Grants and cooperative agreements; availability, etc.: Comprehensive program plan; discretionary program announcements and application kit (1998 FY),

[Federal Register: June 17, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 116)]

[Notices]

[Page 33125-33166]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr17jn98-108]

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Part II

Department of Justice

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Comprehensive Program Plan for Fiscal Year 1998 and Availability of Discretionary Program Announcements and Application Kit; Notice

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

[OJP(OJJDP)-1184]

RIN 1121-ZB21

Comprehensive Program Plan for Fiscal Year 1998 and Availability of Discretionary Program Announcements and Application Kit

AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Justice.

ACTION: Notice of final program plan for fiscal year 1998 and availability of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP application kit.

SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is publishing its Final Program Plan for fiscal year (FY) 1998 and announces the availability of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP Application Kit.

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. 5601 et seq. (JJDP Act), the Administrator of OJJDP published for public comment a Proposed Comprehensive Plan describing the program activities that OJJDP proposed to carry out during FY 1998. The Proposed Comprehensive Plan included activities authorized in Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 5651-5665a, 5667, 5667a. The public was invited to comment on the Proposed Plan by March 23, 1998. The Administrator analyzed the public comments received, and that analysis is provided below. Taking these comments into consideration, the Administrator developed this Final Comprehensive Plan describing the particular program activities that OJJDP intends to fund during FY 1998, using in whole or in part funds appropriated under Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP Act.

The FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP Application Kit are now available. They can be obtained from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse by calling 800-638-8736 or by sending an e-mail request to askncjrs@ncjrs.org. The publications are also available online at OJJDP's home page, Grants and Funding section, at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.

Overview

After a decade of steady increases in juvenile crime and violence, the trend is being reversed. The United States has experienced a downturn in juvenile violent crime arrests for 2 straight years (3 years for murder arrests). Figures released in 1997 show that juvenile arrests for murder declined 14 percent 2 years in a row--and 3 percent the year before that. From 1995 to 1996, juvenile arrests for robbery declined 8 percent; for the previous year, they decreased 1 percent. The overall Violent Crime Index arrests of juveniles declined 6 percent in 1996, following a 3-percent drop in 1995.

The decreases in juvenile Violent Crime Index arrests must be kept in perspective, however. Even with the 2-year decline, the 1996 number was 60 percent above the 1987 level. In comparison, adult Violent Crime Index offense arrests rose 24 percent over the same period.

In the area of drug use violations, juveniles were involved in 14 percent of all drug arrests in 1996 (compared with 13 percent in 1995). However, arrests of juveniles for drug abuse violations increased 6 percent from 1995 to 1996, a smaller increase than the previous year's 18 percent. In addition, between 1992 and 1996, juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations increased 120 percent, compared with a 138- percent increase between 1991 and 1995.

Thus, in the second half of the 1990's, juvenile violent crime and drug use are still significantly higher than in the late 1980's but beginning to show signs of trending downward. The juvenile justice system needs to build on the positive momentum of these recent decreases by continuing to focus on programs and strategies that work. This requires a concerted effort on the part of Federal, State, and local government, in partnership with private organizations and community agencies, to ensure that available resources are used in a way that maximizes their impact; decreases juvenile crime, violence, and victimization; and increases community safety.

Federal leadership in responding to the problems confronting the Nation's juvenile justice system is vested in OJJDP. Established in 1974 by the JJDP Act, OJJDP is the Federal agency responsible for providing a comprehensive, coordinated approach to preventing and controlling juvenile crime and improving the juvenile justice system. OJJDP administers State Formula Grants, State Challenge Grants, and the Title V Community Prevention Grants programs in States and territories; funds gang and mentoring programs under Parts D and G of the JJDP Act; funds numerous projects through its Special Emphasis Discretionary Grant Program and its National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and coordinates Federal activities related to juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.

OJJDP also serves as the staff agency for the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, coordinates the Concentration of Federal Efforts Program, and administers both the Title IV Missing and Exploited Children's Program and programs under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 13001 et seq.

In the FY 1998 Appropriations Act, Congress provided funding for two new OJJDP programs. These are not funded under Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP Act, which are the focus of this Proposed Program Plan. However, mention of these new programs here, along with an additional program that OJJDP will administer, may help to alert those who work in the juvenile justice field to the existence of these new programs. Recognizing that, ``while crime is on the decline in certain parts of America, a dangerous precursor to crime, teenage drug use, is on the rise and may soon reach a 20-year high,'' Congress provided $5 million in funds for the development, demonstration, and testing of programs designed ``to reduce drug use among juveniles'' and ``to increase the perception among children and youth that drug use is risky, harmful, and unattractive.'' Funding for the drug prevention program is discretionary, and the Appropriations Act directs OJJDP to submit a program plan for the drug prevention program by February 1, 1998. This plan has been submitted. Twenty-five million dollars in funds were also provided for an underage drinking program. Much of the funding for the underage drinking program will be made available to the States and the District of Columbia through formula grants of $360,000 each (total $18.36 million), with $5 million in discretionary funding, and $1.64 million for training and technical assistance to support the program. OJJDP will also administer the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants program authorized in the FY 1998 Appropriations Act. Of the $250 million

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available under this new block grant program, 3 percent is available for research, evaluation, and demonstration activities related to the program and 2 percent is available for related training and technical assistance activities. Program Announcements have been issued for the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program and for the Combating Underage Drinking Program. The Program Announcements are available from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse and online. See the information provided above on how to obtain copies of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP Application Kit. Further information on the Drug Prevention Program will be provided to the field in the near future. Solicitations for OJJDP's Mentoring program (Part G of the JJDP Act) and the Missing and Exploited Children's Program (Title IV of the JJDP Act, the Missing Children's Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5771 et seq.) were published separately.

Cognizant of the trends in juvenile crime and violence and of its responsibilities and mission, OJJDP has developed a Program Plan for FY 1998 for activities authorized under Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP Act, as described below.

Fiscal Year 1998 Program Planning Activities

The OJJDP program planning process for FY 1998 was coordinated with the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and the four other OJP program bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). The program planning process involved the following steps:

‹bullet› Internal review of existing programs by OJJDP staff.

‹bullet› Internal review of proposed programs by OJP bureaus and Department of Justice components.

‹bullet› Review of information and data from OJJDP grantees and contractors.

‹bullet› Review of information contained in State comprehensive plans.

‹bullet› Review of comments made by youth service providers, juvenile justice practitioners, and researchers to provide OJJDP with input in proposed new program areas.

‹bullet› Consideration of suggestions made by juvenile justice policymakers concerning State and local needs.

‹bullet› Consideration of all comments received during the period of public comment on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan.

Discretionary Program Activities

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 1998, either within an existing project period or through an extension for an additional project 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 the Proposed Program Plan were those that are receiving Part C or Part D FY 1998 continuation funding and programs that OJJDP was considering for new awards in FY 1998.

Consideration for continuation funding for an additional project period for previously funded discretionary grant programs was based upon several factors, including the following:

‹bullet› The extent to which the project responds to the applicable requirements of the JJDP Act.

‹bullet› Responsiveness to OJJDP and Department of Justice FY 1998 program priorities.

‹bullet› Compliance with performance requirements of prior grant years.

‹bullet› Compliance with fiscal and regulatory requirements.

‹bullet› Compliance with any special conditions of the award.

‹bullet› 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. 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. 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.

   Program Goals

   OJJDP seeks to focus its assistance 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. To that end, OJJDP has set three goals that constitute the major elements of a sound policy that assures public safety and security while establishing effective juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs:

   ‹bullet› To promote 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.

   ‹bullet› To improve the juvenile justice system and the response of the system to juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and dependent, neglected, and abused children.

   ‹bullet› 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.

   Underlying each of the three goals is the overarching premise that their achievement is vital to protecting the long-term safety of the public from juvenile delinquency and violence. The following discussion addresses these three broad goals.

   Delinquency Prevention and Early Intervention

   A primary goal of OJJDP is to identify and promote programs that prevent or reduce the occurrence of juvenile offenses, both criminal and noncriminal, and to intervene immediately and effectively when delinquent or status offense conduct first occurs. A sound policy for juvenile delinquency prevention seeks to strengthen the most powerful contributing factor to socially acceptable behavior--a productive place for young people in a law-abiding society. Delinquency prevention programs can operate on a broad scale, providing for positive youth development, or can target juveniles identified as being at high risk for delinquency with programs designed to reduce future juvenile offending. OJJDP prevention programs take a risk and protective factor- based delinquency prevention approach based

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   on public health and social development models.

   Early interventions are designed to provide services to juveniles whose noncriminal misbehavior indicates that they are on a delinquent pathway or to first-time nonviolent delinquent offenders or nonserious repeat offenders who do not respond to initial system intervention. These interventions are generally nonpunitive but serve to hold a juvenile accountable while providing services tailored to the individual needs of the juvenile and the juvenile's family. They are designed to both deter future misconduct and reduce the negative or enhance the positive factors present in a child's life.

   Improvement of the Juvenile Justice System

   A second goal of OJJDP is to promote improvements in the juvenile justice system and facilitate the most effective allocation of system resources. This goal is necessary for holding juveniles who commit crimes accountable for their conduct, particularly serious and violent offenders who sometimes slip through the cracks of the system or are inappropriately diverted. Activities to support this goal include assisting law enforcement officers in their efforts to prevent and control delinquency and the victimization of children through community policing programs and coordination and collaboration with other system components and with child caring systems. Meeting this goal involves helping juvenile and family courts, and the prosecutors and public defenders who practice in those courts, to provide a system of justice that maintains due process protections. It requires trying innovative programs and carefully evaluating those programs to determine what works and what does not work. It includes a commitment to involving crime victims in the juvenile justice system and ensuring that their rights are considered. In this regard, OJJDP will continue to work closely with the Office for Victims of Crime to further cooperative programming, including the provision of services to juveniles who are crime victims or the provision of victims services that improve the operation of the juvenile justice system.

   Improving the juvenile justice system also calls for strengthening its juvenile detention and corrections capacity and intensifying efforts to use juvenile detention and correctional facilities in appropriate circumstances and under conditions that maximize public safety, while at the same time providing effective rehabilitation services. It requires encouraging States to carefully consider the use of expanded transfer authority that sends the most serious, violent, and intractable juvenile offenders to the criminal justice system, while preserving individualized justice. It necessitates conducting research and gathering statistical information in order to understand how the juvenile justice system works in serving children and families. Finally, the system can only be improved if information and knowledge are communicated, understood, and applied for the purpose of juvenile justice system improvement.

   Corrections, Detention, and Community-Based Alternatives

   A third OJJDP goal is to maintain the public safety through a balanced use of secure detention and corrections and community-based alternatives. This involves identifying and promoting effective community-based programs and services for juveniles who have formal contact with the juvenile justice system and emphasizing options that maintain the safety of the public, are appropriately restrictive, and promote and preserve positive ties with the child's family, school, and community. Communities cannot afford to place responsibility for juvenile delinquency entirely on publicly operated juvenile justice system programs. A sound policy for combating juvenile delinquency and reducing the threat of youth violence makes maximum use of a full range of public and private programs and services, most of which operate in the juvenile's home community, including those provided by the health and mental health, child welfare, social service, and educational systems.

   Coordination of the development of community-based programs and services with the development and use of a secure detention and correctional system capability for those juveniles who require a secure option is cost effective and will protect the public, reduce facility crowding, and result in better services for both institutionalized juveniles and those who can be served while remaining in their community environment.

   In pursuing these three broad goals, OJJDP divides its programs into four broad categories: public safety and law enforcement; strengthening the juvenile justice system; delinquency prevention and intervention; and child abuse, neglect, and dependency courts. A fifth category, overarching programs, contains programs that have significant elements common to more than one category. Following the introductory section below, the programs that OJJDP proposes to fund in FY 1998 are listed and summarized within these five categories.

   Summary of Public Comments on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan for Fiscal Year 1998

   OJJDP published its Proposed Comprehensive Plan for FY 1998 in the Federal Register (Vol. 63, No. 25) on February 6, 1998, for a 45-day public comment period. OJJDP received 78 letters from 84 individuals commenting on the Proposed Plan. (Four of the letters were signed by two individuals, and one was signed by three persons.) All comments have been considered in the development of OJJDP's Final Comprehensive Plan for Fiscal Year 1998.

   The majority of the letters provided positive comments about the overall plan or specific programs. A few letters criticized proposed programs or expressed concern about the failure of the plan to address certain program areas. The following is a summary of the substantive comments received and OJJDP's responses to the comments. Unless otherwise indicated, each comment was made by a single respondent. The total number of comments reported here is greater than the number of letters received because several letters included comments on two or more issues.

   Many writers not only commented on the proposed program plan but also indicated interest in receiving funding for programs with which they were associated or ones which they plan to develop. In addition to responding to their comments on the Proposed Plan in individual letters to all commenters, OJJDP informed those interested in funding that program announcements requesting proposals for new programs would be published shortly after publication of the Final Comprehensive Plan and that copies of the program announcements could be obtained by calling OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800-638-8736 or sending an e- mail request to askncjrs@ncjrs.org. Program announcements will also be available online at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm. Commenters interested in funding were also told that most of OJJDP's funding is not provided under Parts C and D but is distributed to the States and territories through OJJDP's Formula Grants, Challenge, and Title V (Community Prevention) programs. These writers were provided with contact information for the Juvenile Justice Specialists in their States, who can help them explore possible sources of funding. Writers expressing interest in arts-related programs were also given

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   contact information for the appropriate arts agency in their States.

   Comment: Thirty-two letters were received in support of arts programming. Of these, 13 letters supported the Arts Programs in Juvenile Detention Centers, 9 supported the Arts and At-Risk Youth Program, and 10 supported both of the proposed programs.

   Response: Solicitations for these two art-related programs will be issued. The title and focus of the Arts Programs in Juvenile Detention Centers will be expanded to Arts Programs in Juvenile Detention and Corrections. It came to the attention of OJJDP during the public comment period that the longer stays common in correctional settings maximize the opportunity for arts programs to make a difference in the lives of young people.

   The solicitations are available in the 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment: Five of the arts-related letters mentioned above (one that supported both arts programs and four that supported the Arts and At- Risk Youth Program) also indicated approval of the Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution Program. Another letter suggested that a social skills component should be included in the Conflict Resolution Program.

   Response: OJJDP will continue to fund the Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution (YCCR) Program in FY 1998. As the Proposed Plan stated, the program will be carried out by the current grantee, the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution, and no additional applications will be solicited this year. OJJDP recognizes the importance of social (interpersonal) skills training as part of an effective conflict resolution education (CRE) program. The goal of OJJDP's YCCR Program is to help schools, juvenile facilities, and other youth-serving organizations select and implement quality CRE programming. As such, YCCR recommends that a social skills component should be one of the features to look for in considering which conflict resolution program to implement.

   Comment: Thirteen letters favored the proposal for the National Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center. One of the 13 letters had 2 signatures and another one had 3.

   Response: A solicitation for the National Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment: Eight letters expressed support for the truancy reduction program.

   Response: A solicitation will be issued for this program, which will be jointly funded by OJJDP and the Executive Office of Weed and Seed with the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program at the U.S. Department of Education. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement containing this solicitation is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment: One letter, signed by two individuals, called on OJJDP to take more of a leadership role in addressing the mental health needs of juveniles in the juvenile justice system.

   Response: OJJDP shares the concern about the needs of a large percentage of youth in the juvenile justice system who have mental health problems. To address these problems, OJJDP has undertaken several efforts. In 1995, OJJDP organized a Mental Health Task Group, consisting of several experts in the field, to assist in defining the problems and developing recommendations for action. Recommendations of this group to form partnerships to study mental health issues for at- risk and juvenile justice system youth have been addressed by OJJDP. These recommendations are part of the background that led to the joint programs outlined below.

   To help to better understand the problems of youth, OJJDP has transferred funds to support two studies that are being conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health.

   The first one, Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development, is a large-scale prevention study involving hundreds of children and several elementary schools located in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods of Columbia, South Carolina. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have also provided funding for the program. The grantee is the University of South Carolina. This large-scale 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. The project also seeks to alter home and school climates to reduce risk for adverse outcomes and to promote positive youth development.

   The second study is of various treatment modalities for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Expanded followup will assess substance abuse and use and related factors necessary for evaluating changes in ADHD children's risk for subsequent substance use and abuse attributable to their randomly assigned treatment conditions. In addition, the multimodal treatment study of children with ADHD affords the opportunity to assess the experience of study participants with the legal system, e.g., contacts with the juvenile justice system, acts of delinquency, court referrals, and other criminal and/or precriminal activities.

   OJJDP staff have participated in the Federal National Partnership on Children's Mental Health, which was organized by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), and the subgroups on early intervention and American Indian programs. As an outgrowth of this work, OJJDP has transferred money to CMHS to support technical assistance to the Comprehensive Children's Mental Health sites funded by CMHS. This technical assistance is designed to enhance the involvement of the sites with the juvenile justice system-involved youth who have mental health problems. Also, OJJDP has entered into a partnership with the National Institute of Corrections and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support technical assistance on co- occurring disorders for juveniles in the juvenile justice system.

   OJJDP will transfer funds to CMHS to support the newly announced Circles of Care program that CMHS will fund this fiscal year. OJJDP support will permit the funding of an additional site.

   In addition, OJJDP is funding a demonstration effort to test the efficacy of Community Assessment Centers to determine if this approach will lead to more thorough and complete assessments and better service and more effective case management for at-risk and juvenile justice system-involved youth, including those with mental health and substance abuse disorders.

   OJJDP is working with the National Mental Health Association to support the survey of mental health needs of juveniles in 17 States. This survey will be conducted by the GAINS Center.

   On the issue of family involvement in developing policy and programs for their children with mental health needs in the juvenile justice system, OJJDP has been a strong advocate for this since the early 1980's when the Office developed

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   the first research and demonstration program to address juvenile violence. OJJDP recognizes that no program effort can be truly successful at turning troubled youth around unless it involves family, broadly defined, in the development of policy and programs.

   To support the development of a system of care for at-risk children and delinquents and to test the efficacy of its Comprehensive Strategy, OJJDP has funded the SafeFutures program in six sites. This funding, $1.4 million per site, includes $200,000 for the enhancement of mental health services for at-risk and delinquent youth.

   All of these programs represent OJJDP's commitment to addressing the mental health issues of at-risk and delinquent youth. OJJDP shares the concerns about this issue, as expressed in the letter. OJJDP recognizes that these programs will not take the development of policy and programs to the scale that will address the needs of all at-risk and delinquent youth. OJJDP anticipates, however, that the programs and studies that have been funded will help define policy and best practices. At the appropriate time, OJJDP will disseminate the results of these efforts and encourage States and localities to adopt progressive, family-inclusive mental health policies and programs.

   Comment: Another letter related to mental health programs discussed the ``lack of validity of any of the disruptive behavior disorders (ADHD, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) and any of the learning disabilities, dyslexia included, as organic/biologic; as diseases/medical syndromes.''

   Response: OJJDP has a strong interest in understanding all risk factors for delinquent behavior. Among these risk factors are mental disorders, both emotional and behavioral. These disorders pose a complex and unsolved challenge to the juvenile justice and mental health systems. In an effort to understand how to prevent youth with these disorders from ending up in the justice system and how to treat more effectively those who do, OJJDP has supported in the past and will continue to encourage research on mental health issues. A key issue is identification and treatment of mental health illnesses. OJJDP believes that its cosponsorship with the National Institute of Mental Health of research on ADHD and conduct disorders will greatly expand knowledge of the impact of these conditions and of appropriate treatment options. The Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of children with ADHD will be funded this fiscal year.

