

neighborhoods of Columbia, SC. This project is designed to promote

coping-competence and reduce risk for conduct problems, aggression,

substance use, delinquency and violence, and school failure beginning

in early elementary school. Children are being followed longitudinally

throughout the 5 years of the project. The program is funded through an

interagency agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health

(NIMH), whose grantee is the University of South Carolina. Funding has

also been provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

This program will be implemented under the interagency agreement

with the National Institute of Mental Health by the current grantee,

the University of South Carolina. No additional applications will be

solicited in FY 2000.

Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and

Families

The U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS)

provide services to children affected by parental substance use or

abuse. OJJDP administers this training and technical assistance

program, which began in FY 1998, with funds transferred to OJJDP by

HHS's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,

through a cooperative agreement with the Child Welfare League of

America (CWLA), a nonprofit organization. CWLA recognizes that children

and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are among

the most at risk for developing an alcohol or other drug problem (AOD).

Typically these children have more risk factors than other children and

fewer protective factors. This is especially true of youth in

residential placement who have often witnessed or committed violent

acts, have been physically or psychologically abused, have experienced

failure and truancy in school, and have mental health and substance

abuse problems.

Staff members in the residential child care system often have

little or no substance abuse training. CWLA's 1997 AOD survey

documented that less than 25 percent of State child welfare agencies

provide training to group residential staffs on recognizing and dealing

with AOD problems. What further complicates this matter is that

partnerships between AOD programs and child welfare facilities rarely

exist, creating a lack of coordinated services for children of

substance abusers and/or

[[Page 56099]]

for substance abusing youth in residential care.

As a 2-year project, CWLA proposes to identify five residential

child welfare sites, one in each of the CWLA's five regions, to

demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating AOD prevention/treatment

strategies into existing child welfare and juvenile justice programs

and services, in order to educate staff and improve outcomes for

adolescents participating in the programs. CWLA would also provide

technical assistance to other member agencies replicating the various

program models identified through their evaluations of the programs.

This jointly funded project would be implemented by CWLA. No

additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Training and Technical Assistance Program for the Arts Programs for

Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections Initiative

OJJDP is collaborating with the National Endowment for the Arts in

providing the technical assistance program for the Arts Programs for

Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections Initiative. Grady

Hillman has been awarded a grant to provide technical assistance in the

area of art-based programming for juvenile offenders to support program

development and implementation; provide ongoing technical assistance,

and publish a document on the implementation of arts programming in

juvenile corrections and detention. The technical assistance will be

for the purpose of ensuring focused, professional technical support for

program development and implementation, including program design,

artist selection and training, and interaction between the arts

organizations and the juvenile justice system. The technical assistance

materials that will be developed through this national initiative will

provide a blueprint for communities that seek to undertake similar

programs. The nature of the Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in

Detention and Corrections affords a unique opportunity to develop new

programs and enhance existing programs while creating documentation

instrumentations for the juvenile justice system. The sites provided

technical assistance are Bronx, NY; Gainesville, TX; Riviera Beach, FL;

Rochester, NY; Seattle, WA; and Whittier, California.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, Grady

Hillman. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

In FY 1998, OJJDP, the Executive Office for Weed and Seed within

the Office of Justice Programs, and the U.S. Department of Education

jointly engaged in a grant program to address truancy. This program

specifically outlines four major comprehensive components: (1) System

reform and accountability, (2) a service continuum to address the needs

of children and adolescents who are truant, (3) data collection and

evaluation, and (4) a community education and awareness program from

kindergarten through grade 12 that addresses the need to prevent

truancy and to intervene with youth who are truant. The goals of this

program are to develop and implement or expand and strengthen

comprehensive truancy programs that pool education, justice system, law

enforcement, social services and community resources; identify truant

youth; cooperatively design and implement comprehensive, systemwide

programs to meet the needs of truants; and design and maintain systems

for tracking truant youth. OJJDP has awarded funds for this program to

eight sites: three non-Weed-and-Seed sites received up to $100,000 each

(Honolulu, HI; Jacksonville, FL; and King County, WA), and five Weed

and Seed sites received up to $50,000 each (Athens, GA; Houston, TX;

Martinez, CA; Tacoma, WA; and Yaphank, NY). All sites are currently

involved in a 6-month planning phase.