   Comment: Four individuals urged OJJDP to include the Community Volunteer Coordinator Program in the Comprehensive Plan.

   Response: The Community Volunteer Coordinator Program will be supported. The program will not provide funds for new programs, but will support the coordination of existing program activities. This program will be funded noncompetitively, and sites selected for the program will have underway ongoing publicly and/or privately funded community-based initiatives. The sites chosen also will have demonstrated a commitment to volunteerism and programming in nonschool hours, previous collaborative experience, organizational capacity, and an ability and willingness to collect relevant data.

   Comment: One letter from two individuals asked that OJJDP give funding priority to home visitation programs this year and in the foreseeable future as a cost-effective way of preventing child abuse and neglect and future criminal behavior.

   Response: OJJDP appreciates the writers' interest in home visitation programs as a means to help prevent child abuse and neglect and thus prevent future delinquency and crime. As can be seen in the Proposed Plan, OJJDP considers research in the area of nurse home visitation as being critically important. Currently, OJJDP is funding Dr. David Olds of the Center for Prevention Research, University of Colorado, to continue his groundbreaking nurse home visitation programming and research, which has shown positive effects on maternal and child health, teen pregnancy, welfare dependency and workforce participation, and crime and delinquency. OJJDP has partnered with the Executive Office of Weed and Seed to implement Dr. Olds' nurse home visitation program nationwide, at six Weed and Seed sites. OJJDP is also working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate the outcomes at these sites.

   OJJDP also funds the University of Utah's Strengthening America's Families project. This project provides national training and technical assistance to identify and disseminate information about model family strengthening programs for the prevention of delinquency and other problems associated with youth. Of the 25 model programs identified, Dr. Olds' nurse home visitation program was deemed exemplary.

   Comment: Two individuals wrote one letter expressing concern about ``three important limitations'' in the proposed Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Training and Technical Assistance program. Their concerns are summarized as follows: (1) communities need to assess their risk and protective factors and then select the appropriate effective program; (2) the Blueprint program models as designated by the University of Colorado are too limited; and (3) the program should only be made available in communities that have taken a comprehensive approach to preventing juvenile violence.

   Response: OJJDP's responses are presented in order below.

1. Communities applying for Blueprints funding will have to provide an assessment demonstrating that the proposed program is needed. The proposed application includes a feasibility component that will ensure, among other factors, that the Blueprint program selection and the target population have been matched. The feasibility component will help assess the need for developing a Blueprint model program and the capacity of the community or agency to implement the selected program with integrity. Several screening methods will be employed to ensure that communities and providers are sufficiently informed, prepared, and equipped to undertake a specific program implementation. A prescreening application adapted to each Blueprint program will determine local commitment and support for implementing the program. A conference call between community representatives will be used to provide evidence of community and/or institutional support. Finally, a site visit will be made to determine whether or not an appropriate match has been made between the community and the specific Blueprint program. The feasibility phases will look at (1) the need of the community for that specific Blueprint program, (2) the financial resources that have already been designated for conducting the program and the potential for additional funding in the long term, and (3) the human resources available for conducting the program, including qualified personnel to direct the program and to manage daily operations.

2. Blueprint programs are ``gold standard'' programs that meet rigorous effectiveness criteria. They are the first 10 of many potential programs to be identified. OJJDP is not saying that they are the only effective programs and acknowledges there may be many more that have shown promising results.

   OJJDP has made a conscious decision to support these replications because of the high standards set for inclusion in the program. More than 400 delinquency, drug, and violence prevention programs were reviewed,

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   and an advisory board narrowed the selection to 10 programs chosen for Blueprint status. These programs came the closest to meeting all four individual criteria: strong research design, evidence of significant prevention or deterrent effects, sustained effects, and multiple site replication.

3. OJJDP will give this suggestion serious consideration. Limiting the program to a select group of communities, however, could severely limit the potential for helping troubled children, youth, and families on a larger scale. OJJDP believes that these model programs are so effective that offering them to all communities is the wisest path to follow.

   Comment: One writer praised the overall plan and suggested ``an area which is directly related to many, if not all, of the initiatives outlined'': unified family court initiatives.

   Response: OJJDP appreciates the writer's thoughtful discussion of the work being done by the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Standing Committee on Substance Abuse in developing and implementing unified family courts. The Office is also enthusiastic about the potential of the unified court initiative to bring together diverse segments of the court and the community to collaborate on effective approaches to families in crisis.

   The Office of Justice Programs through the Violence Against Women Grants Office and the Director of OJJDP's Concentration of Federal Efforts Program provided support and served as faculty at the ABA Summit on Unified Family Courts: Exploring Solutions for Families, Women and Children in Crisis recently held in Philadelphia. OJJDP is looking forward to hearing about the outcomes of the Summit and learning how to possibly collaborate on providing training and technical assistance to the ABA's most promising sites.

   OJJDP and the State Justice Institute (SJI) are planning to implement a training and technical assistance project that will help communities involve the courts in effective teambuilding strategies. This may be of interest to the ABA and its work with the unified family court projects. SJI will be administering the program, and OJJDP will make sure that the ABA sites are aware of this opportunity.

   OJJDP also encourages the unified family court projects to access information through OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse on potential funding opportunities. The writer mentioned two specific programs that would be of interest to the ABA projects, the Drug Prevention Program and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program. Both programs will provide an opportunity for communities to enhance their efforts in reducing substance abuse among youth by addressing specific risk factors for substance abuse.

   OJJDP is also working with the National Institute of Justice to convene a 1-day meeting of leading experts in juvenile and criminal justice, including judges, lawyers, social service providers, academics, and others to discuss the issues addressed above and consider a plan for further improving the juvenile court. The goals of this meeting will be (1) to map out the numerous trends, philosophies, and directions apparent in the juvenile and criminal justice field, (2) to begin identifying common ground among various efforts in the field, and (3) to forge new partnerships among organizations interested in collaborating on juvenile justice programs and projects.

   This is a major opportunity for OJJDP to fulfill its role of shaping national policy regarding juvenile justice. OJJDP expects to have an opportunity to launch new initiatives as a result of this meeting and as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the juvenile court. The ABA Standing Committee on Substance Abuse has been instrumental in many of these efforts, and OJJDP will continue to work with them in planning the national meeting and further explore opportunities to work with the Standing Committee on Substance Abuse.

   Comment: Five letters expressed support for or interest in funding for gender-specific programming for female juvenile offenders.

   Response: OJJDP will continue to provide funding for the Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders, which will be implemented by the current grantee, Greene, Peters and Associates. In addition, we are exploring ways to build on the work being done in Cook County, Illinois. This work has involved developing a gender-specific needs and strengths assessment instrument and a risk assessment instrument for female juvenile offenders, providing training in implementing gender- appropriate programming, and designing a pilot program that includes a community-based continuum of care with a unique case management system. Addressing gender-specific needs is also a focus of OJJDP's SafeFutures sites, which are developing comprehensive community partnerships to provide extensive prevention, intervention, and treatment services to at-risk and delinquent juveniles and their families.

   Comment: One writer asked for information about a central repository of information, if one exists, and suggested creating one, if such an entity does not exist.

   Response: OJJDP recognizes that the work of juvenile justice practitioners, policymakers, and the general public can be enhanced by a central repository of information. OJJDP supports such a resource in the form of the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC). A component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, JJC is OJJDP's central source for the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of information on all aspects of juvenile justice. Among its many support services, JJC offers toll-free telephone access to information, prepares specialized responses to information requests, maintains a comprehensive juvenile justice library--which includes videotapes, and administers several electronic information resources, including OJJDP's listserv, JUVJUST, and home page. A brochure describing the Clearinghouse and its functions in more detail was sent to the writer.

   Comment: One letter requested that OJJDP ``review the critical situation regarding information on juveniles in Federal custody and supervision.''

   Response: Two efforts are underway to address the increasing number of juveniles in Federal custody:

1. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has convened a working group to address the lack of facilities available for juveniles in Federal custody and is also revising current program and educational standards for those facilities with juveniles under Federal jurisdiction.

2. The majority of juveniles in Federal custody are from Indian tribes. Through the DOJ's Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ) and the Office of Justice Program's American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Affairs Office, OJJDP is developing a series of responses to juveniles in Federal custody. For example, OJJDP is working with OTJ, AI/AN Affairs Office, and the National Institute of Justice to develop an initiative in Indian country that could potentially address the critical issues raised in the report on juveniles in Federal custody. Also, the DOJ Tribal Court Project assists Indian tribes in the improvement of their tribal justice systems and has secured limited training and funding for 45 Tribal Court-DOJ Partnership Projects.

   In addition to these efforts, OJJDP is enhancing the current training and technical assistance being provided to law enforcement to also include Federal

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   law enforcement officers or agents. The focus will be to increase consistency and understanding of Federal policies regarding juveniles in Federal custody. Another area of activity within DOJ is working to provide access to accurate information, which is a main focus of concern in the letter. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is working with several other Federal agencies to revise the Federal agency data collection systems. This effort includes consideration of the lack of information available on juveniles in Federal custody.

   OJJDP's proposed field-initiated research program provides an opportunity for researchers to consider the critical issues raised in the letter. In formulating its research priorities, OJJDP will consider the specific areas the writer identified as possible research topics.

   Comment: One letter commented on the Proposed Plan's ``impressive array of programs to assist at-risk youth, as well as those already involved in the criminal justice system.'' The writer also described a prevention initiative being spearheaded by the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and provided information on the recently opened 168th Street Armory Youth Center.

   Response: OJJDP thanked the writer for his positive comments, asked to be put on the mailing list to receive a copy of the Center's evaluation when it is available, and referred him to the Juvenile Justice Specialists for New York and New Jersey for information about possible sources of funding.

   Comment: One writer noted that only a ``small number of our teens can be construed as violent teens'' and that the children and youth in low-income families in her area ``need opportunities to develop into good citizens.'' She added that she ``would encourage that we not spend a lot of money researching methods--we know what works.'' The writer would like most funds to be spent on youth development and intervention programming.

   Response: It is important to recognize, as the writer did in writing about her community, that ``the majority of our youth are productive, hard working and a credit to the community.'' A 1995 survey conducted for OJJDP's Teens, Crime, and the Community program found that 86 percent of the young people in this survey were willing to participate in helping to create solutions to problems that affect their lives. They expressed interest in a variety of volunteer programs to help reduce crime and violence in their communities, including communication programs (ads, posters, newsletters); youth leadership programs, such as tutoring or being a mentor to a younger student; antiviolence and antidrug programs; programs to avoid fights, such as conflict resolution; and local cleanup projects, neighborhood watches, or citizen patrols.

   OJJDP agreed that an exclusive focus on studying problems will never solve them, but OJJDP's focus is a comprehensive one. Those who work in juvenile justice and youth-serving agencies know what works in certain communities, but replication of programs that work has been a great challenge. Quality research and data are critical to ensuring the success of OJJDP's efforts. OJJDP's support for community prevention and juvenile justice intervention activities is well balanced. Funded programs range from research on the causes and correlates of delinquency, to demonstrations that pilot solutions, to evaluation of those pilots to check their efficacy, to training and technical assistance, and to formula funds that seed programs nationwide.

   Comment: Two writers wrote to support the Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles At-Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice System. One of these letters provided information about a program, Partnership for Learning, that ``screens first time juvenile offenders with learning disabilities'' in Baltimore, Maryland.

   Response: OJJDP is committed to addressing the increasing number of juveniles identified with learning disabilities in juvenile facilities. More important, OJJDP is supporting effective programs that divert these juveniles from entering the system for minor offenses that would best be addressed in the community. OJJDP will not fund a demonstration program this year. However, OJJDP's activities this year will include a focus on developing a program designed to (1) prevent delinquency and incarceration of youth at risk of learning disabilities through early assessment and intervention coordinated across school, police, court, probationary, and other community-based services, and (2) prevent recidivism by ensuring that students with learning disabilities in correctional settings receive appropriate, specially designed instructional services that address their individual needs.

   OJJDP will be working with the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Office of Vocational and Adult Education to initiate a variety of activities, including plans to develop the model demonstration program. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, in conjunction with ED's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, recently combined site visits and focus group meetings to identify promising practices for safe, drug-free, and effective schools for all students. OJJDP will coordinate with ED to disseminate the information developed in these meetings.

   Comment: One writer enclosed a report on ``vertical'' prosecution of most juvenile firearm offenses in Seattle, Washington, which the writer indicated OJJDP ``might find interesting considering the content of the plan, especially the Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit program.''

   Response: The OJJDP Administrator was impressed with the project's vertical prosecution approach, the comprehensiveness and utility of the juvenile gun incident data, and the outcomes. Copies of the report were shared with several individuals and groups that might be able to include this approach in their ongoing work:

   ‹bullet› OJJDP staff who work on gang- and prosecution-related projects.

   ‹bullet› Program Manager, OJJDP's Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Initiative.

   ‹bullet› COSMOS Corporation, the evaluator of OJJDP's Gun Violence Initiative, for possible inclusion in a report COSMOS is producing for the U.S. Department of Justice on promising approaches to this critical issue.

   ‹bullet› David Kennedy, Kennedy School of Government, a researcher deeply engaged in the issue of reducing youth gun violence.

   ‹bullet› The American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), the grantee implementing the Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit. APRI's work in 1998 will include the presentation of workshops and seminars and development of new reference materials for prosecutors. The material in the report should be helpful to this group.

   OJJDP will follow up with the writer and the author of the report to learn more about the Seattle project and to explore ways in which this approach might be included in OJJDP's Gun Violence Initiative sites.

   Comment: One letter suggested that the Program Plan ``should include efforts to prevent lead poisoning because excess lead exposure has been found to be associated with increased risk for antisocial and delinquent behavior.''

   Response: OJJDP recognizes the significance of lead poisoning as one of the myriad risk factors linked to antisocial behavior and delinquency--an association discussed in the article that the writer enclosed with his letter. Moreover OJJDP agrees that more

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   research needs to be conducted to further unravel causality; that is, does lead exposure cause a child to become a delinquent and/or a criminal? Accordingly, OJJDP is keeping abreast of research in this area and notes that agencies with larger medical research budgets (e.g., the National Institutes of Health) are best equipped to take on such significantly complex research. Similarly, agencies such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have initiatives to prevent lead exposure and by association the negative effects associated with lead poisoning. Nevertheless, OJJDP's Field-Initiated Research program could conceivably include research that might, for example, evaluate the effectiveness of a crime prevention program that integrates lead exposure prevention.

   Comment: The governor of an American Indian pueblo expressed concern about two specific points: (1) the Proposed Plan notes the coordinated effort but fails to mention ``involvement of the American Indian & Alaska Native Affairs office'' and (2) a discussion of improving the juvenile justice system does not mention ``the training of judges to issues specific to juvenile justice.''

   Response: OJJDP's responses are presented in order below.

1. The reference to coordination with the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), was meant to include all of the various OJP components; only the four other program bureaus were mentioned by name. OJJDP works closely with the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI&AN) Affairs Office on all of its programs and particularly on those programs that have the greatest interest to American Indians and Alaska Natives. A representative from OJJDP serves on a U.S. Department of Justice American Indian Task Group, and the Director of the AI&AN Affairs Office reviews and comments on OJJDP programs. OJJDP staff have also consulted with the Director of the AI&AN Affairs Office on such programs as the Combating Underage Drinking Program to assure that the solicitation for funding is sensitive to the needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

2. OJJDP is committed to providing the necessary resources for training judges in issues specific to juvenile justice. Since 1974, OJJDP, at the direction of Congress, has funded the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to provide comprehensive skill-based training and technical assistance to juvenile court judges throughout the country. The name of this program was listed on page 6342 of the Proposed Plan as one of a number of programs identified for funding consideration by Congress. Program descriptions were not included for these programs.

   NCJFCJ, now in its 62d year, is dedicated to improving the Nation's juvenile justice system. NCJFCJ does this through an extensive effort toward improving the operation and effectiveness of juvenile and family courts through highly developed, practical, and applicable training. NCJFCJ conducts more than 100 training sessions a year with support from OJJDP and from State, local, and foundation funds. These trainings are provided at locations throughout the United States to make them accessible and cost effective for the participants. Like all OJJDP grantees and contractors, NCJFCJ gives careful consideration to requests for assistance outside the specific mandates of the award.

   Comment: One letter expressed support for several programs, including the Arts and At-Risk Youth Program, the Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution Program, and programming for female offenders. This support was counted with other letters of support for these programs, which were addressed previously. The writer also supported the program to combat underage drinking, the Communities In Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership program, and OJJDP's gang prevention/ intervention activities.

   Response: OJJDP's Proposed Plan included five programs that address the gang problem: the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program; Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program; Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training; Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs); and Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach. Of these, only the last one was proposed as a new program for this fiscal year. The programs mentioned by this writer will all be funded. A solicitation for the Rural Youth Gang Problems program will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment: One writer made four general points about the Proposed Plan, which are summarized and responded to below.

   Comment 1: Use of percentage of change conveys nothing ``without knowing numbers of juveniles convicted of offenses and the categories of offense in which they occur.''

   Response: OJJDP assumes that the writer is referring to some of the comparisons made in the Overview section. Although this point is valid in a general sense, OJJDP believes that in the context of an overview, the comparisons offered serve the intended purpose, that is, to give a sense of the relative progress being made in the effort to reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. OJJDP makes more detailed statistics available in a variety of publications, including the following:

   ‹bullet› Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence (Statistics Summary)

   ‹bullet› Juvenile Arrests 1996 (Bulletin)

   ‹bullet› The Youngest Delinquents: Offenders Under Age 15 (Bulletin)

   ‹bullet› Offenders in Juvenile Court, 1995 (Bulletin)

   ‹bullet› Person Offenses in Juvenile Court, 1986-1995 (Fact Sheet).

   These and other publications related to juvenile justice can be obtained from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse by calling 800-638- 8736. Most of the recent publications are also available online at OJJDP's Web site at http://www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.

   Another source of data is the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, which collects, stores, and analyzes data about young people referred to U.S. courts for delinquency and status offenses. The national delinquency estimates produced with the Archive's data files are made available in an easy-to-use software package, Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics. With the support of OJJDP, the Archive distributes this package to facilitate independent analysis of Archive data while eliminating the need for other analysis packages. This software can be ordered directly from the Archive (412-227-6950) or downloaded from OJJDP's Web site.

   Comment 2: ``Number arrested means nothing. Number convicted would be significant.''

   Response: Data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive indicate that of the 122,000 robbery and aggravated assault cases disposed of by juvenile courts in 1994, nearly three-fourths were formally petitioned, and more than half were adjudicated (i.e., ``convicted'') or waived to criminal court. Together these violent juvenile cases accounted for 94 percent of all

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   Violent Crime Index cases processed by juvenile courts in 1994.

   For those juveniles charged with person offenses (a broader range of crimes than Index offenses), more than 60 percent received some disposition other than ``release,'' whether processed through formal (petition) or informal methods. Although there is a dropoff from arrest to disposition for these offenses, OJJDP finds that the outcomes of court processing have not changed substantially over the years. Therefore, the trends that OJJDP is describing would be essentially the same whether arrest data or court data are used to describe changes.

   Comment 3: The number of juveniles who commit violent crimes is small.

   Response: Just \1/2\ of 1 percent of juveniles ages 10 to 17 were arrested for a violent crime in 1996, but these often high-profile crimes help to fuel public fear and concern about the threat of juvenile violence and influence legislative and policy decisions. OJJDP's programming does not focus disproportionately on the most violent juveniles but instead includes the entire spectrum of juvenile offenders and youth at risk of delinquency. OJJDP supports a comprehensive strategy that incorporates two principal components:

   ‹bullet› Preventing youth from becoming delinquent by focusing prevention programs on at-risk youth.

   ‹bullet› Improving the response of the juvenile justice system to delinquent offenders through a system of graduated sanctions, including a continuum of treatment alternatives that provide immediate intervention, intermediate sanctions, and community-based and secure corrections, incorporating aftercare services when appropriate.

   This comprehensive strategy also recognizes that an effective system of graduated sanctions must protect the public by including the option of transfer to the criminal justice system for those serious, violent, or chronic juvenile offenders who are not amenable to treatment in the juvenile justice system or whose criminal acts are so egregious as to justify transfer.

   Comment 4: Thousands of children are at risk for abuse and neglect and are ``more likely to be the victim of a violent crime, than to commit one.''

   Response: OJJDP shares the writer's concern for children and youth who are abused and neglected and who are victims of crime. One of the publications listed above, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence, provides the latest statistics, not only on juvenile offenders, but also on juvenile victims. OJJDP supports a wide array of prevention programming, including family strengthening and nurse home visitation programs that address the problems of abuse and neglect. As the Proposed Plan stated: ``These programs can build the foundation for law-abiding lives for children and interrupt the cycle of violence that can turn abused or neglected children into delinquents.''

   Comment: One writer applauded OJJDP's ``efforts in addressing the juvenile problem'' and described a proposed Community Renaissance strategy and specific programs to help deter high-risk youth from delinquency and violence. The writer stated that he was looking to OJJDP as a potential partner in this venture.

   Response: It is commendable that the members of the Prisoner Advisory Committee want to use their experience to help young people avoid involvement with the justice system. OJJDP suggested that the most practical approach to accomplish the Committee's objectives would be through collaboration with a local agency or organization that works with at-risk or delinquent juveniles. The writer was referred to the Juvenile Justice Specialist for Michigan as one possible source of information about local programs that might be interested in working with the Committee.

   Comment: One letter supported the proposed programming in two specific areas: gender-specific programming for female juvenile offenders and Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs). The support for gender-specific programming was counted with other letters of support for this type of program, addressed previously.

   Response: Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs), is a continuation program, and no additional applications will be solicited this fiscal year. OJJDP expects that 10 new sites--all in rural areas--will receive gang prevention training and technical assistance. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America will choose the new sites.

   Comment: One letter expressed support for the Community Volunteer Coordinator Program and for the Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach program, while encouraging OJJDP not to rely solely on Boys & Girls Clubs for some programs because they do not reach or serve many populations, especially in rural areas. The support for the Community Volunteer Coordinator Program was counted and responded to with other letters in favor of that program.

   Response: In regard to the comment that OJJDP should not rely solely on Boys & Girls Clubs for some programs, especially in rural areas, the writer can be assured that OJJDP has a high level of confidence in the Boys & Girls Clubs but is also well aware of the need for a variety of partners in various aspects of its mission to prevent delinquency and criminal behavior among juveniles. OJJDP is also cognizant of the special needs of rural areas. The Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach program will be funded. A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment: One letter made comments in four specific areas, three of which are listed and responded to below. The fourth area, Gender Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders, was responded to above, and this writer's interest in this type of programming was counted among the letters that commented on that topic.

   Comment 1: Training and Technical Assistance. The writer expressed the hope that the training and technical assistance activities in the Program Plan ``include the provision of training to people who work with females both at risk and within the system.''

   Response: Wherever appropriate, OJJDP-funded training and technical assistance programs address the specific concerns of female juveniles. Specifically, OJJDP will continue to provide funding for the Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders, which will be implemented by the current grantee, Greene, Peters and Associates.

   Comment 2: Field-Initiated Research and Field-Initiated Evaluation. The writer supported both these proposed programs.

   Response: Only the Field-Initiated Research program is being funded this year. OJJDP believes that this type of outreach to the field can result in creative and innovative proposals. A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Comment 3: Introduction to Fiscal Year 1998 Program Plan. The writer was critical of the mention of a ``single agency with reference to prevention.''

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   Response: The point about either mentioning other agencies as illustrative of prevention programs or mentioning none is, generally speaking, a valid one. Obviously, OJJDP cannot possibly list all the effective national programs. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America--one of the largest and best-known providers of afterschool programs for youth and an organization whose work has been evaluated and found to be successful--was used as a convenient reference point for readers. However, in response to this comment, we will use a more general reference in this part of the program plan.

   Comment: Another writer supported four specific program areas: afterschool and summer arts for at-risk youth, a planning and demonstration project to address issues surrounding learning disabilities and delinquency, a juvenile defender center, and gender- specific programming for female juvenile offenders.

   Response: All of these programs were addressed above. The writer's support for these programs was counted among the letters that commented on those topics.

   Comment: One writer was generally pleased about the direction OJJDP is taking in 1998 but suggested that the Technical Assistance for State Legislators program should be expanded. The writer proposed that OJJDP establish a Technical Assistance for County Officials program.

   Response: OJJDP appreciates the writer's recognition of the importance of its ongoing work with the National Conference of State Legislatures. Through the Title V Program--popularly known as the Community Prevention Grants Program, OJJDP has been working closely with communities nationwide to provide them with the framework, tools, and initial funding to develop and begin to implement comprehensive, sustainable delinquency prevention strategies. More than 470 communities across the Nation have embraced the rigorous community assessment and delinquency prevention planning process and received prevention grants.

   In regard to the suggestion to amend the Proposed Plan to include a Technical Assistance for County Officials program, OJJDP agrees that county-level officials are important policymakers and need to be well- informed on management and policy issues. Indeed, over the years, OJJDP has worked closely with the National Association of Counties (NACO), with which the writer's organization is affiliated. Although OJJDP will not include the requested program in the 1998 Final Plan, a meeting will be held at OJJDP with the writer and a representation of NACO to talk about opportunities for future partnerships, cooperation, and collaboration among the parties.

   Comment: One writer praised OJJDP's information dissemination but expressed concern about the program goals in the Proposed Plan. Specifically, the writer called for ``a needs-assessment and systematic evaluation of court services''; more attention to ``multimodal and longitudinal interventions, programs that address the first time offender, and efforts to address the unique needs of different subgroups within the juvenile justice, such as the adolescent sex offender''; and ``development and evaluation of multicomponent interventions whose content is based on the results of the OJJDP-funded studies on the Causes and [Correlates] of Delinquency.'' The writer also found the field-initiated research section to be ``virtually nonexistent.''

   Response: OJJDP appreciates the kind words about the value of its information dissemination through the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse. It is always helpful to receive feedback on the services OJJDP provides.

   In regard to the concerns expressed about the program goals outlined in the Proposed Plan, OJJDP shares the writer's perspective on most of the issues raised and regrets that the writer did not find this agreement clearly reflected in the plan. OJJDP is involved in many activities that support the desired approaches described in the letter. The brief summaries below present examples of efforts that OJJDP believes are in accord with the direction the writer would like to see OJJDP take.

   Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency. This longitudinal study is being conducted by research teams (the University at Albany, State University of New York; the University of Colorado, and the University of Pittsburgh) in three sites: Rochester, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The three research teams have interviewed 4,000 participants at regular intervals for nearly a decade, recording their lives in detail and accumulating a substantial body of knowledge about delinquency and its causes. OJJDP has recently increased its investment in this research.

   Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The foundation for OJJDP's program planning for the past 3 years has been the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, which draws heavily on the findings of the Causes and Correlates study. The Comprehensive Strategy recognizes the need for coordination and collaboration among agencies and organizations that serve children. The Comprehensive Strategy has two main components: (1) prevention and (2) graduated sanctions that begin with early interventions within the community for first-time nonviolent offenders, intermediate sanctions within the community for more serious offenders, and secure care for the most serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. Through training and technical assistance, OJJDP is supporting more than 30 communities in their efforts to create a continuum of care that integrates services provided by schools and social services with those offered by law enforcement, courts, and corrections. Part of this OJJDP assistance is targeted at the development of risk and needs assessments that can be used by the juvenile justice system to effectively change the nature of its service delivery.

   The SafeFutures program, discussed below, is another example of OJJDP's support for this comprehensive approach. Here, OJJDP used multiple funding streams and collapsed them into one program application as a way of encouraging the coordination and integration of service delivery at the community level.

   SafeFutures. The SafeFutures Initiative, a 5-year demonstration project currently in the second year of implementation, was specifically designed to address collaboration. The demonstration's main premise is that juvenile delinquency can be most effectively addressed through a combined approach of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions. This collaborative approach takes place at two levels: the strategic planning level with policymakers and agency heads and the direct service integration level. SafeFutures sites are actively working to plan a continuum of services and integrate frontline service delivery across a multidisciplinary, interagency team of professionals including the court system, mental health, social services, probation, law enforcement, education, and housing. This effort is being evaluated nationally through OJJDP and through local evaluations in each of the six sites.

   Community Assessment Center (CAC) Program. This multicomponent demonstration initiative is designed to test the efficacy of the CAC concept of providing a 24-hour centralized, single point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice

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   system. A CAC facilitates earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention service delivery at the ``front end'' of the juvenile justice system. OJJDP will provide an additional year's funding to further support the implementation of CAC enhancements and provide additional support to the sites awarded grants in FY 1997. This funding would enable these sites to begin implementing the CAC's planned for with OJJDP funding support or to enhance existing operations. OJJDP is also funding a CAC evaluation component and a technical assistance component.

   Study Group on the Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender. Originally charged with producing a report on critical areas of interest about these offenders, including prevention, intervention, gangs, and other topics, which it submitted in 1997, the Study Group is currently focusing on the youngest offenders and the pathways to delinquency. OJJDP is continuing to fund this effort, which began in FY 1995.

   The writer is also encouraged to review the field-initiated research funding opportunities available through OJJDP's interagency agreements with the National Institute of Justice under the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program and the Bureau of Justice Statistics through the Statistical Analysis Centers component. Additionally, OJJDP still plans to fund the field-initiated research effort referenced in the Proposed Plan. The writer may also want to look for the results of OJJDP's recently funded research project on the development of a juvenile sex offender typology.

   Comment: One writer expressed concern about three items that he would like to see included in the Program Plan. These issues are summarized and responded to below.

   Comment 1: An initiative aimed at high-level municipal and county policymakers and others would consist of a collaborative strategic planning process that could lead to more comprehensive community approaches to children's victimization.

   Response: As the writer noted, this first item falls under OJJDP's Missing and Exploited Children's Program (MECP). One of MECP's priorities is the expansion and enhancement of training as it relates to child victimization. Goals for the coming years include the incorporation of results of research and demonstration programs into the overall training program (including the American Bar Association's (ABA's) study of effective community-based approaches for missing and exploited children); the expansion of existing training curriculums to focus on broader child victimization issues; the development of more comprehensive and integrated training programs that are based on the most current knowledge and information about best practices, approaches, and research; and continued emphasis on providing high level policymakers with the necessary information, tools, and strategies to effectively identify and address child victimization issues in their community. The writer was encouraged to continue to discuss his concerns about missing and exploited children's issues with the Director of OJJDP's Missing and Exploited Children's Program.

   Comment 2: The topic of criminal record screening of adults working or volunteering with children needs to be addressed, with research on how States are implementing screening laws and technical assistance to States.

   Response: This is another issue of interest to OJJDP. Under a 1992 grant to the ABA Center on Children and the Law, the writer and the Center conducted a legal review of the laws and policies governing this issue. Many laws have changed since then. The National Child Protection Act of 1993 and laws such as Jacob Wetterling and Megan's Law have also impacted this field. OJJDP recently released Guidelines for the Screening of Persons Working With Children, the Elderly, and Individuals With Disabilities in Need of Support. The writer's suggestion of conducting further research into the implementation of screening laws and the development of technical assistance is a good one and potentially eligible for funding under the Field-Initiated Research Program.

   Comment 3: Programs relating to early ``status offense'' misbehavior by children under 12 and the operation of ``parental responsibility'' laws might help in the early identification of and intervention with predelinquent children.

   Response: Some ongoing OJJDP programs address this issue. In the research area, OJJDP is supporting the work of a Study Group on Very Young Offenders, which is focusing on the pathways to delinquency. Chaired by Dr. Rolf Loeber and Dr. David Farrington, the Study Group will examine the available research on youth who start offending before 13, an understudied population. The goals of the research are to identify the prevalence of such offending and to determine how this offending affects later offending behavior and how society can best deal with these young offenders to prevent future criminality. Status offenders are also being studied in the context of school truancy as part of an evaluation of truancy interventions that include a parental component.

   Another program that is somewhat related to this issue is the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) project entitled Assessment and Decisionmaking Guidelines for Dealing With Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and Families. This program receives funding from both OJJDP and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and is part of a larger ONDCP parent-focused initiative.

   CWLA will produce a state-of-the-art assessment instrument along with decisionmaking guidelines for use by frontline child welfare professionals who work with clients involved with alcohol and other drugs and their families (parents). These resource materials will assist child welfare professionals to determine the most appropriate casework approach, placement option, and permanency plan for children of substance abusers.

   This assessment instrument and the decisionmaking guidelines will be problem-solving tools derived from integrating original research, lessons learned from actual cases, and the training needs of child welfare staff. The foundation for the guidelines are basic principles of successful family strengthening models, such as maintaining respect for parents and children while working with them and promoting honesty and clarity regarding choices and consequences.

   Another OJJDP initiative that is expected to contribute to better identification of predelinquent children and help improve the response to their needs is the Community Assessment Center (CAC) program. This multicomponent demonstration initiative is designed to test the efficacy of the CAC concept of providing a 24-hour centralized, single point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. A CAC facilitates earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention service delivery at the ``front end'' of the juvenile justice system.

   Comment: One writer praised OJJDP's leadership and expressed support for various OJJDP programs. The writer also expressed interest in the new drug prevention program and suggested that OJJDP consider ``highlighting the juvenile crime that currently exists within the Latino youth population and to create ethnic-specific delinquency prevention initiatives.''

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   Response: OJJDP appreciates the kind words about its leadership role in addressing the needs of juveniles in this time of limited resources. The Office is also pleased to know of the writer's support for the prevention and intervention programs listed in the Proposed Plan; for OJJDP projects such as the National Youth Gang Center, Communities in Schools, and Family Strengthening Programs; and for the risk and protective factors prevention model that is incorporated in OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders.

   OJJDP will be implementing several new alcohol and other drug programs this fiscal year. As stated in the Proposed Plan, two of the new programs being developed, Combating Underage Drinking and the Drug Prevention Program, will be awarded competitively. Program announcements can be obtained by calling OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) at 800-638-8736 or by sending an e-mail request to askncjrs@ncjrs.org. Program announcements will also be available online at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.

   Another program that OJJDP will be administering and that may be of interest to the writer is the Drug-Free Communities Support program to support the development and expansion of community antidrug coalitions. Information on this program is also available through JJC.

   In regard to the suggestion for ethnic-specific delinquency prevention initiatives, OJJDP programs are developed to serve the diversity of youth in this country. Therefore, most OJJDP-funded projects target youth of all races and both genders. Specifically, most of OJJDP's discretionary projects focus on implementing services and activities to address juvenile crime, violence, and abuse in their local communities and on efforts to improve the lives of children residing in abusive living environments. In identifying youth most in need of prevention and intervention programs, some OJJDP projects have targeted Latino youth. The following are brief descriptions of several current OJJDP discretionary projects targeting Latino youth:

   SafeFutures. The main premise of this 5-year demonstration project (currently in the second year of implementation) is that juvenile delinquency can be most effectively addressed through a combined approach of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions. Two of the six demonstration sites are serving a largely Latino population.

   ‹bullet› The Imperial County, California, SafeFutures program serves youth of all races, but the project predominately serves Latino youth because approximately 69 percent (in 1995) of the county's population is Latino.

   ‹bullet› The SafeFutures project in Contra Costa County, California, also serves a significant number of Latino youth. The goal of this project is to create a continuum of care for at-risk youth in Contra Costa, specifically West Contra Costa County. This program also serves African-American, Asian, and other youth.

   Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP). The goals of this one-to-one mentoring program are to reduce juvenile delinquency and gang participation by at-risk youth, improve their school performance, and reduce their dropout rate.

   ‹bullet› The Latino Mentoring Program, Family Services, Inc., in Providence, Rhode Island, links high-risk Latino adolescents with mentors from the business and education community. Priority is given to gang-involved youth, adjudicated delinquents, and adolescents in abusive or neglected home situations.

   ‹bullet› The Mentors Matter collaborative of Tulare County, Community Services and Employment Training, Inc., in Visalia, California, is serving many students who live in a migrant labor settlement where Hispanic students (99 percent of the school-age population in the settlement) are at risk for poor academic achievement, dropping out of school, juvenile crime, involvement with gangs, and teenage pregnancy.

   ‹bullet› Big Sisters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serves Hispanic females, ages 10 to 18, by helping them to develop self-esteem and self-confidence, exposing them to educational and career opportunities, and working to prevent teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, and delinquency.

   ‹bullet› The George Gervin Youth Center, San Antonio, Texas, serves Mexican youth, most of whom live in Victoria Courts, where approximately 34 percent of the youth are dropouts and teen parents and where the largest number of crimes in the city occurred in 1993. The youth are introduced to the world of work, summer jobs, and other new experiences to motivate them to stay in school and out of gangs and other delinquent activities.

   ‹bullet› The Rowland Unified School District (La Punente, California) JUMP program participants are 80 percent Latino and 90 percent male.

   ‹bullet› Valley Big Brothers Big Sisters of Phoenix, Arizona, serves students in grades seven and eight, most of whom are Latino.

   ‹bullet› Service for Adolescent & Family Enrichment (Santa Barbara, California) serves Latino youth, mostly males between the ages of 10 and 15.

   Pathways to Success

   Aspira of Florida serves a target group of 130 Latino migrant youth from rural South Dade. Services provided to these youth include career planning and art, dance, and recreation activities.

   Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance Program (IAP)

   This is a demonstration effort in three sites: Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Norfolk, Virginia. The model being tested is designed to assist high-risk youth returning to their community from secure confinement. In all three sites, the target population includes Latino youth.

   Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

   This program is currently being tested in five demonstration sites: Mesa and Tucson, Arizona; Riverside, California; Bloomington, Illinois; and San Antonio, Texas. Latino youth are among those being served in each of the sites. Some of these programs incorporate issues of Hispanic or Chicano heritage, and most of the programs have or have had Hispanic staff.

   Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs of America)

   The programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America provide services to many Latino youth. OJJDP has supported the Targeted Outreach program for several years. The program provides training and support to local clubs to provide outreach to those youth at risk of gang involvement. Many of the Targeted Outreach programs provide services to Latino youth. In 1997, 45 percent of the youth served were of Hispanic origin, 45 percent were African-American, and 10 percent were of other races and ethnic backgrounds.

   Latino communities are among the many areas throughout the Nation where OJJDP is supporting community-based projects in schools, neighborhoods, and the juvenile justice arena in urban, suburban, and rural cities and counties.

   Introduction to Fiscal Year 1998 Program Plan

   An effective juvenile justice system must implement a sound comprehensive strategy and must

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   identify and support programs that work to further the objectives of the strategy. These objectives include holding the juvenile offender accountable; enabling the juvenile to become a capable, productive, and responsible citizen; and ensuring the safety of the community.

   For juveniles who come to the attention of police, juvenile courts, or social service agencies, a strong juvenile justice system must assess the danger they pose, determine what can help put them back on the right track, deliver appropriate treatment, and stay with them when they return to the community. When necessary, a strong juvenile justice system also must appropriately identify those serious, violent, and chronic juveniles offenders who are beyond its reach and ensure their criminal prosecution and incapacitation.