It is anticipated that during the next 2 years, this program would

focus on the development of implementation and evaluation plans that

link youth and adolescents who are truant with community-based services

and programs, as well as on a full implementation of the community's

comprehensive systemwide plan to prevent and intervene with the problem

of truancy. This program would be evaluated by the Colorado Foundation

for Families and Children who would conduct a process evaluation that

would identify factors contributing or impeding the successful

implementation of a truancy program.

Truancy activities would be carried out by the current grantees. No

additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) Training Project

The BARJ project's goal is to control juvenile delinquency through

increased use of restitution, community service, and other innovative

programs as part of a jurisdictionwide juvenile justice change from

traditional retributive or rehabilitative system models to balanced and

restorative justice orientation and procedures. The specific steps for

achieving this goal involve preparation of materials and training of

personnel interested in restorative justice and the ``balanced

approach.'' The steps also include providing onsite technical

assistance to selected State and local jurisdictions committed to

implementing the balanced approach. Materials development in FY 2000

will include documents containing information on restorative justice

programs, practices, and policy directions. The materials will be

useful for training juvenile justice system practitioners and managers

on the BARJ model and for onsite technical assistance. The training and

technical assistance will be delivered at regional and national

roundtables, juvenile justice conferences, and specialized workshops.

``Training of trainers'' programs will also be offered. There will be

some concentration of BARJ technical assistance at the State level and

on advancing judges' and prosecutors' leadership in the area of

restorative justice. Further, there will be an effort to involve

corporations and foundations in supporting BARJ and initial exploration

of introducing BARJ in higher education.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Florida

Atlantic University. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Building Blocks for Youth

The goals of this initiative are to protect minority youth in the

justice system and promote rational and effective juvenile justice

policies. These goals are accomplished by the following components: (1)

Conducting research on issues such as the impact on minority youth of

new State laws and the implications of privatization of juvenile

facilities by profit-making corporations; (2) undertaking an analysis

of decisionmaking in the justice system and development of model

decisionmaking criteria that reduce or eliminate disproportionate

impact of the system on minority youth; (3) building a constituency for

change at the national, State, and local levels; and (4) developing

communication strategies for dissemination of information. A fifth

component, direct advocacy for minority youth, is funded by sources

other than OJJDP. Funding by OJJDP began in FY 1998. Youth Law Center

has undertaken tasks to move this

[[Page 56100]]

initiative forward and will require additional time and funding to

complete the initial identified goals.

This continuation will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Youth Law Center. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement

In FY 1997, the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP)

replaced the biennial Census of Public and Private Juvenile Detention,

Correctional, and Shelter Facilities, known as the Children in Custody

census. CJRP collects detailed information on the population of

juveniles who are in juvenile residential placement facilities as a

result of contact with the juvenile justice system. New methods

developed for CJRP are expected to produce more accurate, timely, and

useful data on the juvenile population, with less reporting burden for

facility respondents. The CJRP was conducted for the second time in

October 1999. Data collection efforts will continue into 2000. OJJDP

anticipates delivery of the final data file by the end of FY 2000.

This program would be implemented through an existing interagency

agreement with the Bureau of the Census. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

Circles of Care Program

In FY 1998, the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) initiated

a program entitled ``Circles of Care'' to build the capacity of

selected Native American Tribes to develop a continuum of care for

Native American youth at risk of mental health, substance abuse, and

delinquency problems. As part of multiyear joint efforts with CMHS,

OJJDP entered into a 3-year interagency agreement to provide funding

support to the Circles of Care Program. OJJDP transferred funds in FY's

1998 and 1999 to CMHS to support the funding of one of nine sites. The

Circles of Care Program is designed to facilitate the planning and

development of a continuum of care.

The currently funded projects will continue in FY 2000 through an

interagency agreement with the Center for Mental Health Services. No

additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Community Assessment Center

The Community Assessment Center (CAC) program is a multicomponent

demonstration initiative designed to test the efficacy of the CAC

concept. CAC's provide a 24-hour centralized point of intake and

assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to come into contact

with the juvenile justice system. The main purpose of a CAC is to

facilitate earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention

service delivery at the ``front end'' of the juvenile justice system.