   Research has shown that what works to reduce juvenile crime and violence includes prevention programs that start with the earliest stages of life: good prenatal care, home visitation for newborns at risk of abuse and neglect, steps to strengthen parenting skills, and initiatives to prepare children for school. These programs can build the foundation for law-abiding lives for children and interrupt the cycle of violence that can turn abused or neglected children into delinquents.

   Prevention programs work for older children, too: opportunities for youth after school and on weekends, such as programs that offer a variety of activities and those that focus on mentoring, can reduce juvenile alcohol and drug use, improve school performance, and prevent youth from getting involved in crime and violent behavior.

   Another focal point for juvenile justice efforts is the community. Without healthy communities, young people cannot thrive. The key leaders in the community, including representatives from the juvenile justice, health and mental health, schools, law enforcement, social services, and other systems, as well as leaders from the private sector, must be jointly engaged in the planning, development, and operation of the juvenile justice system. Attempts to improve the juvenile justice system must be part of a broad, comprehensive, communitywide effort--both at the leadership and grassroots level--to eliminate factors that place juveniles at risk of delinquency and victimization, enhance factors that protect them from engaging in delinquent behavior, and use the full range of resources and programs within the community to meet the varying needs of juveniles. It is also important to provide increased public access to the system to ensure an appropriate role for victims, a greater understanding of how the system operates, and a higher level of system accountability to the public.

   The recent decreases in all measures of juvenile violence known to law enforcement (number of arrests, arrest rates, and the percentage of violent crimes cleared by juvenile arrests) should encourage legislators, juvenile justice policymakers and practitioners, and all concerned citizens to support ongoing efforts to address juvenile crime and violence through a comprehensive approach.

   Three documents published during the past 5 years provide the framework for a comprehensive approach to an improved, more effective juvenile justice system. OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders (1993) and Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders (1995) were followed in 1996 by the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Combating Violence and Delinquency: The National Juvenile Justice Action Plan. The first of these publications defined the elements of the comprehensive strategy. The second provided States and communities with a more detailed explanation of what would constitute the elements of a comprehensive strategy, including strategic and programmatic information on risk and protective factor-based prevention and a system of graduated sanctions. The third prioritized Federal, State, and local activities and resources under eight critical objectives that are central to reducing and preventing juvenile violence, delinquency, and victimization.

   The OJJDP FY 1998 Program Plan is rooted in the principles of the Comprehensive Strategy and the objectives of the Action Plan. Like the OJJDP Program Plans for FY's 1996 and 1997, the FY 1998 Program Plan supports a balanced approach to aggressively addressing juvenile delinquency and violence through establishing graduated sanctions, improving the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to juvenile offending, and preventing the onset of delinquency. The Program Plan, therefore, recognizes the need to ensure public safety and support children's development into healthy, productive citizens through a range of prevention, early intervention, and graduated sanctions programs.

   Proposed new program areas were identified for FY 1998 through a process of engaging OJJDP staff, other Federal agencies, and juvenile justice practitioners in an examination of existing programs, research findings, and the needs of the field. In a departure from past practice, OJJDP presented for public comment more proposed programs than it expected to be able to fund with the resources available. It was OJJDP's intent to stimulate discussion of the best use of its FY 1998 discretionary funding and to seek guidance from the field as to which programs, among the many described in the Proposed Program Plan, would most effectively advance the goals of promoting delinquency prevention and early intervention, improving the juvenile justice system, and preserving the public safety.

   OJJDP will provide funding for a wide variety of new programs, including training and technical assistance coordination for the SafeFutures initiative, and training and technical assistance for the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project and for a school safety program. New programs also involve OJJDP collaboration with other agencies to address problems such as truancy, develop arts programs directed toward at-risk youth and youth held in juvenile detention and corrections, and support the planning and development of systems of care for American Indian and Alaska Native youth with mental health and substance abuse needs. In addition, OJJDP will provide funding for initial planning and implementation of a Juvenile Defender Center, coordination of youth-related volunteer services, support for programs designed to build infrastructure for programming for female juvenile offenders and teen mothers, and support for additional work in the area of disproportionate minority confinement in secure juvenile facilities and other institutions.

   OJJDP considered, but is not funding demonstration projects designed to intervene early with students with learning disabilities to prevent delinquency and also to prevent recidivism by those students in correctional settings. See the Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles At Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice System program description below for a discussion of why this program is not being funded.

   In addition, OJJDP has identified for FY 1998 funding a range of research and evaluation projects designed to expand knowledge about juvenile offenders; the effectiveness of prevention, intervention, and treatment programs; and the operation of the juvenile justice system. New evaluation initiatives that will be undertaken include the

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   Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders; the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative; analysis and interpretation of juvenile justice-related data from nontraditional sources; and field-initiated research. Field-initiated evaluation, which was included in the Proposed Plan, will not be funded this fiscal year. See the Field- Initiated Evaluation program description below for a discussion of why this program is not being funded. Combined with new OJJDP programs and programs being continued in FY 1998, OJJDP's new demonstration and evaluation programs form a continuum of programming that supports the objectives of the Action Plan and mirrors the foundation and framework of the Comprehensive Strategy.

   OJJDP's continuation activities and the new FY 1998 programs are at the heart of OJJDP's categorical funding efforts. For example, while focusing on new areas of programming such as the Juvenile Defender Center and the role of the arts for juveniles in detention centers and for at-risk youth, continuing to offer training seminars in the Comprehensive Strategy, and looking to the SafeFutures program to implement a continuum of care system, OJJDP will be supporting programs that reduce the likelihood of juvenile involvement in hate crimes, reduce juvenile gun violence, promote positive approaches to conflict resolution, and explore the mental health needs of juveniles. Together, these and other activities provide a comprehensive approach to prevention and early intervention programs while enhancing the juvenile justice system's capacity to provide immediate and appropriate accountability and treatment for juvenile offenders, including those with special treatment needs.

   OJJDP's Part D Gang Program will develop a rural gang prevention and intervention program and will continue to support a range of comprehensive prevention, intervention, and suppression activities at the local level, evaluate those activities, and inform communities about the nature and extent of gang activities and effective and innovative programs through OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center. Similarly, activities related to the identification of school-based gang programs and the evaluation of the Boys & Girls Clubs gang outreach effort, along with an evaluation of selected youth gun violence reduction programs, will complement existing law enforcement and prosecutorial training programs by supporting and informing grassroots community organizations' efforts to address juvenile gangs and juvenile access to, carriage of, and use of guns. This programming builds on OJJDP's youth-focused community policing, mentoring, and conflict resolution initiatives and programming, including the work of the Congress of National Black Churches in supporting local churches to address the prevention of drug abuse, youth violence, and hate crime.

   In support of the need to break the cycle of violence, OJJDP's Safe Kids/Safe Streets demonstration program, currently being implemented in partnership with other OJP offices and bureaus, will improve linkages between the dependency and criminal court systems, child welfare and social service providers, and family strengthening programs and will complement ongoing support of Court Appointed Special Advocates, Child Advocacy Centers, and prosecutor and judicial training in the dependency field, funded under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as amended.

   The Program Plan's research and evaluation programming will support many of the above activities by filling in critical gaps in knowledge about the level and seriousness of juvenile crime and victimization, its causes and correlates, and effective programs in preventing delinquency and violence. At the same time, OJJDP's research efforts will also be geared toward efforts that monitor and evaluate the ways juveniles are treated in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, particularly in relation to juvenile violence and its impact.

   As described below, OJJDP is also utilizing its national perspective to disseminate information to those at the grassroots level: practitioners, policymakers, community leaders, and service providers who are directly responsible for planning and implementing policies and programs that impact juvenile crime and violence. An additional OJJDP goal is to help practitioners and policymakers translate this information into action through its training and technical assistance providers as part of its mission to stimulate and assist in the replication of successful and promising strategies and programs.

   OJJDP will continue to fund longitudinal research on the causes and correlates of delinquency. Even more important, however, OJJDP will regularly share the findings from this research with the field through OJJDP's publications, Home Page on the World Wide Web, and JuvJust (an electronic newsletter); utilize state-of-the-art technology to provide the field with an interactive CD-ROM on promising and effective programs designed to prevent delinquency and reduce recidivism; air national satellite teleconferences on key topics of relevance to practitioners; and publish new reports and documents on timely topics. Some examples of these publication topics include youth action to prevent delinquency; family strengthening; juvenile substance abuse (prevention, intervention, and testing); balanced and restorative justice; developmental pathways in delinquent behavior, gang migration, capacity building for substance abuse treatment, youth gangs, restitution programs, school safety, and conditions of confinement.

   The various contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and interagency fund transfers described in the Program Plan form a continuum of activity designed to address youth violence, delinquency, and victimization. In isolation, this programming can do little. However, the emphasis of OJJDP's programming is on collaboration. It is through collaboration that Federal, State, and local agencies; American Indian tribes; national organizations; private philanthropies; the corporate and business sector; health, mental health, and social service agencies; schools; youth; families; and clergy can come together to form partnerships and leverage additional resources, identify needs and priorities, and implement innovative strategies. In the past few years, the combined efforts of these varied groups have brought about the beginnings of change in the prevalence of juvenile crime, violence, and victimization. Now is the time to strengthen old partnerships and forge new ones to develop support for a long-term, comprehensive approach to a more effective juvenile justice system.

   Fiscal Year 1998 Programs

   The following are brief summaries of each of the new and continuation programs projected to receive funding in FY 1998, including ongoing projects identified for supplemental funding since the publication of the Proposed Plan, which are grouped under the heading New Supplemental Funding at the end of the program list. Programs that appeared in the Proposed Plan but that will not receive funding are also listed but are marked with asterisks. In the program descriptions, brief discussions are provided as to why some proposed programs will not be funded this fiscal year.

   As indicated above, the program categories are public safety and law enforcement; strengthening the juvenile

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   justice system; delinquency prevention and intervention; and child abuse and neglect and dependency courts. However, because many programs have significant elements of more than one of these program categories or generally support all of OJJDP's programs, they are listed in an initial program category, called overarching programs. The specific program priorities within each category are subject to change with regard to their priority status, sites for implementation, and other descriptive data and information based on grantee performance, application quality, fund availability, and other factors.

   A number of OJJDP programs have been identified for funding consideration by Congress with regard to the grantee(s), the amount of funds, or both. These programs, which are listed below, are not included in the program descriptions that follow.

   National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Teens, Crime, and the Community Parents Anonymous, Inc. Juvenile Offender Transition Program Suffolk University Center for Juvenile Justice Center for Crimes and Violence Against Children Crow Creek Alcohol and Drug Program Metro Denver Gang Coalition

   In addition, OJJDP has been directed by Congress to examine each of the following proposals, provide grants if warranted, and report to the Committees on Appropriations of both the House and the Senate on its intention for each proposal:

   Coalition for Juvenile Justice The Hamilton Fish National Institute on School/Community Violence Low Country Children's Center Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services Grassroots Drug Prevention Program Dona Ana Camp Center for Prevention of Juvenile Crime and Delinquency at Prairie View University Project O.A.S.I.S. KidsPeace--The National Centers for Kids in Crisis, North America Consortium on Children, Families, and Law New Mexico Prevention Project No Hope in Dope Program Study of the Link Between Child Abuse and Criminal Behavior in Alaska Gainesville Juvenile Assessment Center Lincoln Council on Alcohol and Drugs Hill Renaissance Partnership National Training and Information Center Culinary Arts Training Program for At-Risk Youth Women of Vision Program for Youthful Female Offenders Violence Institute of New Jersey Delancy Street Foundation Law-Related Education

   Fiscal Year 1998 Program Listing

   Overarching

   SafeFutures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency Evaluation of SafeFutures Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center Technical Assistance for State Legislatures Telecommunications Assistance OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice Resource Center Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse Insular Area Support Community Assessment Centers (CAC's) Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for SafeFutures Initiative

   Public Safety and Law Enforcement

   Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program Targeted Outreach With A Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs) National Youth Gang Center Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention Safe Start--Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training Rural Youth Gang Problems: Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach Case Studies and Evaluation Planning of OJJDP's Rural Youth Gang Initiative

   Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

   Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution Communities In Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/ Violence Campaign (NADVC) Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Programs Hate Crime Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and Families Diffusion of State Risk-and Protective-Factor Focused Prevention Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With ADHD Evaluation of the Juvenile Mentoring Program Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program Arts and At-Risk Youth Community Volunteer Coordinator Program * Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles At Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice System Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

   Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

   Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders Balanced and Restorative Justice Project (BARJ) Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies Replication and Extension of Fagan Transfer Study The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit Due Process Advocacy Program Development Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) Evaluation Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance Program Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Ann Wysinger Memorial Program) Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Management Staff Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

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   Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding National Program Directory Interagency Programs on Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Juvenile Residential Facility Census The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative Technical Assistance to Native Americans Youth Court: A Training & Technical Assistance Delivery Program School Safety Training and Technical Assistance Disproportionate Minority Confinement Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections ``Circles of Care''--A Program To Develop Strategies To Serve Native American Youth With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Needs National Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders Evaluation Capacity Building Field-Initiated Research * Field-Initiated Evaluation Analysis of Juvenile Justice Data Evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Training and Technical Assistance Teambuilding Project for Courts Evaluation of Youth-Related Employment Initiative

   Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

   Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and Preventing Delinquency National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program Secondary Analysis of Childhood Victimization Evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation in Weed and Seed Sites

   Supplemental Funding for Programs Not Included in the Proposed Plan

   The following new or ongoing programs, which will require supplemental funding in FY 1998, were not included in the Proposed Plan because the need for funding had not been identified. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   GAINS Center

   OJJDP will transfer funds to the National Institute of Corrections to support a jointly funded effort under which the GAINS Center will provide training and technical assistance on juvenile offenders with co-occurring disorders. This is the second year of funding of a 3-year effort.

   The Academy

   OJJDP is funding a followup study on disproportionate minority confinement that expands a field-initiated program study that looked at court decisionmaking to include examining police decisionmaking and its impact on the confinement of minorities.

   Pathways to Success

   OJJDP provided continuation funding in FY 1998 to two sites (Aspira in Miami, Florida, and Stopover Services in Providence, Rhode Island) under the Pathways to Success program. This continuation funding will permit program evaluators to collect important data on the outcomes of the afterschool programming implemented at these two sites.

   Do the Write Thing

   OJJDP will continue funding the National Campaign to Stop Violence to expand its Do the Write Thing program. Do the Write Thing promotes the development of student ideas and solutions to reduce crime and violence through the written word. The program is currently operating in 12 cities and reaches more than 5,000 children.

   Evaluation of the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program

   The program evaluator (University of New Hampshire) for the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program, funded by the President's Crime Prevention Council under the Ounce of Prevention grants program, will receive additional funding to complete an evaluation of 10 youth-led substance use prevention projects.

   Intergenerational Transmission of Antisocial Behavior

   This research grant, administered by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), tracks the development of delinquent behavior among children of youth from Rochester, New York, who were research subjects under OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency, an ongoing longitudinal study in three cities. OJJDP will transfer funds to NIMH to support this research.

   Study Group on Very Young Offenders

   The OJJDP Study Group on Very Young Offenders, funded under a grant to the University of Pittsburgh, will explore what is known about the prevalence and frequency of very young offending under the age of 13; whether such offending predicts future delinquent or criminal careers; how these youth are handled by various systems including juvenile justice, mental health, and social services; and what are the best methods of preventing very young offending and persistence of offending.

   Standards for Juvenile Confinement Facilities

   Support will be provided to the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators to continue the Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Confinement Facilities program, expanding the number of demonstration sites that are testing the impact of the performance-based standards process as a means of improving confinement conditions and treatment services for juvenile offenders.

   San Diego Comprehensive Strategy Program

   An award to San Diego County (CA) will support the San Diego Comprehensive Strategy program's establishment of a coordinator position to facilitate implementation of the comprehensive strategy plan in San Diego County.

   University of Michigan Data Archive

   Supplemental funding will be provided to the University of Michigan Data Archive to support the archiving of data sets produced by OJJDP grantees.

   Training and Technical Assistance to Juvenile Detention and Corrections

   OJJDP will provide funds to the American Correctional Association (ACA) to support technical assistance and training to juvenile correctional agencies. ACA will conduct a National Forum on Juvenile Corrections/Detention for agency administrators, facilitate information exchange in the field, provide workshops on emerging issues, and develop and disseminate papers and monographs to the field.

   National Violence Prevention Training

   OJJDP will transfer funds to the U.S. Department of Education to support a collaborative training project sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Education Development Center, Inc., the Prevention Institute, Inc., the Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunication, and several Federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Maternal and Child Health

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   Bureau, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Injury Prevention, and Indian Health Service and OJJDP. This six-part satellite training makes use of satellite technology, the Internet, and hands-on facilitation and highlights an array of successful initiatives across the country with a particular emphasis on reduction of violence in schools and communities.

   Overarching

   SafeFutures: 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, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; Imperial County, California (rural site); and Fort Belknap, Montana (tribal site) 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 through providing an appropriate range of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions programs.

   The goals of SafeFutures are (1) to prevent and control juvenile violence and delinquency in targeted communities by reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors for delinquency; providing a continuum of services for juveniles at risk of delinquency, including appropriate immediate interventions for juvenile offenders; and developing a full range of graduated sanctions designed to hold delinquent youth accountable to the victim and the community, ensure community safety, and provide appropriate treatment and rehabilitation services; (2) to develop a more efficient, effective, and timely service delivery system for at-risk and delinquent juveniles and their families that is capable of responding to their needs at any point of entry into the juvenile justice system; (3) to build the community's capacity to institutionalize and sustain the continuum by expanding and diversifying sources of funding; and (4) to determine the success of program implementation and the outcomes achieved, including whether a comprehensive program involving community-based efforts and program resources concentrated on providing a continuum of care has succeeded in preventing or reducing juvenile violence and delinquency.

   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 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.

   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. The TTA coordinator also assists the communities in brokering and leveraging additional TTA resources. In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has provided interagency support of $100,000 for training and technical assistance targeted to violence and delinquency prevention in public housing areas of SafeFutures sites. Thus, operations, evaluation, and TTA have been organized together to form a joint team at the national level to support local site efforts.

   SafeFutures activities will be carried out by the six current grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of SafeFutures

   In FY 1995, OJJDP funded six communities under the SafeFutures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency program. The program sites are Boston, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, California; Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, Montana; Imperial County, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri. The SafeFutures Program provides support for a comprehensive prevention, intervention, and treatment program to meet the needs of at-risk juveniles and their families. In total, up to $8.4 million is being made available for annual awards over a 5-year project period to support the efforts of these jurisdictions to enhance existing partnerships, integrate juvenile justice and social services, and provide a continuum of care that is designed to reduce the number of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders.

   The Urban Institute received a competitive 3-year cooperative agreement award with FY 1995 funds to conduct Phase I of the national evaluation of the SafeFutures program. OJJDP agreed to consider 2 years of additional funding for Phase II. The evaluation addresses the program implementation process and measures performance outcomes across the six sites. The process evaluation focuses primarily on the development and implementation of a strategic plan designed to establish a continuum of care and integrated services for young people in high-risk communities. The evaluation will identify obstacles and key factors contributing to the successful implementation of the SafeFutures program. The evaluator is responsible for developing a cross-site report documenting the process of program implementation for use by other funding agencies or communities that want to develop and implement a comprehensive community-based strategy to address serious, violent, and chronic delinquency.

   In FY 1996, the Urban Institute developed a logic model that links program activities and outputs to desired intermediate and long-term outcomes. Their evaluator also held a cross-site cluster meeting and conducted site visits at each of the six SafeFutures sites.

   In FY 1997, in addition to continuing its onsite monitoring, the Urban Institute, in collaboration with the OJJDP SafeFutures program management team, developed the national evaluation plan and introduced it to the sites at the cluster meeting on information technology held in Oakland, CA, in September 1997.

   In FY 1998, the Urban Institute will continue the process evaluation and will conduct interviews with key stakeholders, service providers, and youth in order to assess the extent to which a community and its policy board have mobilized to implement a continuum of care and develop an integrated system of services over the course of SafeFutures program implementation. The research team will also complete the development of performance measures to be used by all sites to monitor the outcomes for targeted populations within and across sites. They will compile and process the results of the performance outcomes from the sites and provide feedback to both the sites and to OJJDP. Beginning in FY 1998, the national evaluator will

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   design and conduct sample surveys of youth in the community to assist in monitoring community-level changes in the prevalence and incidence of certain risk factors as well as developmental and community assets on levels of delinquency and violence in the targeted community. In addition, longitudinal samples of youth and their families will be followed over time to observe the extent to which multiple needs are identified and responded to over the course of the SafeFutures program interventions.

   The evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, the Urban Institute. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

   Three project sites participate in the Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency (Causes and Correlates): The University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University at Albany, State University of New York. Results from this longitudinal study have been used extensively in the field of juvenile justice and have contributed significantly to the development of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders and other OJJDP program initiatives.

   OJJDP began funding this program in 1986 and has invested approximately $10.3 million to date. Currently, OJJDP is supporting site data analyses under three-year project period grants awarded to each site in FY 1996. The Causes and Correlates program has addressed a variety of issues related to juvenile violence and delinquency. These include developing and testing causal models for chronic violent offending and examining interrelationships among gang involvement, drug selling, and gun ownership/use. To date, the program has produced a massive amount of information on the causes and correlates of delinquent behavior.

   Although there is great commonality across the Causes and Correlates project sites, each has unique design features. Additionally, each project has disseminated the results of its research through a broad range of publications, reports, and presentations.

   With FY 1996 funding, each site of the Causes and Correlates program was provided funds to further analyze the longitudinal data. Among the numerous analyses conducted were risk factors for teenage fatherhood, patterns of illegal gun carrying among young urban males, and factors associated with early sexual activity among urban adolescents. Two publications were developed as part of the newly launched Youth Development Series of OJJDP Bulletins.

   In FY 1997, the sites continued both their collaborative research efforts and site-specific research. The cross site analysis was on the early onset and co-occurrence of persistent serious offending. Site specific analyses were produced on victimization, over time changes in delinquency and drug use, impact of family changes on adolescent development, and neighborhood, individual, and social risk factors for serious juvenile offending.

   In FY 1998, at least one major cross site analysis will be undertaken as well as three site specific analyses per study site.

   This program will be implemented by the current grantees: 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. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

   OJJDP's Management Evaluation Contract was competitively awarded in 1995 for a period of 3 years. Its purpose is to provide OJJDP with an expert resource capable of performing independent program evaluations and assisting the Office in implementing evaluation activities. The management evaluation contract currently provides the following types of assistance to OJJDP:(1) assists OJJDP staff in the determination of evaluation needs of programs, program areas, or projects to assist the agency in determining when to invest its evaluation resources; (2) develops evaluation designs that OJJDP can use in defining requirements for a grant or contract to implement the evaluation; (3) provides technical assistance with regard to evaluation techniques to other jurisdictions involved in the evaluation of programs to prevent and treat juvenile delinquency; (4) responds to the needs of OJJDP by providing evaluations based on available data or data that can be readily developed to support OJJDP decisionmaking under whatever schedule is required by the decisionmaking process. Evaluations under this contract are program evaluations, that is, evaluations of either individual grants or contracts or groups of grants or contracts that are designed to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the program; (5) conduct a full-scale evaluation research project; and (6) provide training to OJJDP program managers and other staff on evaluation-related topics such as the different kinds of evaluation data and their uses, planning for program or project information collection and evaluation, and the role of evaluation in the agency planning process.

   Under this contract, evaluations may be conducted on OJJDP-funded action programs, including demonstrations, tests, training, and technical assistance programs and other programs, not funded by OJJDP, designed to prevent and treat juvenile delinquency. Evaluations are carried out in accordance with work plans prepared by the contractor and approved by OJJDP. Because the evaluations vary in terms of program complexity, availability of data, and purpose of the evaluation, the time and cost of each varies. Each evaluation is defined by OJJDP and costs, method, and time are determined through negotiations between OJJDP and the contractor. 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 contract will be implemented by the current contractor, Caliber Associates. A new competitive contract solicitation will be issued during FY 1998, and a new contract awarded in FY 1999.

   Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development

   The Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development (SSD) program was competitively awarded in FY 1990 to the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) to improve national, State, and local statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders. Over the last seven years, through continuation funding, the project has focused on three major tasks: (1) assessing how current information needs are being met with existing data collection efforts and recommending options for improving national level statistics; (2) analyzing data and disseminating information gathered from existing Federal statistical series and national studies; and (3) providing training and technical assistance for local agencies in developing or enhancing management information systems.

   Under the second task, OJJDP released the seminal analysis Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report in September 1995, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1996 Update on Violence in March 1996, and Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence in

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   October 1997. A training curriculum, Improving Information for Rational Decisionmaking in Juvenile Justice, was drafted for pilot testing, and future documents will be produced based on this effort.

   In FY 1998, NCJJ will: (1) complete a long-term plan for improving national statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders, including constructing core data elements for a national reporting program for juveniles waived or transferred to criminal court; (2) update the Compendium of Federal Statistical Programs on juvenile victims and offenders and work with the Office of Justice Programs' Crime Statistics Working Group and other Federal interagency statistics working groups; (3) provide technical support to OJJDP in enhancing the availability and accessibility of statistics on the OJJDP web site; (4) make recommendations to fill information gaps in the areas of juvenile probation, juvenile court and law enforcement responses to juvenile delinquency, violent delinquency, and child abuse and neglect; and (5) produce a second edition of Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCJJ. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement

   The Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) is replacing the biennial Census of Public and Private Juvenile Detention, Correctional, and Shelter Facilities, known as the Children in Custody census. This newly designed census will collect detailed information on the population of juveniles who are in juvenile residential placement facilities as a result of contact with the juvenile justice system. Over the past 3 years, OJJDP and the Bureau of the Census, with the assistance of a Technical Advisory Board, have developed the CJRP to more accurately represent the numbers of juveniles in residential placement and to describe the reasons for their placement. A new method of data collection, tested in FY 1996, involves gathering data in a roster-type format, often by electronic means. The new methods are expected to result in more accurate, timely, and useful data on the juvenile population, with less reporting burden for facility respondents.

   In FY 1997, OJJDP funded initial implementation of the CJRP, including form preparation, mailout, and processing of census forms. In October 1997, the first census using the revised methodology was conducted.

   OJJDP will continue funding this project in FY 1998 to clean the data files, allowing the production of new data products based on the 1997 census.

   This program will be implemented through an existing interagency agreement with the Bureau of the Census. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   OJJDP 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 to Community Research Associates. NTTAC serves as a national training and technical assistance clearinghouse, inventorying and coordinating the integrated delivery of juvenile justice training/technical assistance resources and establishing a data base of these resources.

   In FY 1995, work involved organization and staffing of the Center, orientation for OJJDP training/technical assistance providers regarding their role in the Center's activities, and initial data base development.

   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/technical assistance providers, developed training/ technical assistance materials, and completed and disseminated the first OJJDP Training and Technical Assistance Resource Catalog. In addition, NTTAC assisted State and local jurisdictions and other OJJDP grantees with specialized training, including the development of training-of-trainers programs. NTTAC continued to evolve as a central source for information pertaining to the availability of OJJDP- supported training/technical assistance programs and resources.

   In FY 1997, NTTAC completed the first draft of the jurisdictional team training/technical assistance packages for gender-specific services and juvenile correctional services; provided training/ technical assistance in support of OJJDP's SafeFutures and Gangs programs; updated and disseminated the second 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/technical assistance grantees and contractors.

   In FY 1998, NTTAC will finalize, field test, and coordinate delivery of the jurisdictional team training/technical assistance packages on critical needs in the juvenile justice system, update the resource catalog, facilitate the annual OJJDP training/TA grantee and contractor meeting, continue to update the repository of training/TA materials and the electronic data base of training/TA materials, and continue to respond to training/TA requests from the field.

   The current grantee, Community Research Associates, will complete its work under the award in FY 1998. A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

   Since FY 1995, OJJDP has awarded annual grants to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to provide relevant and timely information on comprehensive approaches in juvenile justice that are geared to the legislative environment. The purpose of this project is to aid State legislators in improving State juvenile justice systems when crafting legislative responses to youth violence. State legislatures have a unique role and responsibility in establishing State policy and approaches and appropriating funds for juvenile justice. Nearly every State has enacted, or is considering, statutory changes affecting the juvenile justice system. Historically, State legislatures have lacked the information needed to comprehensively address juvenile justice issues. Experience with this project indicates that policymakers find it has helped them understand the ramifications and nuances of juvenile justice reform.

   Since OJJDP began funding this project, NCSL has conducted three invitational Legislator's Leadership Forums; sponsored sessions on juvenile justice reform at the NCSL annual meetings; expanded clearinghouse and juvenile justice enactment reporting; and produced and distributed a publication, Legislator's Guide to Comprehensive Juvenile Justice. The invitational meetings were attended by more than 100 legislators and additional legislative staff from 34 States selected as key decisionmakers on juvenile justice reform. Meeting sessions and information services reached at least 500 legislators or legislative staff in all

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   States. In addition, project publications were distributed to more than 2,000 legislative members, staff, and agencies to provide for further broad distribution of information central to comprehensive strategies in juvenile justice to a State legislative audience throughout the States.

   The grant has improved capacity for the delivery of information services to legislatures, with the number of information requests handled for legislators and staff having increased to about 500 per year. It is expected that the Children and Families and Criminal Justice programs will respond to another 500 information requests in FY 1998.

   In FY 1998, NCSL will further identify, analyze, and disseminate information to assist State legislatures to make more informed decisions about legislation affecting the juvenile justice system. A complementary task involves supporting increased communication between State legislators and State and local leaders who influence decisionmaking regarding juvenile justice issues. NCSL will provide intensive technical assistance to four States, continue outreach activities, and maintain its clearinghouse function. Additionally, NCSL will assist in the production of a live satellite videoconference directed primarily to State legislators.

   The project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCSL. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Telecommunications Assistance

   Developments in information technology and distance training have expanded and enhanced OJJDP's capacity to disseminate information and provide training and technical assistance. The advantages of these technologies include increased access to information and training for professionals in the juvenile justice system, reduced travel costs to conferences, and reduced time attending meetings away from one's home or office. OJJDP uses this cost-effective medium to share with the field the salient elements of the most effective or promising approaches to various juvenile justice issues. The field has responded positively to these live satellite teleconferences and has come to expect them at regular intervals.

   OJJDP selected Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) through a competitive program announcement in FY 1992 to conduct a feasibility study on using this technology in its programming. In FY 1995, EKU was awarded a competitive grant to undertake production of live satellite videoconferences. Since the inception of this grant in FY 1995, EKU has produced 13 live satellite teleconferences, with an average of 360 downlink sites participating in each. The project produced four teleconferences in FY 1995 (Juvenile Boot Camps, Reducing Youth Gun Violence, Youth Out of the Education Mainstream, and Conflict Resolution for Youth), four in FY 1996 (Community Collaboration, Effective Programs for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, Youth-Oriented Community Policing, Leadership Challenges for Juvenile Detentions and Corrections), and five in FY 1997 (Has the Juvenile Court Outlived Its Usefulness?, Youth Gangs in America, Preventing Drug Abuse Among Youth, Mentoring for Youth, and Treating Drug-Involved Youth).

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue the cooperative agreement with EKU in order to provide program support and technical assistance for a variety of information technologies, including audioconferences, fiber optics, and satellite teleconferences, producing four to five additional live national satellite teleconferences. The grantee will also continue to provide technical assistance to other grantees interested in using this technology and explore linkages with key constituent groups to advance mutual information goals and objectives.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, EKU. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice Resource Center

   This contract 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. OJJDP extended the current contract until a new contract can be competitively awarded. Applications have been solicited and received, and the new contract is expected to be awarded shortly.

   This contract will be implemented by the current contractor, Aspen Systems Corporation, until a new contract is awarded.

   Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

   A component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) is OJJDP's central source for the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of information on all aspects of juvenile justice, including research and evaluation findings; State and local juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment programs and plans; availability of resources; training and educational programs; and statistics. JJC serves the entire juvenile justice community, including researchers, law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutors, probation and corrections staff, youth-service personnel, legislators, the media, and the public.

   Among its many support services, 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 data base; and administers several electronic information resources. Recognizing the critical need to inform juvenile justice practitioners and policymakers on promising program approaches, JJC continually develops and recommends new products and strategies to communicate more effectively the research findings and program activities of OJJDP and the field. The entire NCJRS, of which the OJJDP-funded JJC is a part, is administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) under a competitively awarded contract to Aspen Systems Corporation.

   This program will continue to be implemented by the current contractor, Aspen Systems Corporation, until the new contract is awarded. NIJ has issued a new competitive solicitation, and a new contract will be awarded during FY 1998.

   Insular Area Support

   The purpose of this program is to provide support to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Palau), 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. 5665(e).

   Community Assessment Centers (CAC's)

   The Community Assessment Center (CAC) program is a multicomponent demonstration initiative designed to test the efficacy of the Community Assessment Center 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

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   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 project, and a technical assistance component.

   The planning grants were awarded to the Denver Juvenile Court in Denver, Colorado, and to the Lee County Sheriff's Office in Fort Myers, Florida, to support a 1-year intensive planning process for the development and implementation of a CAC in each community. In Denver, community leaders are assessing the feasibility of a CAC and building on existing infrastructure developed with support from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Juvenile Justice Integrated Treatment Network program. In Fort Myers, community leaders are completing an initial planning process and are planning to open their CAC in the near future. Planning in this site will continue after implementation and will focus on enhancing the CAC in Fort Myers to become more consistent with the CAC concept and on developing linkages with the community's Comprehensive Strategy initiative.

   The enhancement component of the CAC program is designed to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of existing assessment centers by supporting various and specific program enhancements and to provide support to existing assessment centers in an effort to create consistency with OJJDP's CAC concept.

   Also in FY 1997, two communities received 1-year awards to help existing assessment centers provide enhanced services and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the CAC concept overall. Jefferson Center for Mental Health in Jefferson County, Colorado, and Human Service Associates, Inc., in Orlando, Florida, were competitively selected to receive awards under the CAC program on the basis of their demonstrated commitment to specifically implement an enhancement that makes the existing CAC more consistent with the CAC concept. The Jefferson Center for Mental Health is developing improved case management procedures and an improved management information system. Human Services Associates, Inc., is creating an intensive integrated case management system for high-risk youth referred to the CAC, an enhancement also consistent with the OJJDP CAC concept.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide additional funding to support the full and continued implementation of selected CAC enhancements and additional support to the sites awarded planning grants in FY 1997. This funding will enable these sites to begin implementing the CAC's planned for with OJJDP funding support or to enhance existing operations.

   The CAC initiative evaluation component, being conducted by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and the technical assistance component, being delivered by the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association, were funded in FY 1997 for 2-year project periods and will not require additional funds in FY 1998.

   These programs will be implemented by the current grantees, Jefferson Center for Mental Health, Human Service Associates, Inc., Denver Juvenile Court, and Lee County Sheriff's Office. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for SafeFutures Initiative

   OJJDP will provide funding for long-term training and technical assistance (TA) for the remaining 3 years of the SafeFutures initiative. The purpose of this TA effort will be to build local capacity for implementing and sustaining effective continuum of care and systems change approaches to preventing and controlling juvenile violence and delinquency in the six SafeFutures communities. Project activities will include assessment, identification, and coordination of the implementation of training and TA needs at each SafeFutures site and administration of cross-site training.

   OJJDP will continue funding under a grant for the provision of training and technical assistance coordination to the six SafeFutures sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Public Safety and Law Enforcement

   Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

   This program supports the implementation of a comprehensive gang program model in five jurisdictions. The program was competitively awarded with FY 1994 funds under a 3-year project period. The demonstration sites implementing the model, which was developed by the University of Chicago with OJJDP funding support, are Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona. Implementation of the comprehensive gang program model requires the mobilization of the community to address gang-related violence by making available and coordinating social interventions, providing social/academic/vocational and other opportunities, and supporting gang suppression through law enforcement, probation, and other community control mechanisms.

   During the past year, the demonstration sites began full-scale implementation of the program model and began serving gang-involved youth in the targeted areas. In each site, a multidisciplinary team has been established to coordinate the services that project youth receive. Teams are made up of various community institution representatives, including police, probation, outreach or street workers, court representatives, service providers, and others. The services provided through this team--or recommended by them--include social interventions such as outreach, case management, counseling, substance abuse treatment, anger management, life skills, cultural awareness, controlled recreation activities, access to educational, social, and economic opportunities such as GED attainment, school reintegration, vocational training, and job development and placement. Also included in the service mix is accountability or social control. This is provided through traditional suppression from law enforcement and probation, and also accountability through the schools, community-based agencies, parents, families, and community members. The team meets regularly to go over progress with each youth, so that each team member is aware of prevailing risks and positive developments and can use this information to be supportive of the youth when contacted in the field by providing additional services, modifying ``treatment plans,'' or invoking accountability measures ranging from values clarification and general motivational support to arrest and prosecution. In addition to core team members, other agencies also support the programs, such as the faith community, local Boys & Girls Clubs, and alternative and mainstream schools.

   In some sites, prevention components have been established to work hand-in-hand with the intervention and suppression program. For example, in one site a mentoring program has been established for youth who are younger siblings of gang members targeted in the intervention components.

   The demonstration sites also participated in training and technical assistance activities, including cluster conferences sponsored by OJJDP and site-specific consultations on issues such as information sharing and outreach activities.

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   In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide a fourth year of funding to selected demonstration sites to target up to 200 youth prone to gang violence in each site through continuing implementation of the program model and work with the independent evaluator of this demonstration program.

   This project will be implemented by the current demonstration sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

   The University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, received a competitive cooperative agreement award in FY 1995. This 4- year project period award supports the evaluation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program. The evaluation grantee assisted the five program sites (Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona) in establishing realistic and measurable objectives, documenting program implementation, and measuring the impact of a variety of gang program strategies. It has also provided interim feedback to the program implementors.

   In FY 1997, following 2 years of program development and evaluation design, the grantee trained the local site interviewers; gathered and tracked data from police, prosecutor, probation, school, and social service agencies; collected individual gang member interviews from both the program and comparison areas; provided onsite technical assistance to the local sites; consulted with local evaluators on development and implementation of local site parent/community resident surveys; and coordinated ongoing efforts with local researchers.

   In FY 1998, 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 1998.

   Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component (Boys & Girls Clubs)

   This program is designed 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. In FY 1997, Boys & Girls Clubs of America provided training and technical assistance to 30 existing gang prevention and 4 intervention sites and expanded the gang prevention and intervention program to 23 additional Boys & Girls Clubs. A national evaluation of this program, through Public/Private Ventures, was also started in FY 1997 under this award.

   In FY 1998, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America will provide training and technical assistance to 20 existing gang prevention sites, 3 existing intervention sites, and OJJDP's gang and SafeFutures demonstration sites. The national evaluation of the Targeted Outreach program will continue in FY 1998. The Targeted Outreach program will also provide training and technical assistance to up to 10 new rural Targeted Outreach sites and will consider implementing two new pilot programs: Targeted Reintegration, which involves working with youth coming out of institutional placements, and another developmental pilot project with the Violence Impact Forums of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF). The latter project is a collaborative effort of OJJDP, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, TKF, and other organizations.