In FY 1997, OJJDP funded two planning grants and two enhancement grants

to existing assessment centers for a 1-year project period, a CAC

evaluation, and a technical assistance component.

Based on a limited competition among the four sites, in FY 1998,

OJJDP provided additional funding for 12 months to one of the initial

planning sites (Lee County Sheriff's Office in Lee County, FL) and to

one of the initial enhancement sites (Jefferson Center for Mental

Health in Jefferson County, CO). The two other sites (Human Service

Associates, Inc. (HSA) in Orlando, FL, and the Denver Juvenile Court in

Denver, CO) received increased funding from Juvenile Accountability

Incentive Block Grant funds to develop a fully operational CAC,

including all four CAC conceptual elements. Increased funding was also

provided to the national evaluator, the National Council on Crime and

Delinquency.

During year 2, the Lee County Sheriff's Office worked to design and

implement a comprehensive management information system that will serve

as the backbone of the future assessment center. The Jefferson Center

for Mental Health further enhanced its assessment center by conducting

an intensive review of existing assessment tools and enhancing the case

management process. In addition, both Denver and Orlando (HSA) began

developing fully operational CAC's.

In FY 2000, OJJDP will provide additional funding to support the

full implementation of OJJDP's CAC concept to the current grantees in

Denver and Orlando. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Comprehensive Children and Families Mental Health Training and

Technical Assistance

Under an FY 1999 interagency agreement, OJJDP transferred funds to

the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) to support the new

contract for training and technical assistance for the CMHS-funded

Comprehensive Mental Health sites. These funds will be used to enhance

the involvement of the juvenile justice system in the systems of care

that are being developed in each of the CMHS-funded sites. Funds will

again be transferred to CMHS in FY 2000 to support the training and

technical assistance and to meet the terms of the 3-year interagency

agreement.

OJJDP will support this initiative through an interagency agreement

with the Center for Mental Health Services. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders

OJJDP has been providing support for development of its

Comprehensive Strategy for several years. This project will complete

ongoing strategic planning efforts in two States, Oregon and Wisconsin,

and provide implementation support in six States that have completed

the strategic planning process. OJJDP will also explore the addition of

two or more Comprehensive Strategy States in FY 2000. As in the

original eight States, up to six local jurisdictions would be

identified to receive Comprehensive Strategy planning training and

technical assistance. OJJDP will continue to provide technical

assistance to further assist States and local jurisdictions, through

training and technical assistance, in developing and implementing the

Comprehensive Strategy. Further development and update of the Guide for

Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders will be completed in FY 2000.

This project will be implemented by the current grantees, the

National Council on Crime and Delinquency and Developmental Research

and Programs, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Development of Conduct Disorder in Girls

The purpose of this project is to examine the development of

conduct disorder in a sample of 2,500 inner-city girls who are ages 6

to 8 at the beginning of the study. The study will follow the girls

annually for 5 years and will provide information that is critical to

the understanding of the etiology, comorbidity, and prognosis of

conduct disorder in girls. This project is important because

delinquency in girls has been steadily increasing over the past decade

and a better understanding of the developmental processes in girls will

help in identifying effective means of prevention and provide direction

for juvenile justice responses to delinquent girls. The program is

being funded under an FY 1999 interagency agreement between OJJDP and

the National Institute of Mental Health.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

University of

[[Page 56101]]

Pittsburgh. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Department of Labor's Education and Training for

Youthful Offenders Initiative

This evaluation will document the activities undertaken by two

States awarded grants under the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL's)

Education and Training for Youthful Offenders Initiative. Each DOL

grantee will provide comprehensive school-to-work education and

training within a juvenile correctional facility and followup and job

placement services as youth return to the community. It is intended

that the comprehensive services developed under these grants will serve

as models for other juvenile correctional facilities across the

country.

The OJJDP-sponsored evaluation of these projects will be conducted

in two phases. During Phase I, a process evaluation will be conducted

at each site to document the extent to which educational, job training,

and aftercare services were enhanced with DOL funding. Also, the

feasibility of conducting an impact evaluation at each site will be

determined during Phase I. Phase II will entail conducting an impact

evaluation at one or both sites. For those sites where a rigorous

impact evaluation can be conducted, the effects of the program on job-

related skills, employment, earnings, academic performance, and

recidivism will be measured.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Council on Crime and Delinquency. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program

In FY 1995, OJJDP competitively awarded a grant to the National

Council on Crime and Delinquency to perform a process evaluation and

design an outcome evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare

Demonstration and Technical Assistance Program. In FY 1998, the project

was supplemented and extended for an additional 2 years to continue the

outcome evaluation, which seeks to determine the extent of the

differences between the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program

(IAP) participants and the ``regular'' parolees, the supervision and

services provided to both groups, and the cost-effectiveness of IAP.

Data collection is being accomplished using several methods including

searching State police records to measure recidivism and analyzing

State agency and juvenile court data to estimate costs.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Council on Crime and Delinquency. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Evaluation of Teen Courts

This project, which OJJDP began in FY 1997, is measuring the effect

of handling young, relatively nonserious law violators in teen courts

rather than in traditional juvenile or family courts. Researchers are

collecting data on several dimensions of program outcomes, including

postprogram recidivism and changes in teens' perceptions of justice and

their ability to make more mature judgments. Analyses of these

dimensions will be used to compare youth handled in at least three

separate teen court programs with those processed by the traditional

juvenile justice system. In addition, the study will conduct a process

evaluation of the teen court programs, exploring legal, administrative,

and case processing factors that affect the ability of the programs to

achieve their goals.

This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Urban Institute. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

Helping Communities To Promote Youth Development

OJJDP would continue to provide support to the Institute of

Medicine/National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences for a

review and synthesis of existing evidence regarding the effectiveness

of community-level interventions and service programs designed to

promote positive youth development. The strengths and limitations of

measurement and methodologies used to evaluate these interventions will

be assessed, as well as policy and programmatic implications of this

research. In addition to a final report that will synthesize the work

of the committee, brief summary ``fact sheets'' will be widely

disseminated to policymakers, local decisionmakers, program

administrators, service providers, researchers, community organizers,

and other key stakeholders.

OJJDP would implement this program through an interagency agreement

with the National Academy of Sciences. No additional applications would

be solicited in FY 2000.

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Dissemination and Technical

Assistance Program

This initiative supports implementation, training and technical

assistance, and an independent evaluation of an intensive community-

based aftercare model in three competitively selected demonstration

sites. The overall goal of the intensive aftercare model is to identify

and assist high-risk juvenile offenders to make a gradual transition

from secure confinement back into the community. The Intensive

Aftercare Program (IAP) model has three distinct, yet overlapping

segments: (1) prerelease and preparatory planning activities during

incarceration, (2) structured transitioning involving the participation

of institutional and aftercare staffs both prior to and following

community reentry, and (3) long-term reintegrative activities to ensure

adequate service delivery and the required level of social control. The

three sites would complete 5 years of program development and

implementation in FY 2000. Followup data collection would continue into

FY 2000 to capture information on youth who transitioned back into the

community. In late FY 1999, Johns Hopkins University, the current

grantee, would shift its focus from primarily providing training and

technical assistance to grantees to developing a comprehensive

dissemination, training, and technical assistance effort to State

juvenile justice systems throughout the United States.

The IAP project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

Johns Hopkins University. No additional applications would be solicited

in FY 1999.

Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center

In FY 1999, OJJDP competitively funded the American Bar Association

(ABA) to develop and implement the Juvenile Defender Training,

Technical Assistance, and Resource Center (Juvenile Defender Center) to

support training and technical assistance and to serve as a

clearinghouse and resource center for juvenile defenders in this

country. Recognizing that a lack of training, technical assistance, and

resources for juvenile defenders weakens the juvenile justice system

and results in a lack of due process for juvenile offenders, OJJDP

provided seed money in FY 1999 to fund the initial planning and

implementation of a Juvenile Defender Center. The grantee is expected

to develop a partnership with other agencies and organizations that

[[Page 56102]]

will provide or help develop financial resources to assist in

sustaining a permanent Center. The Center will be designed to provide

both general and specialized training and technical assistance to

juvenile defenders in the United States. The design will also

incorporate a resource center for purposes such as serving as a

repository for the most recent litigation on key issues, a collection

of sample briefs, and information on expert witnesses.