   This program will be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   National Youth Gang Center

   The proliferation of gang problems in large inner cities, smaller cities, suburbs, and even rural areas over the past two decades led to the development by OJJDP of a comprehensive, coordinated response to America's gang problem. This response involved five program components, one of which was the implementation and operation of the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC). The NYGC was competitively awarded in FY 1995 for a 3-year project period. The NYGC was created to expand and maintain the body of critical knowledge about youth gangs and effective responses to them.

   In FY 1997, NYGC continued to assist state and local jurisdictions to collect, analyze and exchange information on gang-related demographics, legislation, literature, research and promising program strategies. It also supported the work of the National Gang Consortium, a group of federal agencies, gang program representatives and researchers. A major activity was a survey of all federal agencies and the presentation of data on their programs, planning cycles and other resources. It continued to promote the collection and analysis of gang related data and published the results of its first National Youth Gang Survey of 2,000 law enforcement agencies.

   OJJDP will extend the project an additional year and provide FY 1998 funds to NYGC to conduct more indepth analyses of the first and second National Youth Gang Survey results that track changes in the nature and scope of the youth gang problem. NYGC, through its Focus Group on Data Collection and Analysis, will continue its efforts to foster integration of gang-related items into other relevant surveys and national data collection efforts. NYGC will also provide technical assistance to OJJDP's new Rural Gang program sites.

   Fiscal year 1998 funds will support an additional year of funding to the current grantee, the Institute for Intergovernmental Research. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program

   COSMOS Corporation received a competitive award in FY 1997. This 3- year project period award supports OJJDP's Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program. The program will document and evaluate the process of community mobilization, planning, and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative approach to reducing gun violence involving juveniles in four sites. The sites are Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California: Shreveport, Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York.

   In FY 1997, the grantee conducted onsite technical assistance workshops with partner organizations and assisted the sites in planning and developing local Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence.

   In FY 1998, the grantee will develop data collection protocols, conduct a process evaluation, and continue to provide onsite technical assistance to the sites. In addition to the four sites listed above, the grantee will also identify additional promising/effective programs underway in communities across the country and evaluate a select

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   number of these programs. With an expanded base of youth gun violence programs, there is greater opportunity to identify sites that are employing similar strategies with different targeted populations.

   This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, COSMOS Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention

   The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention's primary goal is the development of a citywide, accelerated, long-term effort to reduce violence in Chicago. In addition, the Chicago Project serves to demonstrate a comprehensive, citywide violence prevention model. Overall project objectives include reductions in homicide, physical injury, disability and emotional harm from assault, domestic abuse, sexual abuse and rape, and child abuse and neglect.

   The Chicago Project is a partnership among the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Illinois Council for the Prevention of Violence, the University of Illinois, and Chicago communities. The project began in January 1995 with joint funding from OJJDP and the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The project currently provides technical assistance to a variety of community-based and citywide organizations involved in violence prevention planning. The majority of the technical assistance supports community level efforts and agencies working to directly support the community plan.

   In FY 1996, technical assistance was provided to the central planning group for the Austin community-based coalition, leadership and staff of the Westside Health Authority in the Austin community, and to other selected groups involved in the Austin plan for the development of their components (e.g., to Northwest Austin Council for the development of the afterschool and drug treatment components of the Austin plan). These groups are members of the violence consortium in Austin.

   In FY 1997, the Chicago Project further refined the violence prevention strategy developed in the Austin community, began implementation of the strategy, and continued to provide technical assistance to the Logan Square and Grand Boulevard communities as they developed their violence prevention strategies.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue funding the project, which will complete the strategic planning process with Logan Square and Grand Boulevard and continue to work with Austin in implementing its strategy.

   The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention will be implemented by the current grantee, the University of Illinois, School of Public Health. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

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

   The Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program, an innovative partnership between the New Haven Department of Police Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine, addresses the psychological burdens on children, families, and the broader community of increasing levels of community violence. In FY 1993, OJJDP provided support to document Yale--New Haven's child- centered, community-oriented policing model. The program model consists of interrelated training and consultation, including a child development fellowship for police supervisors; police fellowship for clinicians; seminars on child development, human functioning, and policing strategies; a 15-hour training course in child development for all new police officers; weekly collaborative meetings and case conferences that support institutional changes in police practices; and establishment of protocols for referral and consultation to ensure that children receive the services they need.

   In FY 1994, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, using community policing funds, joined with OJJDP to support the first year of a 3-year training and technical assistance grant to replicate the CD-CP program nationwide. In each of FY's 1995, 1996, and 1997, OJJDP provided grants of $300,000 to the Yale Child Study Center to replicate the model through training of law enforcement and mental health providers in Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon.

   The CD-CP program has provided a wide range of coordinated police and clinical responses in the four replication sites, including round- the-clock availability of consultation with a clinical professional and a police supervisor to patrol officers who assist children exposed to violence; weekly case conferences with police officers, educators, and child study center staff; open police stations located in neighborhoods and accessible to residents for police and related services; community liaison and coordination of community response; crisis response; clinical referral; interagency collaboration; home-based followup; and officer support and neighborhood foot patrols. In the CD-CP program's last 4 years of operation in the New Haven site, more than 450 children have been referred to the consultation service by officers in the field. It is anticipated that these results can be obtained in the replication sites.

   In FY 1997, through a partnership between OJJDP, Violence Against Women Grants Office, and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), $700,000 ($300,000 from OJJDP, $300,000 from the Violence Against Women Grants Office, and $100,000 from OVC) was allocated to CD-CP to expand the program under a new Safe Start Initiative designed to support the following activities:

   ‹bullet› Development of a training and technical assistance center in New Haven consisting of a team of expert practitioners who provide training for law enforcement, prosecutors, mental health professionals, school personnel, and probation and parole officers to better respond to the needs of children exposed to community violence including but not limited to family violence, gang violence, and abuse or neglect.

   ‹bullet› Plan for expansion of program sites from the original four. Future sites, the total number of which are yet to be determined, will be selected competitively based upon each site's capacity to establish a core police/mental health provider team concerned with child victimization.

   ‹bullet› Further research, data collection, analysis, and evaluation of CD-CP in the program sites.

   ‹bullet› The development of a casebook for practitioners, which will detail intervention strategies and various aspects of the CD-CP collaborative process.

   In FY 1998, this project will 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 will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program

   Juvenile crime and victimization present major challenges to law enforcement and other practitioners who are responsible for prevention, intervention, and enforcement efforts. Violent crime committed by juveniles,

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   juvenile involvement in gangs and drugs, and decreasing fiscal resources are a few of the challenges facing juvenile justice practitioners today.

   OJJDP is committed to helping Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies, organizations, and individuals face these challenges through a comprehensive program of training and technical assistance that is designed to enhance the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to juvenile crime and delinquency. This assistance targets many audiences, including law enforcement representatives, social service workers, school staff and administrators, prosecutors, judges, corrections and probation personnel, and key community and agency leaders.

   In FY 1997, a contract was awarded to John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) for the Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance program. Since the program's inception in March 1997, John Jay has trained approximately 700 State, local, and tribal workshop participants and provided requested onsite technical assistance to 16 communities.

   Fiscal year 1998 funds will support the continuation of seven regional training workshops: the Chief Executive Officer Youth Violence 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; and the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP).

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence

   OJJDP will award continuation grants of up to $200,000 to each of four competitively selected communities that initially received funds in FY 1997 to help them increase the effectiveness of existing youth gun violence reduction strategies by enhancing and coordinating prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies and strengthening linkages between community residents, law enforcement, and the juvenile justice system. Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York, were competitively 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 violence exchanges. Each of the sites is required to address five objectives: (1) reduce illegal gun availability to juveniles; (2) reduce the incidence of juveniles' illegally carrying guns; (3) reduce juvenile gun-related crimes; (4) increase youth awareness of the personal and legal consequences of gun violence; and (5) increase participation of community residents and organizations in public safety efforts.

   To accomplish the goals and objectives, each site will complete the development of a comprehensive plan and incorporate the following seven strategies in the target area:

   (1) Positive opportunity strategies for young people, such as mentoring, job readiness, and afterschool programs.

   (2) An educational strategy in which students learn how to resolve conflicts without violence, resist peer pressure to possess or carry guns, and distinguish between real violence and television violence.

   (3) A public information strategy that uses radio, local television, and print outlets to broadly communicate to young people the dangers and consequences of gun violence and present information on positive youth activities taking place in the community.

   (4) A law enforcement/community communication strategy that expands neighborhood communication; community policing, such as a program that notifies neighborhood residents when particular incidents or concerns have been addressed; and community supervision to educate at-risk and court-involved juveniles on the legal consequences of their involvement in gun violence.

   (5) A grassroots community involvement and mobilization strategy that engages neighborhood residents, including youth, in improving the community.

   (6) A suppression strategy that reduces juvenile access to illegal guns and illegal gun trafficking in communities by developing special gun units, using community allies to report illegal gun trade, targeting gang members and illegal gun possession cases for prosecution, and increasing sanctions.

   (7) A juvenile justice system strategy that applies appropriate treatment interventions to respond to the needs of juvenile offenders who enter the system on gun-related charges. Interventions may include specialized gun courts, family counseling, victim impact awareness classes, drug treatment, probation, or intensive community supervision, including aftercare. The approach should focus on addressing the reasons juveniles had access to, carried, and used guns illegally.

   A national evaluation is being conducted by COSMOS Corporation to document and understand 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 four current grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training

   Since 1995, OJJDP has provided funding to five communities to implement and test a comprehensive program model for gang prevention, intervention and suppression, known as the Spergel model. In 1997, the sites were awarded continuation funding for the third year of a 3-year project period grant to continue program implementation. OJJDP will provide a fourth year of funding for this program.

   To support the ongoing implementation and a potential fourth year of operations (being proposed elsewhere in this Program Plan), OJJDP will provide funding to the University of Chicago for enhanced technical assistance and training services. This award will be made to the University's Gang Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (GRETA) program, through the School of Social Service Administration. Technical assistance and training to be provided through this award may include technical assistance and training to law enforcement, probation, and parole on their role in the model; technical assistance to community and grassroots organizations on their role in the model; and technical assistance on team development, information sharing, information systems, and data collection and on issues of sustainability and organizational and systems change to better deal with the community's youth gang problem. Other training and technical assistance services to be provided may include the development of relevant materials for onsite use, such as a manual on the model being implemented (in response to the national evaluation advisory board's recommendations), a manual on youth

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   outreach and a ``lessons learned'' publication or other materials, including audiovisual and electronic media. Training and technical assistance services provided under this project will be limited to OJJDP's comprehensive gang demonstration sites in Mesa and Tucson, Arizona; Riverside, California; Bloomington, Illinois; and San Antonio, Texas, and other selected OJJDP grantees.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the University of Chicago. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Rural Youth Gang Problems: Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach

   In 1996, OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) completed its first annual nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies regarding gang problems experienced in their jurisdictions. This survey represents the largest number of small law enforcement agencies in rural counties ever surveyed. Among the findings of this survey is that half of the 2,007 gang survey respondents reporting youth gang problems in 1995 serve populations under 25,000, confirming that youth gangs are not just a problem for large cities and metropolitan counties. Youth gangs are emerging in new localities, especially smaller and rural communities. Many of the agencies in smaller and rural communities had no personnel assigned to deal with youth gangs or gang units.

   OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression (Spergel Model) is currently being implemented and tested in multiple jurisdictions. The communities implementing the model are mainly suburban and urban in nature, with areas of dense population within the community.

   In light of the rural gang problems exposed by the nationwide gang survey, OJJDP will fund a new initiative to assist rural communities in implementing the fully adaptable Comprehensive Approach in a way that is appropriate to rural community needs, through a comprehensive and systematic problem assessment and program design process. Upon completion of the problem assessment using law enforcement-based gang incident, census, and other data, communities would engage in a process of adapting and eventually applying the Comprehensive Approach in a way that responds to the gang problems identified.

   OJJDP will award funds to up to four rural communities to conduct a rural youth gang planning and assessment project and will also award funds for related evaluations and provide technical assistance services to funded sites.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Case Studies and Evaluation Planning of OJJDP's Rural Youth Gang Initiative

   OJJDP will award a competitive grant for a 1-year process evaluation to document the strategies used by the Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach initiative demonstration sites to assess their local youth gang problems and plan for the adaptation and implementation of this comprehensive approach in rural communities. This documentation will subsequently be disseminated to the field for use by other rural communities that want to replicate the comprehensive approach to rural gang problems.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

   Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution

   In FY 1995, OJJDP funded the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution (IIDR) to implement the Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution (YCCR) program under a competitively awarded 3-year cooperative agreement. The purpose of this program, which began in October 1995, is to integrate conflict resolution education (CRE) programming into all levels of education in the Nation's schools, juvenile facilities, and youth-serving organizations.

   During the first 2 years, IIDR provided training and technical assistance through a number of mechanisms. In year one, activities included participation in the development of a satellite teleconference on CRE, a presentation on the YCCR program at the National Institute for Dispute Resolution annual conference, and three regional training conferences for teams from schools, communities, and juvenile facilities. IIDR also completed the project's first major resource document, Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools, Youth-Serving Organizations, and Community and Juvenile Justice Settings. Second-year activities included followup training and intensive technical assistance including onsite work with the Washington, DC, school system. In the second project year, with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, IIDR developed a pilot curriculum and conducted a series of 10 training sessions to assist arts program staff and administrators in infusing conflict resolution skills and principles into art programs for at-risk youth. Additional funding this year will allow the project to conduct another series of trainings.

   Activities planned for FY 1998 include State training conferences, onsite technical assistance to SafeFutures, Weed and Seed, and other sites, increased followup support, and a survey of gang intervention programs to identify those that use conflict resolution techniques as part of their efforts.

   Also, IIDR will expand the level of support that project staff provide to schools, communities, and youth-serving organizations, including training provided in partnership with national organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Juvenile Detention Association. Efforts will also be undertaken to facilitate peer-to-peer mentoring among youth education and youth-serving organizations. Special emphasis will be placed on disseminating information about effective conflict resolution programs and implementation issues through print and electronic media. Project staff will also work with staff in State departments of education and offices of State Attorneys General to promote replication of local conflict resolution programs and to partner with State agencies to establish ``training of trainers'' institutes or programs to build local capacity to implement successful CRE programs for youth.

   OJJDP has entered into a partnership with the U.S. Department of Education to expand this project. The project will be implemented by the current grantee, IIDR. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Communities In Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership

   This program is a continuation of a national school dropout prevention model developed and implemented by Communities In Schools (CIS), Inc. CIS, Inc., provides training and technical assistance to CIS programs in States and local communities, enabling them to

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   adapt and implement the CIS model. 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 CIS State organizations are established, they assume primary responsibility for local program replication during the Federal Interagency Partnership.

   The Federal Interagency Partnership program is based on the following strategies: (1) to enhance CIS, Inc., training and technical assistance capabilities; (2) to enhance the organization's capability to introduce selected initiatives to CIS youth at the local level; (3) to enhance the CIS, Inc., information dissemination network capability; and (4) to enhance the CIS, Inc., capability to network with Federal agencies on behalf of State and local CIS programs.

   In FY 1997, the CIS--Federal Interagency Partnership (1) performed extensive research and compilation of conference materials and other resources outlining trends and activities related to family strengthening and parent participation initiatives; (2) produced a quarterly issue of Facts You Can Use; (3) formed a committee responsible for developing a description of the Family Service Center site strategy; (4) formulated a plan for providing training and technical assistance to SafeFutures sites; (5) advanced activities under the Youth Entrepreneurship Program by implementing the second phase of the minigrant process and by providing technical assistance; (6) developed a violence prevention resource directory and offered training on violence prevention; (7) provided program-level liaison and coordination to facilitate access by State and local CIS organizations to Federal agency products; and (8) added new features to the CIS web site to increase local and State program access to Federal resources.

   OJJDP will continue funding this project in FY 1998. The program will be implemented by the current grantee, Communities In Schools, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/ Violence Campaign (NADVC)

   OJJDP will award continuation funding to the Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC) for its national public awareness and mobilization strategy to address the problems of juvenile drug abuse, violence, and hate crime in targeted communities. The goal of the CNBC national strategy is to summon, focus, and coordinate the leadership of the black religious community, in cooperation with the Department of Justice and other Federal agencies and organizations, to mobilize groups of 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) Juvenile Hate Crime Initiative. NADVC has used EDC's hate crime curriculum to focus on prevention through the networks and resources in the faith community to address the impact and roles of juveniles and youth in engaging in and preventing hate crimes. Two regional conferences were held during the past year in Columbus, South Carolina, and Memphis, Tennessee. Approximately 80 participants, representing more than 20 burned churches from black and white congregations, attended.

   In FY 1997, the program expanded through NADVC's Regional Hate Crime Prevention Initiative, the Campaign's model for anti-drug/ violence strategies, and NADVC's faith community network. NADVC has assisted in the development of programs in 87 sites, whose activities vary depending on their stage of development. The smallest of these alliances consists of 6 congregations and the largest has 134. The NADVC program involves approximately 2,220 clergy and affects 1.5 million youth and the adults who influence their lives. NADVC also provides technical support to four statewide religious coalitions.

   NADVC's technical assistance, consultations, and training have helped sites to leverage more than $15 million in funds from corporations, foundations, and Federal, State, and local government. CNBC receives frequent requests for its NADVC model for the development of prevention programs in the faith community. The model is easily tailored to the local community's assessment of its drug, delinquency, violence, and hate crime problems.

   NADVC has contributed to many agency conferences, workshops, and advisory committees on the issues of violence, substance abuse prevention, policing, and high-risk youth services. The Campaign has also produced a National Training and Site Development Guide and a video to assist sites in implementing the NADVC model.

   NADVC will continue to support the expansion of new sites in FY 1998, seek new partnerships, and enhance efforts to address hate crime and family violence intervention issues.

   The program will be implemented by the current grantee, the Congress of National Black Churches. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development

   The Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development program, also known as Early Alliance, is a large-scale prevention study involving hundreds of children and several elementary schools located in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods of Columbia, South Carolina. This program is funded through an interagency agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health(NIMH). NIMH's grantee is the University of South Carolina. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have also provided funding for the program.

   This large-scale 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. The project also seeks to alter home and school climates to reduce risk for adverse outcomes and to promote positive youth development. Interventions include a classroom program, a schoolwide conflict management program, peer social skills training, and home-based family programming. The sample includes African American and Caucasian children attending schools located in lower income neighborhoods. There is a sample of high-risk children (showing early aggressive behavior at school entry), and a second sample consisting of lower risk children (residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods). The interventions begin in first grade, and children are being followed longitudinally throughout the 5 years of the project.

   Funded initially in FY 1997 through a fund transfer to NIMH under an interagency agreement, support will be continued for an additional 4 years. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Programs

   Prevention, early intervention, and effective crisis intervention are critical elements in a community's family support system. In many communities, one or more of these elements may be missing or programs may not be coordinated. In addition, technical assistance and training are often not available to community organizations

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   and agencies providing family strengthening services. In response to these needs, OJJDP awarded a 3-year competitive cooperative agreement in FY 1995 to the University of Utah's Department of Health Education (DHE) to provide training and technical assistance to communities interested in establishing or enhancing a continuum of family strengthening efforts.

   In the first program year, the grantee completed initial drafts of a literature review and summaries of exemplary programs; conducted a national search for, rated, and selected family strengthening models; planned 2 regional training conferences to showcase the selected exemplary and promising family strengthening programs; convened the first conference for 250 attendees in Salt Lake City, Utah; and developed an application process for sites to receive followup training on specific program models.

   In the second program year, DHE completed a second draft of the literature review and model program summaries; convened a second regional conference in Washington, DC; conducted program-specific workshops; produced user and training-of-trainers guides; and distributed videos of several family strengthening workshops.

   In the third program year, DHE will coordinate technical assistance and training of agencies that are in the process of implementing the identified model programs. In addition, the grantee will establish a minigrant supplement program to provide stipends to a minimum of 10 sites to ensure program implementation. DHE will also update and publish its literature review and develop program-specific bulletins to be distributed by OJJDP and also made available on the OJJDP Web site. The grantee's technical assistance delivery system and the overall impact of the project will also be assessed.

   This program will be implemented in FY 1998 by the current grantee, the University of Utah's DHE. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Hate Crime

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide continuation funding to the Education Development Center (EDC) to expand their hate crime prevention efforts. EDC has produced and published a multipurpose curriculum, entitled Healing the Hate, for hate crime prevention in middle schools and other classroom settings. The curriculum has been disseminated to 20,000 law enforcement, juvenile justice professionals, and educators throughout the country.

   Because of increased racial, ethnic, and religious tensions and hate crimes in various regions of the country, OJJDP expanded this grant to allow EDC to provide training and technical assistance to youth, educators, juvenile justice and law enforcement professionals and representatives of local public/private community agencies and organizations and the faith community. The recipients of this training/ technical assistance obtained the knowledge and skills necessary to establish prejudice reduction and violence prevention programs to decrease bias crimes by youth in their schools and communities. During the past year, EDC conducted training/technical assistance at three sites in different regions of the country (Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Miami, Florida). Dissemination of products was achieved through national educational, advocacy, and justice networks and at 15 other national conferences. In FY 1997, additional Hate Crimes project activities were funded through an interagency agreement with the U. S. Department of Education.

   In FY 1998, EDC project work will include training, technical assistance, networking among practitioners and policymakers, and continued partnership training with the Congress of National Black Churches. EDC will conduct one regional, multidisciplinary training, which will incorporate both hate crime prevention and response for practitioners, and two trainings for trainers on hate crime prevention and response. For policymakers and youth practitioners, 10 hate crime prevention and response training sessions will be held at national and statewide conferences targeting policymakers in the core disciplines (education, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and youth-serving programs) and youth. EDC will provide technical assistance through outreach, response to requests, remote and onsite consultation, and facilitation of networking.

   EDC will also develop and disseminate a hate crime prevention and response guide for communities; a hate crime prevention and response guide for juvenile justice, criminal justice, and the judiciary; and articles and bulletins for selected publications for practitioners and policymakers in the core disciplines (education, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and youth-serving programs). In addition, EDC will develop a hate crime prevention World Wide Web site and translate and produce a Spanish language version of Healing the Hate: A National Bias Crime Curriculum for Middle Schools.

   EDC will create an expert advisory council to increase collaboration and networking among practitioners and policymakers in the core disciplines (education, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and youth-serving programs).

   EDC will continue its partnership with the Congress of National Black Churches, Inc., by conducting joint training sessions and technical assistance efforts to prevent church burnings.

   The project will be implemented, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, by the current grantee, Education Development Center. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and Families

   The abuse of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) is inextricably linked with both personal and economic adversity and crime in society. Alcohol and drug abuse exact a devastating toll, especially on the most vulnerable--young children and adolescents. Recognizing that the U. S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are both servicing the same pool of children affected by parental substance use/abuse, the two Departments have initiated a joint program.

   OJJDP will administer this training and technical assistance program, using funds transferred to OJJDP by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), through a cooperative agreement to the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). To achieve maximum effectiveness in aiding chemically involved families, child welfare professionals must be able to address entrenched family problems caused by alcohol and other drug abuse, while simultaneously delivering services that protect and promote the health and well-being of children. These professionals need information, resource materials, and training to increase their knowledge of the link between chemical dependency and a host of related conditions that negatively affect child and family well-being.

   CWLA, a nonprofit organization, will carry out the required activities of this interagency agreement by assisting child welfare personnel to provide appropriate intervention services for AOD-impacted children and their caregivers. Through collaboration between the CWLA program, policy specialists in chemical dependency,

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   child protective services, family support services, foster care, kinship care, and a cadre of other agencies, CWLA will produce a state- of-the-art comprehensive assessment tool and decisionmaking guidelines that frontline child welfare workers and supervisors can use in determining: (1) how alcohol and drugs are impacting child safety and family functioning and (2) the most appropriate intervention options for each child victim.

   CWLA will also conduct training for trainers to facilitate effective use of this guide by child welfare workers.

   CWLA's assessment instrument and decision-making guidelines for chemically-involved children and families will direct the vital first steps for child welfare professionals toward achieving increased safety to AOD-involved children and families. This instrument will not only outline a culturally competent, strengths-based substance abuse assessment tool, but also suggest new approaches to engaging families and addressing their needs. The casework, placement, and permanency planning options outlined in the guidelines will advance participatory decisionmaking models that result in family strengthening. Case plans that emphasize flexible options, encourage parents as partners in decisionmaking, involve extended family in caregiving, can promote the best interest of children and families.

   Training and technical assistance to child welfare professionals supported by this agreement will help to develop innovative and effective approaches to meeting the needs of children in the child welfare system whose parents are AOD abusers. The activities funded by this agreement will focus on developing, expanding, or enhancing initiatives that raise public awareness and educate child welfare workers and policymakers on the most appropriate services for children of substance abusing parents to prevent these children and youth from becoming AOD abusers.

   OJJDP funds will enable CWLA to produce a guidebook for top-level officials that describes current practices, models of innovation, and the policy choices faced in linking child welfare service agencies and their substance abuse counterparts. Also under consideration is increasing the number of sites in which CWLA will conduct training-of- trainer sessions from the four sites and 100 workers approved under the cooperative agreement, to eight sites and 200 workers.

   This jointly funded project will be implemented by CWLA. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Diffusion of State Risk- and Protective-Factor Focused Prevention

   OJJDP is providing funds to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), through an interagency agreement, to support this 5-year evaluation program. Fiscal year 1997 funds were used to begin this diffusion study of the natural history of the adoption, implementation, and effects of the public health approach to prevention, focusing on risk and protective factors for substance abuse at the State and community levels. The study seeks to identify phases and factors that influence the adoption of the public health approach and assess the association between the use of this approach for community prevention planning 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 key informant interviews conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2001 to identify and describe the process of implementing the epidemiological risk-and protective-factor approach in seven collaborating States: 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 1998.

   Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With ADHD

   OJJDP will transfer funds under an interagency agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to fund this study. OJJDP's participation in this NIMH-sponsored research is designed to enhance and expand the project to include analysis of justice system contact on the part of the subjects. The study began in 1992, studying the long- term efficacy of stimulant medication and intensive behavioral and educational treatment for children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Originally funded for 5 years, this new round of funding would continue the six study sites for another 5 years, to 2003. Given this continuation, many of the children involved in the study will reach the age at which children normally begin antisocial behavior. To date, no extensive study has examined the relationship between delinquency and ADHD.

   This expanded study, principally funded by NIMH, will follow the original study families and include a comparison group. With OJJDP support, the project sites are beginning to look at the subjects' delinquent behavior and legal system contact. This second funding cycle will include studies of substance use and antisocial behavior.

   OJJDP will support this study through an interagency agreement with the National Institute of Mental Health. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of the Juvenile Mentoring Program

   The overall goals of the Part G Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) are the reduction of delinquency, gang participation, violence, and substance abuse and related behavior and the enhancement of educational opportunity, academic achievement, investments in school, and contribution to one's community. Translating these impact goals to outcome goals, the evaluation grantee will assess and measure the relative probability that JUMP mentees will reflect reductions in delinquency, gang participation, and associated negative behaviors and show improvements in school attendance, school completion, and academic performance.

   The evaluation objectives include assessing and measuring the extent to which the quality of the mentor-mentee relationship generates attitudes, values, and intermediary behavior that increase the probability of the positive outcomes cited as goals. A second objective includes assessing and measuring the attributes of mentor characteristics and behaviors that contribute most to the attainment of mentee results. Other objectives include ensuring that the evaluation instrument is optimally designed, worded, and configured; providing ongoing assistance to JUMP program grantees; implementing quality assurance for raw data received from JUMP grantees and assuring proper entry into the management information data base; preparing appropriate data analysis for each JUMP grantee; generating analyses of site- specific findings; and preparing an aggregate analysis of implementation results and outcome data from all sites with special focus on attributable program effects and implications for replication.

   This evaluation is being conducted by Information Technology International under a 2-year grant that was competitively awarded in FY 1997. The primary focus of the initial award is the original 41 JUMP program sites. OJJDP will extend the project period in FY 1998 with Part G funds for an additional 2 years in order to continue the original evaluation sites and expand the ongoing

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   evaluation to the 52 JUMP grants awarded to new sites in FY 1997. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

   Truancy often leads to dropping out of school, delinquency, and drug abuse. For many youth, truancy may be a first step to a lifetime of unemployment, crime, and incarceration.

   OJJDP is engaging in a joint funding effort with the U.S. Department of Education and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed to award competitive discretionary funds for jurisdictions to address the problem of truancy. OJJDP will be looking for schools and school districts to apply jointly with law enforcement, other juvenile justice system agencies, or community-based programs (such as Weed and Seed sites) to develop and implement a collaborative program designed to reduce truancy in their jurisdictions.

   Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Program

   Evaluation of Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

   OJJDP will award a competitive grant for the first year of a proposed 3\1/2\-year evaluation process that will support implementation and assess the effect of a variety of truancy reduction programs. The evaluation will determine how community collaboration can impact truancy and lead to systemic reform and assist OJJDP in developing a community collaborative truancy reduction program model and identify the essential elements of that model.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Arts and At-Risk Youth

   The need for afterschool programs for youth at risk of delinquency is well-known. The opportunity to join an afterschool arts program that helps students develop their talents and abilities has been shown to help youth stay in school; receive higher grades; develop self-esteem; and resist peer pressure to engage in negative behaviors, such as substance and alcohol use, and other delinquent acts. Unfortunately, juveniles who are at greatest risk of delinquency are the ones who often have the least opportunity to join such programs because they are not available in their schools, neighborhoods, or communities. These youth have limited experiences both in the world of work and in job training skills. In addition, lack of conflict resolution skills makes it difficult for youth to retain jobs once they are employed because they are not well equipped to handle conflicts that may arise.

   OJJDP will be funding an afterschool and summer arts program that combines the arts with job training and conflict resolution skills. This project will include 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 are able to 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.

   OJJDP is collaborating 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 for this 2-year pilot project. OJJDP will award up to two competitive grants to develop and implement a strategy based on research, implement process evaluation, and create reports on the strengths and weaknesses of the pilot program.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Community Volunteer Coordinator Program

   OJJDP will fund noncompetitively the establishment of ``volunteer coordinators'' in three to five ongoing community-based initiative sites for the purpose of expanding the quality, sustainability, and number of safe and positive activities for young people during nonschool hours. Building on the work of the ``Presidents'' Summit for America's Future,'' OJJDP will seek partnerships with other Federal agencies to provide support to identified collaboratives that have demonstrated a clearly articulated plan for increasing volunteerism and representation from schools, law enforcement, city or county government, youth groups, and community-based organizations. Small grants will support the hiring of an individual in the community who will be responsible for inventorying programs; planning; and recruiting, connecting, and training volunteers to participate in a range of programs that provide youth services (mentoring, tutoring, neighborhood restoration, counseling, recreational activities, mediation services, media outreach, and other forms of community service for youth).

   Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles at Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice System

   Some researchers have concluded that children who have difficulties in school often become frustrated because of constant failure. Studies have shown that youth who have a learning disability (LD) are very likely to become truant or drop out of school rather than face the ridicule of their peers. The relationship between an LD and juvenile delinquency is complex.

   A learning disability is a neurological condition that impedes a person's ability to store, process, or produce information. Learning disabilities can affect the ability to read, write, speak, or compute math and can impair socialization skills. Individuals with LD's are generally of average or above average intelligence, but the disability creates a gap between ability and performance.

   School failure associated with learning disabilities is an important risk factor for juvenile delinquency. Whatever the presenting problem (e.g., abuse or neglect, truancy, or delinquency), a large percentage of children who come before the court have some specific learning disability that may have contributed, either directly or indirectly, to the behavior that led to their presence in court. A child with an LD is much more likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system than one without an LD. The prevalence of LD in a population of juvenile delinquents is extremely high: approximately 35 percent of all children in the juvenile justice system have an identified LD.

   To better address the needs of these youth, greater attention needs to be paid at a much younger age to the nature of learning disabilities, their impact on learning and the processing of information in and out of the classroom setting, and their relationship to dropping out and delinquency. Parents, schools, and the juvenile courts need to be more aware of this hidden handicap. These children could be helped if their disabilities were properly diagnosed and treated. Professionals who directly interact with the learning disabled need to share knowledge on how to identify and treat learning disabilities with juvenile justice system practitioners in order to reduce the number of system-

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   involved juveniles who are learning disabled and to retain them in the education mainstream.

   Although committed to addressing the increasing number of juveniles identified with learning disabilities, the Office will not fund a demonstration program in FY 1998 as described in the Proposed Plan. OJJDP will instead work with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education to initiate a variety of activities, including development of a model demonstration program. Other activities this fiscal year will include a focus on developing programs designed to (1) prevent delinquency and incarceration of youth with learning disabilities through early assessment and intervention coordinated across school, police, court, probation, and other community-based services, and (2) reduce recidivism by juvenile offenders by ensuring that students with learning disabilities in correctional settings receive appropriate, specially designed instructional services that address individual needs.

   Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

   OJJDP will continue its support of the Crime Prevention Coalition of America ad 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 funding through a cooperative agreement the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) to produce, disseminate, and support public service advertising and related media that are designed 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 will be administered by BJA through its existing grant to NCPC. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

   Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders

   In FY 1995, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) and Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. (DRP), completed Phases I and II of a collaborative effort to support the development and implementation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. This effort involved assessing existing and previously researched programs in order to identify effective and promising programs that can be used in implementing the Comprehensive Strategy. A series of reports were combined into the Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The effort also included convening the forum ``Guaranteeing Safe Passage: A National Forum on Youth Violence,'' holding two regional training seminars for key leaders on implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, and disseminating the Guide at national conferences.

   In FY 1996, Phase II work included two regional training seminars; the delivery of intensive training and technical assistance to three pilot sites--Lee County, Florida; Ducal County, Florida; and San Diego County, California; and the delivery of technical assistance to five States and selected local jurisdictions implementing the Comprehensive Strategy.

   In FY 1997, the project continued its targeted dissemination of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders at several national conferences and additional regional training seminars and continued providing the five States with intensive training for implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, providing individualized technical assistance to individual jurisdictions interested in implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, and continuing developmental work on Comprehensive Strategy training materials.

   In FY 1998, this project will continue the implementation efforts and expand to up to two additional States. In each of the new States, up to six jurisdictions will be identified to receive Comprehensive Strategy implementation training and technical assistance.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantees, NCCD and DRP. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Balanced and Restorative Justice Project (BARJ)

   Based on research showing that properly structured restitution programs can reduce recidivism, OJJDP has supported development and improvement of juvenile restitution programs since 1977. The BARJ project sprang from OJJDP's RESTTA (Restitution, Education, Specialized Training, and Technical Assistance) Project. In FY 1992, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) was awarded a competitive grant to enhance the development of restitution programs as part of systemwide juvenile justice improvement using balanced approach concepts and restorative justice principles. In subsequent years, the project developed a BARJ program model. The model was initially described in a 1994 OJJDP Program Summary entitled Balanced and Restorative Justice, which became a reference source for BARJ training.

   The BARJ project currently provides intensive training, technical assistance, and guideline materials to three selected sites that over recent years have been implementing major systemic change in accordance with the BARJ model. The three sites are Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Dakota County, Minnesota; and West Palm Beach County, Florida. In addition, the BARJ Project has continuously offered technical assistance and training to other jurisdictions nationwide. Project staff have also provided training at regional roundtables and at professional conferences dealing with juvenile justice system improvement. In 1997, the project published another reference document entitled Balanced and Restorative Justice for Juveniles: A Framework for Juvenile Justice in the 21st Century. The project also compiled a BARJ Implementation Guide.

   In FY 1998, the BARJ Project will produce additional reference and training materials and will offer further training and technical assistance.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, FAU. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender- Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

   The 1992 Amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act addressed, for the first time, the issue of gender- specific services. The Amendments require States participating in the JJDP Act's Part B State Formula Grants program to conduct an analysis of gender-specific services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency, including the types of services available, the need for such services, and a plan for providing needed gender-specific services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.

   In FY 1995, OJJDP's Gender-Specific Services program focused on providing training and technical assistance directly to States and promoting the

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   establishment of gender-specific programs at the State level. Training and technical assistance were provided to a broad spectrum of policymakers and service providers regarding services available for juvenile female offenders under direct grants, sponsorship of national conferences, and inclusion of a gender-specific service component in the OJJDP-funded comprehensive SafeFutures program.

   In FY 1996, building upon these past efforts, OJJDP awarded a 3- year competitive grant to Greene, Peters and Associates (GPA) to provide a comprehensive framework for assisting policymakers, service providers, educators, parents, and the general public in addressing the complex needs of female adolescents who are at risk for delinquent behavior. The project's objectives are to develop and test a training curriculum for policymakers, advocacy organizations, and community- based youth-serving organizations that conveys the need for effective gender-specific programming for juvenile females and the elements of such programs; to develop, test, and deliver a technical assistance package on the development of gender-specific programs; to inventory female-specific programs, identifying those program models designed to build upon the gender-specific needs of girls and preparing a monograph suitable for national dissemination; to design and test a curriculum for line staff delivering services to juvenile females; to design and implement a public education initiative on the need for gender-specific programming for girls; and to design and conduct training for trainers. In FY 1997, the training curriculum for policymakers, advocacy organizations, and community leaders was developed and pilot-tested at three sites, and a final draft of the monograph was completed.

   In FY 1998, GPA will develop a needs assessment for State Advisory Groups, develop a technical assistance package, and develop and test a curriculum for practitioners based on the monograph findings.

   This program will be implemented by the current grantee, GPA. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies

   In FY 1995, OJJDP competitively awarded two extensive studies of the increasing juvenile transfer phenomenon. Most States have passed new legislation either permitting or requiring the transfer of alleged juvenile offenders to criminal court under certain circumstances. However, studies of the impact of criminal court prosecution of juveniles have yielded mixed conclusions. Solid research on the intended and unintended consequences of transfer of juveniles to criminal court will enable policymakers and legislatures to develop statutory provisions and policies and improve judicial and prosecutorial waiver and transfer decisions. Preliminary findings from these two studies (along with other efforts started over the past 2 years) have provided a wealth of information. The study undertaken in Florida has extensively examined the records of juveniles transferred to adult court along with similar juveniles who were not transferred, including case attribute information. Through this data collection, the research is bringing to light the differences in case handling and how these differences affect the outcome of the specific case. The differences in dispositions will naturally be a concern for many interested in the subject.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will increase the understanding of the transfer issues by expanding the Florida study to include a greater number of cases and to include some basic recidivism measures. The Florida study has relied mainly on paper records for the case information. Such records require considerable time and effort to review. As such, the number of cases included in the first phase of this study was relatively small. Expansion of this study will allow the researchers to examine a greater number of cases in the a wider range of jurisdictions in Florida resulting in a greater understanding of the issue based on how the dynamics of jurisdictions may differ. Also, by expanding the tracking of the case subjects to include arrests and court cases following transfer to adult court, the researchers will provide insight on the recidivism that follows transfer of jurisdiction.