This project will be carried out by the current grantee, the

American Bar Association. No additional applications will be solicited

in FY 2000.

Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

This American Prosecutors Research Institute project's goal is to

increase and improve prosecutor involvement in juvenile justice. The

project will pursue continuing needs assessment by a working group of

experienced prosecutors regarding district attorney requirements in the

juvenile area. The project will design and present specialized training

events for elected and appointed district attorneys and for juvenile

unit chiefs. The training will deal with prosecutor leadership roles in

the juvenile justice system and with the clarification or resolution of

important juvenile justice issues. Such issues are expected to include

juvenile policy, code revisions, resource allocation, charging,

transfer to criminal courts, alternative juvenile programs,

confinement, record confidentiality, and collaboration with other

agencies. Training will also address certain evolving juvenile justice

areas, such as community prosecution, community justice, restorative

justice, community assessment centers, and mental health concerns,

among others. In addition, the project will continue to develop

training and reference materials pertaining to significant juvenile

justice topics.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

American Prosecutors Research Institute. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Juvenile Residential Facility Census

As part of a long-term relationship with the Bureau of the Census,

OJJDP proposes to continue to fund the development and testing of a new

census of juvenile residential facilities. This census would focus on

those facilities that are authorized to hold juveniles based on contact

with the juvenile justice system. From interviews with facility

administrators and staff at 20 locations, project staff have produced a

detailed report discussing how best to capture information on

education, mental health and substance abuse treatment, health

services, conditions of custody, staffing, and facility capacity.

Project staff have also drafted and tested a questionnaire based on the

interview results. The census was tested in October 1998. Census Bureau

staff will prepare a report on the results of this test and make

specific recommendations concerning changes and census implementation.

In 2000, OJJDP and Census will work together to finalize the census

format and data collection methods. The census will be administered for

the first time in October 2000.

This project would be conducted through an interagency agreement

with the Bureau of the Census, Governments Division and Statistical

Research Division. No additional applications would be solicited in FY

2000.

Linking Balanced and Restorative Justice and Adolescents (LIBRA)

This project addresses effective interventions with the at-risk and

delinquent youthful population of Vermont, combined with Vermont's

determination to raise, support, teach, and nurture youth in their

communities. As a rural state, Vermont faces many of the same issues

plaguing larger, urban States, including underage drinking, drug abuse,

education failure, and mental health issues. The goal of this program

is to continue development of a comprehensive, integrated, balanced,

and restorative system of justice for youthful offenders that holds

them accountable for their actions to victims, protects the community,

builds offender skills and competencies, and offers opportunities for

positive connections to community members. OJJDP funding for the

program began in FY 1998. Based on the Balanced and Restorative Justice

(BARJ) philosophy of reparation, rather than retribution, the LIBRA

project has created a network of Juvenile Reparative Boards, which hold

youth immediately accountable for their actions and provide direct

services to youth, parents, victims, and community members. The project

will also continue to pilot Community Justice Centers, which

demonstrate that the community is the core of the justice process and

recognize youth as a vital part of the community. Also, a curriculum of

Competency Training Classes for youthful offenders and youth at risk of

delinquency will be maintained and will focus on conflict resolution,

social skills, problem solving, and decisionmaking.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, the

Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. No additional

applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Project

In 1998, OJJDP established the National Juvenile Justice Data

Analysis Project (NJJDAP) to serve the critical information needs of

the juvenile justice community and OJJDP. The NJJDAP produces analyses

and disseminates statistical information to the public and to State and

local policymakers. The project serves as a principal resource to

accentuate and enhance OJJDP's ability to provide quality information

to the field of juvenile justice. The project uses many national data

sources to examine issues critical to the juvenile justice system. The

data sources used are not limited to criminal justice or juvenile

justice data. In 1999, the NJJDAP has produced analyses based on the

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), operated by the Bureau of

Labor Statistics. The NLSY is a national self-report survey of youth

that includes several measures of juvenile offending. Also, the NJJDAP

has produced analyses of the Census of Juveniles in Residential

Placement.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Center for Juvenile Justice. No additional applications will

be solicited in FY 2000.

National Juvenile Justice Program Directory

To conduct its statistical functions, OJJDP must maintain a current

and accurate list of all entities surveyed either in the various

censuses or in surveys. This list currently consists of a complete list

of juvenile residential facilities and a list of juvenile probation

offices. As OJJDP expands its statistical work, it will need to expand

this listing as well. The list needs to contain contact information for

the various facilities or agencies and appropriate information for

sampling. During 2000, the Census Bureau would continue to maintain the

currently available portions of the directory and would explore

expansions needed to monitor other areas of juvenile justice such as

nonresidential correctional programs and juvenile court staff.

This project would be conducted through an interagency agreement

with the Bureau of the Census, Governments Division. No additional

applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97

OJJDP proposes continuing to support the third round of data

collection, begun

[[Page 56103]]

in FY 1997, by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 (NLSY97)

through an interagency agreement with the Bureau of Labor Statistics

(BLS). The NLSY97 is studying school-to-work transition in a nationally

representative sample of 8,700 youth ages 12 to 16 years old. BLS is

also collecting data on the involvement of these youth in antisocial

and other behavior that may affect their transition to productive work

careers. The survey provides information about risk and protective

factors related to the initiation, persistence, and desistance of

delinquent and criminal behavior and provides an opportunity to

determine the generalizability of findings from OJJDP's Program of

Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency and other

longitudinal studies to a nationally representative population of

youth.

The program would be implemented by the BLS under an interagency

agreement. No additional applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Correction and Detention

Facilities

Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Correction and Detention

Facilities Program, which began with a competitive OJJDP cooperative

agreement awarded to the Council of Juvenile Correctional

Administrators (CJCA) in FY 1995, has developed a performance

management system for the management of juvenile correctional

facilities. The system provides tools for monitoring and improving

outcomes in six critical facility functions: providing security,

safety, order, health care, educational, and mental health programming

within a context that protects individual rights. Currently, 32

facilities, including 2 State systems, have begun the implementation

process, which consists of the data collection and analysis of baseline

data; the development of an initial facility improvement plan, which

may include financial support to make improvements; and reassessment

and revision of the facility improvement plan. During FY 2000, the

program itself is undergoing refinements to improve management of the

process for the facilities. In addition, approximately 15 new sites

will begin the process, using streamlined data collection and new

diagnostic tools. In addition to working with the participating

facilities during this funding period, the project will finalize the

implementation model; revise instruments, as needed; and develop

criteria for determining full implementation, including the testing of

community release measures. Where appropriate, the project will

establish performance benchmarks and develop analytical reports

regarding facility and system change that has occurred in the test

sites.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, the

Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators. No additional

applications would be solicited in FY 2000.

San Francisco Juvenile Justice Local Action Plan--Delancy Street

Initiative

In FY 1998, OJJDP provided funding to the City and County of San

Francisco, CA, to support the implementation of a comprehensive effort

to reform the city's juvenile justice system. San Francisco's

Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Local Action Plan, facilitated by the

Delancy Street Foundation CIRCLE (Coalition to Revitalize Communities,

Lives and Environments), represents the culmination of a unique,

collaborative needs assessment of the existing juvenile justice system.

Based on this assessment, San Francisco identified six of the most

critical gaps in the juvenile justice system and proposed programs to

fill those gaps: Community Assessment and Referral Center, Early Risk

and Resiliency, Safe Haven, Safe Corridor, the Life Learning Academy,

and the Life Learning Residential Center for Girls. These six programs

originated from the needs assessment and are a product of teams

composed of representatives from San Francisco and its diverse

communities.

In FY 1999, OJJDP provided funding to enhance services offered at

the Life Learning Residential Center (Academy), an intensive life-

changing, day treatment program designed to turn around the lives of

youth with multiple problems that include multigenerational poverty,

gang involvement, drug abuse, disciplinary problems, and school

dropouts and failure. The Academy aims to strengthen a youth's bond

with his family and extended family and the community, while providing

complete ``life learning'' instruction and education. Funding will also

be used for program replication throughout the country.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the City

and County of San Francisco, in FY 2000. No additional applications

will be solicited in FY 2000.

Survey of Juvenile Probation

OJJDP proposes to continue to support the development of a survey

of juvenile probation offices. This survey will lead directly to

national estimates of the numbers of juveniles on probation at a given

time. OJJDP began this effort in 1996 with assessments of current

knowledge of probation and the need for information on this aspect of

juvenile justice. The development efforts have so far included site

visits to three State probation departments and local probation

departments in those States. An additional seven States will be visited

in the coming year. Based on this information, the Center for Survey

Methods Research (CSMR) at the Bureau of the Census will develop a

survey methodology and a survey questionnaire. The plans for this

survey have expanded by necessity to include efforts (already under way

under a separate agreement with the Bureau of the Census) to list and

categorize juvenile probation offices nationally. Working with OJJDP,

the Census Bureau will develop a list of probation offices and several

categorizations of these offices to facilitate the development of a

sampling scheme. In the coming year, OJJDP and the Census Bureau will

continue working on the specifications for this list and continue

efforts to develop the list. Also, working with the Governments

Division of the Bureau of the Census, OJJDP will take the necessary

preliminary steps needed to implement the survey. OJJDP anticipates the

first Survey of Juvenile Probation will take place in calendar year

2002.

This project would be conducted through an interagency agreement

with the Bureau of the Census. No additional applications would be

solicited in FY 2000.

Technical Assistance to Native American Tribes and Alaskan Native

Communities

The Technical Assistance to Native American Tribes and Alaskan

Native Communities Program is designed to equip tribal governments with

the necessary information and tools to enhance or develop

comprehensive, systemwide approaches to reduce juvenile delinquency,

violence, and victimization and increase the safety of their

communities. In FY 1997, OJJDP awarded a 3-year cooperative agreement

to the American Indian Development Associates (AIDA) to provide

training and technical assistance to Indian nations seeking to improve

juvenile justice services to children, youth, and families.

Throughout FY's 1998 and 1999, AIDA continued to provide technical

assistance to Indian nations and developed information materials for

Indian juvenile justice practitioners, administrators, and

policymakers. Topic areas covered Indian youth gangs; personnel

competency building, such as

[[Page 56104]]

conducting effective preadjudication investigations and preparing

reports; developing protocols to implement State Children's Code

provisions that affect Native American children; establishing

sustainable, comprehensive community-based planning processes that

focus on the needs of tribal youth; and developing and implementing

culturally relevant policies, programs, and practices. The technical

assistance and materials also addressed the overlapping roles and

jurisdiction of Federal, State, and tribal justice systems,

particularly in understanding the laws and public policies applicable

to or effective in Indian communities.

In FY 2000, OJJDP would continue to promote and provide technical

assistance to tribes seeking to develop and enhance their juvenile

justice systems. AIDA would provide training and technical assistance

in the following emphasis areas: developing a community-based secondary

prevention program; developing a tribal justice probation system;

developing multidisciplinary approaches to youth gang violence

prevention; establishing risk assessment and classification systems;

developing comprehensive strategies to handle offenders; expanding

referral and service delivery systems; developing cooperative

interagency and intergovernmental relationships; and developing

technology to improve systems and increased access to juvenile justice

information.

This program would be implemented by the current grantee, the

American Indian Development Associates. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative

In FY 1998, OJJDP, in partnership with the U.S. Department of

Labor's (DOL's) Employment and Training Administration, provided

funding support to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to demonstrate and

evaluate the TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative. This initiative

provides employment training and other related services to at-risk

youth through local Boys & Girls Clubs with TeenSupreme Centers. In FY

1998, DOL funds supported program staffing in the existing 41

TeenSupreme Centers, and in 1999, the number of sites was expanded to

45. These 45 clubs are provided funding support to hire an employment

specialist to work with the youth. Boys & Girls Clubs of America

provides intensive training and technical assistance to each site and

administrative and staffing support to the program from the national

office. OJJDP funds support the evaluation component of the program,

which is being implemented by an independent evaluator.

This jointly funded Department of Labor and OJJDP initiative will

be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys & Girls Clubs of

America. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1999.

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams

To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

Through systemic change within local juvenile detention systems or

statewide juvenile corrections systems, this project seeks to reduce

overcrowding in facilities where juveniles are held. Competitively

awarded in FY 1994 to the National Juvenile Detention Association

(NJDA), in partnership with the San Francisco Youth Law Center, the

project provides training and technical assistance materials for use by

State and local jurisdictional teams. NJDA selected three jurisdictions

(Camden, NJ; Oklahoma City, OK; and the Rhode Island Juvenile

Corrections System) for onsite development, implementation, and testing

of procedures to reduce crowding. All three original sites have

completed their work. The grantee is exploring additional sites for

comprehensive training and technical assistance in FY 2000. NJDA would

also be initiating its Jurisdictional Team Training Course in FY 2000

at three sites that are experiencing overcrowding in their juvenile

facilities.

This project would be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Juvenile Detention Association. No additional applications

would be solicited in FY 2000.

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program

OJJDP will continue funding the grant competitively awarded in FY

1997 to Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD, for a national evaluation to

document and explicate the process of community mobilization, planning,

and collaboration that has taken place before and during the Safe Kids/

Safe Streets awards; to inform program staff of performance levels on

an ongoing basis; and to determine the effectiveness of the implemented

programs in achieving the goals of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program.

The initial 18-month grant began a process evaluation and an assessment

of the feasibility of an impact evaluation. Westat will continue the

process evaluation, which will now focus on tracking the implementation

efforts at each of the sites; continue developing the national impact

evaluation; and continue working with local evaluators to develop their

capacity to evaluate programs. Also, Westat will add a fifth site to

the evaluation.

This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, Westat,

Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 2000.

Research on Child Neglect

In FY 2000, OJJDP will join several other Federal agencies,

including the Office of Justice Program's National Institute of

Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Department of Health

and Human Services' National Institutes of Health and Administration on

Children, Youth, and Families (the Neglect Consortium), in funding

research projects that will enhance understanding of the etiology,

extent, services, treatment, management, and prevention of child

neglect. This multiagency effort addresses the lack of research

focusing specifically on the issue of child neglect. Child neglect may

relate to profound health consequences, place children at higher risk

for a variety of diseases and conditions, and interfere with normal

social, cognitive, and affective development. Thus, child neglect is a

serious public health, justice, social services, and education problem,

not only compromising the immediate health of the Nation's children,

but also threatening their growth and intellectual development, their

long-term physical and mental health outcomes, their propensity for

prosocial behavior, their future parenting practices, and their

economic productivity.

The research studies funded by this initiative can focus on a range

of issues, including, but not limited to, the following: the

antecedents of neglect; the consequences of neglect; the processes and

mediators accounting for or influencing the effects of neglect; and

treatment, preventive intervention, and service delivery.

This program will be implemented through an interagency agreement

with the National Institutes of Health. No additional applications will

be solicited in FY 2000.

Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches To Reducing Abuse and

Neglect and Preventing Delinquency

This 5\1/2\ year demonstration program is designed to foster

coordinated

[[Page 56105]]

community responses to child abuse and neglect. Several components of

the Office of Justice Programs joined in FY 1996 to develop this

coordinated program response to break the cycle of early childhood

victimization and later criminality and to reduce child abuse and

neglect and resulting child fatalities. OJJDP awarded competitive

cooperative agreements in FY 1997 to five sites (Chittenden County, VT;

Huntsville, AL; Kansas City, MO; the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa

Indians, MI; and Toledo, OH). Funds were provided by OJJDP, the

Executive Office for Weed and Seed, and the Violence Against Women

Office.

In FY 2000, continuation awards will be made to each of the current

demonstration sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY

2000.

The programs described above will further OJJDP's goals and help to

consolidate and continue the gains made in the past few years in

combating juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP welcomes

comments on this Proposed Program Plan.

Dated: October 8, 1999.

Shay Bilchik,

Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

[FR Doc. 99-26797 Filed 10-14-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-18-P