   This project will be carried out by the current grantee, the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board of the State of Florida. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Replication and Extension of Fagan Transfer Study

   The ``Comparative Impact of Juvenile Versus Criminal Court Sanctions on Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony Offenders: A Replication and Extension'' project will continue in FY 1998, building on the past work of Dr. Jeffrey Fagan. In FY 1997, OJJDP awarded a two- year project period grant to Columbia University to build on Dr. Fagan's seminal study of 1986 transfers in New York and New Jersey. The earlier study was the first of its kind to compare four contiguous counties with similar social, economic, and criminogenic factors and offender cohorts with essentially identical offense profiles. It was also the first such study to go beyond comparing sentences to studying the deterrent effects of the sanction and court jurisdiction on recidivism rates in juvenile versus criminal court.

   The replication and extension research project will be able to answer questions about how case processing decisions have changed in the last decade. The new study will compare case attribute information and case dispositional outcomes in 1981-82 with those cases processed in 1993-94, a time period following sustained growth in the rates of youth violence. In addition, a study component under the direction of Dr. Barry Feld will explore whether there are factors being considered by prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys that explain the variation in sentences/dispositions and recidivism between groups of offenders handled in different systems. This component will provide an analysis of the organizational, contextual, or systemic factors involved in the decision processes affecting both jurisdiction and punishment. The study will also conduct interviews with selected offenders processed in different systems to gain a perspective on the impact of criminal versus juvenile system handling of such cases on further experiences with the justice system. The project will also collaborate with the other research conducted under OJJDP's Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies program in sharing data collection instruments and in planning appropriate joint analyses.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Columbia University. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

   OJJDP has historically supported prosecutor training through the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA). This training has increased the involvement and leadership of elected and appointed prosecutors in juvenile justice systems issues, programs, and services. To continue that progress, OJJDP funded a 3-year project period grant in FY 1996 to the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), the research and technical assistance affiliate of NDAA, to promote prosecutor training. Under this award, APRI established a Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit (JJPU). The JJPU holds workshops on juvenile- related policy,

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   leadership, and management for chief prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs and also provides prosecutors with background information on juvenile justice issues, programs, training, and technical assistance.

   The project solicits planning and other advisory input from prosecutors familiar with juvenile justice system and prosecutor needs. It draws on the expertise of working groups of elected or appointed prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs to support project staff in providing technical assistance, juvenile justice-related research, program information, and training to practitioners nationwide. In FY 1997, for example, APRI held two executive seminars for prosecutors and sponsored a National Invitational Symposium on Juvenile Justice. The Symposium provided a forum for prosecutors to exchange ideas on programs, issues, legislation, and practices in juvenile justice. APRI has also produced materials focused on juvenile prosecution-related issues for the benefit of prosecutors nationally.

   In FY 1998, APRI will present additional workshops and seminars and will develop new reference materials for prosecutors. Included in the documents expected to be developed will be a compendium of juvenile justice programs conducted by prosecutors offices, technical assistance packages related to significant juvenile justice programs and issues of interest to prosecutors, and newsletters updating developments in the juvenile prosecution field.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, APRI. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Due Process Advocacy Program Development

   In FY 1993, OJJDP competitively funded the American Bar Association (ABA) to determine the status of juvenile defense services in the United States, develop a report, and then develop training and technical assistance. The ABA-- along with its partners, the Youth Law Center of San Francisco, California, and the Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--conducted an extensive survey of public defender offices, court-appointed systems, law school clinics, and the literature. These data were then analyzed and a report, entitled A Call for Justice, was developed and published in December 1995.

   The ABA has also developed and delivered specialized training to juvenile defenders in several jurisdictions, such as the State of Maryland, the State of Tennessee, Baltimore County, Maryland, and several other States and localities, to assist in increasing the capacity of juvenile defenders to provide more effective defense services. In October 1997, the ABA and its partners organized and implemented the first Juvenile Defender Summit at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. The Summit brought together public defenders, court-appointed lawyers, law school clinic directors, juvenile offender services representatives, and others for a 2\1/2\-day meeting to examine the issues related to juvenile defense services and recommend strategies for improving these services. A report is forthcoming on the Summit and the recommendations that emerged from the seven working groups.

   OJJDP will fund the establishment of a Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center in FY 1998, to be operational in early FY 1999. To ensure that training and technical assistance continue in the interim and into 1999 and to provide for the transition to the new Juvenile Defender Center, OJJDP will continue the Due Process Advocacy grant for an additional year.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the American Bar Association. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) Evaluation

   In FY 1997, OJJDP funded an impact evaluation of the Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP)through an interagency fund transfer to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). QOP was designed by the Ford Foundation and Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America as a career enrichment program using a model providing basic education. Personal and cultural development, community service, and mentoring. The purpose of the OJJDP funding for the evaluation is to determine whether QOP reduces the likelihood that inner-city youth at educational risk will enter the criminal justice system, including the juvenile justice system. The QOP impact evaluation is designed to measure the impact of QOP participation on such outcomes as high school graduation and enrollment in postsecondary education and training. Other student outcomes to be examined include academic achievement in high school; misbehavior in school; self-esteem and sense of control over one's life; educational and career goals; and personal decisions such as teenage parenthood, substance abuse, and criminal activity. Data on criminal activity is being collected from individual student interviews.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue this enhancement to the DOL-funded evaluation to provide for the collection of analogous data from the juvenile justice system, thus allowing estimates of the impact of the QOP program on the likelihood of program youth becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Attention would be focused on identifying the appropriate governmental agencies responsible for the data, dealing with confidentiality requirements, determining the feasibility of collecting such information, preparing data collection protocols for each site, and preparing a report outlining the data collection design for implementation.

   This program will be implemented through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance Program

   This initiative is designed to support implementation, training and technical assistance, and an independent evaluation of an intensive community-based aftercare model in four jurisdictions that were competitively selected to participate in this demonstration program. 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 can be viewed as having 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.

   In FY 1995, the Johns Hopkins University received a competitively awarded 3-year grant to test its intensive community-based aftercare model in four demonstration sites: Denver (Metro area), Colorado; Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada; Camden and Newark, New Jersey; and Norfolk, Virginia.

   The Johns Hopkins University has contracted with California State University at Sacramento to assist in the implementation process by providing training and technical assistance and by making OJJDP funds available through

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   contracts to each of the four demonstration sites.

   Each of the sites developed risk assessment instruments for use in selecting high-risk youth who need this type of intensive aftercare, hired and trained staff in the intensive aftercare model, identified existing and needed community support (intervention) services, and identified and collected data necessary for the independent evaluation of the intensive community-based aftercare program. In accordance with a strong experimental research design, each of the sites uses a system of random assignment of clients to the program.

   The Johns Hopkins University and California State University at Sacramento have provided continuing training and technical assistance to administrators, managers, and line staff at the intensive community- based aftercare sites. Staff have been fully trained in the theoretical underpinnings of the IAP model and in its practical applications, such as techniques for identifying juveniles appropriate for the program. Training and technical assistance in this model have also been made available to other States and OJJDP grantees on a limited basis.

   This effort is the first attempt to implement an intensive, integrated approach to aftercare with the necessary transition and reentry components. One more year of program operation and data collection would provide the information and data needed for analysis of the effectiveness of the IAP model. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency is performing an evaluation under a separate grant.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide a fourth year of funding to the Johns Hopkins University to provide ongoing training and technical assistance to three of the four selected sites. (One of the four sites, New Jersey, has discontinued its participation in the demonstration.) This fourth year of funding will also expand aftercare technical assistance services to include jurisdictions participating in the OJJDP/Department of the Interior Youth Environmental Service (YES) initiative, OJJDP's six SafeFutures program sites, and other programs, including the New York State Division for Youth's Youth Leadership Academy in Albany, New York. In addition, the grantee will work with selected States that plan to implement the IAP model with State funds.

   The IAP project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Johns Hopkins University. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program

   In FY 1995, OJJDP competitively awarded a 3-year grant to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) to perform a process evaluation and design an outcome evaluation of the Intensive Community- Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance program. In FY 1997, the project was extended an additional year to begin the outcome evaluation.

   The purpose of the outcome evaluation is to answer the following key research questions: (1) To what extent is the nature of supervision and services provided Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program (IAP) youth different from that given to ``regular'' parolees? (2) To what extent does IAP have an impact on the subsequent delinquent or criminal involvement of program participants? (3) To what extent does the IAP have an impact on the specific areas of youth functioning that it targets for intervention? These intermediate outcomes include, for example, reduction of substance abuse, improved family functioning, improved peer relationships, improved self-concept, and reduced delinquent or criminal behavior. (4) To what extent is IAP cost- effective?

   To obtain the answers to these questions, NCCD is (1) using a true experimental design that will involve random assignment of IAP-eligible youth to either the experimental or control conditions; (2) using a series of measures to compare differences between the two groups in terms of services delivered, prepost changes in selected areas of youth functioning, and the extent and nature of recidivism; and (3) estimating the per-participant costs for the IAP and control groups.

   Data collection is being accomplished using several methods, including use of a series of forms developed to capture data on youth and program characteristics and a battery of standardized testing instruments administered before and after institutional commitment and IAP to measure the changes in youth functioning. The grantee is also conducting searches of State agency and 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, NCCD. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Ann Wysinger Memorial Program)

   National data and studies have shown that minority children are overrepresented in secure juvenile and criminal justice facilities across the country. Since the 1988 reauthorization of the JJDP Act, State Formula Grants program plans have addressed the disproportionate confinement of minority juveniles. This is accomplished by gathering and analyzing data to determine whether minority juveniles are disproportionately confined and, if so, designing strategies to address this issue. A competitive Special Emphasis discretionary grant program was developed in FY 1991 to demonstrate model approaches to addressing disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) in five State pilot sites (Arizona, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and Oregon). Funds were also awarded to a national contractor to provide technical assistance to assist both the pilot sites and other States, evaluate their efforts, and share relevant information.

   In FY's 1994 and 1995, OJJDP made additional Special Emphasis discretionary funds available to nonpilot States that had completed data gathering and assessment in order to provide initial funding for innovative projects designed to address DMC.

   These efforts to address DMC have yielded an important lesson: that systemic, broad-based interventions are necessary to address the issue. In recognition of the continued need to improve the ability of States and local jurisdictions to address DMC, OJJDP issued a competitive solicitation in FY 1997 for innovative proposals to implement a 3-year national training, technical assistance, and information dissemination initiative focused on the disproportionate confinement of minority youth.

   In FY 1997, through a competitive selection process, OJJDP awarded a 3-year contract to implement the DMC training program to Cygnus Corporation, Inc. Project objectives for the first year were (1) to disseminate to States, localities, OJJDP staff, and key OJJDP grantees a review and synthesis of the existing knowledge base and research on DMC that includes State and local practices designed to address DMC; (2) to develop a training curriculum for policymakers, decisionmakers, and practitioners in the juvenile justice system; (3) to develop and deliver technical assistance to OJJDP grantees

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   and to incorporate DMC issues, practices, and policies; (4) to develop and begin the process of assisting DMC grantees to implement and institutionalize their DMC programs; (5) to collaborate with OJJDP's Formula Grants program technical assistance contractor, Community Research Associates, and OJJDP staff to help States improve their DMC compliance plans and their strategic planning as it addresses DMC; (6) to plan, develop, and implement a national dissemination and education effort to facilitate development of effective DMC efforts at the State and local levels; and (7) to convene an advisory group to support the project team on current DMC policy, practice and progress.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Cygnus Corporation, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Management Staff

   This training program for juvenile corrections and detention management staff began in FY 1991 under a 3-year interagency agreement with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). The program offers a core curriculum for juvenile corrections and detention administrators and midlevel management personnel in such areas as leadership development, management, training of trainers, legal issues, cultural diversity, the role of the victim in juvenile corrections, juvenile programming for specialized-need offenders, and managing the violent or disruptive offender. Because of the continuing need for the executive level training NIC provides, the agreement was renewed for an additional 3-year term in FY 1994 and renewed again in FY 1997 for a 2- year term. In FY 1997, NIC conducted 8 training seminars, 2 workshops, 1 satellite video conference and made 14 technical assistance awards, reaching more than 6,000 participants.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive training program for juvenile corrections and detention management staff through the interagency agreement with NIC. It is anticipated that in FY 1998 the project will provide 6 seminars to more than 150 executives and management staff and technical assistance related to training to a number of juvenile corrections and detention agencies. The training is conducted at the NIC Academy and regionally.

   The program will be implemented by the current grantee, NIC. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

   Training is a cost-effective tool for helping to improve conditions of confinement and services for youth detained or confined in residential facilities. In FY 1994, the National Juvenile Detention Association (NJDA) was awarded a competitive 3-year project period grant to establish a training program to meet the needs of the more than 38,000 line staff serving juvenile detention and corrections facilities. In FY 1995 and FY 1996, NJDA developed eight training curriculums, including a corrections careworker curriculum and a train- the-trainer curriculum. In addition, NJDA conducted 42 separate trainings, developed lesson plans, and provided technical assistance to juvenile justice agencies.

   In FY 1997, NJDA received its final year of funding under the grant to provide training and technical assistance services to State agencies and organizations in 16 States, assist regional groups and local organizations, directly train nearly 700 line staff, and respond to telephone requests for technical assistance services. NJDA also established Web site connections with OJJDP, the American Correctional Association, and other organizations. A community college in Michigan is adapting two of the NJDA curriculums, Juvenile Detention Careworker Curriculum and Juvenile Corrections Careworker Curriculum, for academic credit.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will award a grant to NJDA under the new Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program. This project, Accountability-Based Training for Staff in Juvenile Confinement Facilities, will emphasize accountability, competency development, and community protection and restoration in its curriculums. These goals are driving forces behind the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders and the Balanced and Restorative Justice Model in current juvenile justice policy. Accountability-based interventions can change juvenile offenders through healthy relationships with healthy adults. Staff training remains the most cost-effective strategy of integrating these principles within juvenile confinement and custody facilities.

   In formal partnership with the National Association of Juvenile Correctional Agencies, Juvenile Justice Trainers Association, and the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, NJDA's goals for FY 1998 include the delivery of line staff training and technical assistance, conducting training evaluation in conjunction with the National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) protocols, providing pilot training for trainers, developing action plans for two new curriculums, drafting line staff professional development models, and disseminating training materials and services through the NTTAC and the Internet.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NJDA. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

   The Conditions of Confinement: Juvenile Detention and Correctional Facilities Research Report (1994), completed by Abt Associates under an OJJDP grant, identified overcrowding as the most urgent problem facing juvenile corrections and detention facilities. Overcrowding in juvenile facilities is a function of decisions and policies made at the State and local levels. The trend toward increased use of detention and commitment to State facilities, which has been seen in many jurisdictions, has been reversed when key decisionmakers, such as the chief judge, chief of police, director of the local detention facility, head of the State juvenile correctional agency, and others who affect the flow of juveniles through the system, agree to make decisions collaboratively and modify existing practices and policies. In some instances, modification has occurred in response to court orders. Compliance with court orders can be improved with the support of enhanced interagency communication and planning among those agencies impacting the flow of juveniles through the system.

   In addressing the problem of overcrowded facilities, OJJDP considered the recommendations of the Conditions of Confinement study regarding overcrowding, the data on overrepresentation of minority youth in confinement, and other information that suggests crowding in juvenile facilities is a national problem. Policymakers can address this issue by increasing capacity, where necessary, or by taking other steps to control crowding.

   This project, competitively awarded to the National Juvenile Detention Association (NJDA) (in partnership with the San Francisco Youth Law Center) in FY 1994 for a 3-year project period,

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   provides training and technical assistance materials for use by State and local jurisdictional teams. After information collection and preparation of training and technical assistance materials in FY's 1994 and 1995, NJDA selected three jurisdictions in FY 1996 for onsite development, implementation, and testing of procedures to reduce crowding. The sites are Camden, New Jersey; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Rhode Island Juvenile Corrections System. In FY 1997, project accomplishments included the following: (1) development of a resource guide, Juvenile Detention and Training School Crowding: Court Case Summaries, and a training tool, ``Crowding in Juvenile Detention Centers: A Problem-Solving Manual'' (in draft); (2) delivery of comprehensive technical assistance to two detention centers and limited technical assistance to two State juvenile corrections systems; and (3) training presentations to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and other groups.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will award continuation funding to NJDA to continue efforts to reduce overcrowding in facilities where juveniles are held, through systemic change within local juvenile detention systems or statewide juvenile corrections systems. Among the specific activities planned for FY 1998 are (1) publication of a special edition of the NJDA Journal for Juvenile Justice and Detention focused exclusively on jurisdictional teamwork to reduce overcrowding in juvenile detention and corrections (jurisdictional teams consist of designated NJDA/Youth Law Center project staff working with key juvenile justice officials in the sites selected for technical assistance); (2) completion of a strategy to deliver comprehensive technical assistance to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Agency; (3) identification of additional sites for comprehensive training and technical assistance; (4) development of a desktop guide on juvenile facility overcrowding; (5) further refinement of the jurisdictional team training and technical assistance package; (6) development of a national videoconference on crowding issues; (7) education and information dissemination to the juvenile justice community; and (8) exploration of public/private partnerships.

   This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NJDA. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   National Program Directory

   In FY 1998, OJJDP proposes to support the maintenance of this directory that identifies and categorizes juvenile justice agencies, facilities, and programs in the United States to allow for routine statistical data collections covering these agencies and programs. The directory project has developed lists of juvenile detention, correctional, and shelter facilities. This list, which includes all public and private facilities that can hold juveniles who are in the juvenile justice system in a residential setting (i.e., with sleeping, eating, and other necessary facilities), has served as the frame for OJJDP's Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement and would serve as the frame for OJJDP's Juvenile Residential Facility Census. The directory project has also begun development of a list of juvenile probation offices to serve as the frame for OJJDP's Survey of Juvenile Probation.

   Beyond developing the computer structure, this project developed the actual sampling frame or address list. The development of complete frames for any segment of the juvenile justice system required many different approaches. The Census Bureau used contacts with professional organizations to compile a preliminary list of juvenile facilities, courts, probation offices, and programs. The Census Bureau will seek contacts in each State for further clarification of the lists, following up until a complete list of all programs of interest has been compiled.

   This program will be continued in FY 1998 through an interagency agreement with the Census Bureau. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Interagency Programs on Mental Health and Juvenile Justice

   In October 1996, OJJDP convened a Mental Health/Juvenile Justice Working Group to discuss the mental health needs of juveniles and to suggest funding priorities for OJJDP. In the 1997 program planning process, OJJDP determined that with the minimal resources available it would be cost effective to support several ongoing programs funded by other Federal agencies that were consistent with the recommended areas of activity. OJJDP therefore transferred funds to three Federal agencies to support the enhancement of juvenile justice components or research on at-risk youth in the mental health area.

   First, OJJDP transferred funds to the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to support a 3-year effort to provide technical assistance to the 31 existing CMHS Child Mental Health sites. The project period began on October 1, 1997, and will end on September 30, 2000. These funds will be used to strengthen the capacity of the existing sites by providing technical assistance on mental health services for juveniles in the juvenile justice system and by including them in the continuum of care that is being created in the sites.

   OJJDP also transferred funds to the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), which, along with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, supports a program to provide technical assistance with regard to programming and services for juvenile offenders with co-occurring disorders. This is also a 3-year project period that began on October 1, 1997, and will end on September 30, 2000. NIC will supplement the existing technical assistance provider, the GAINS Center, to enable it to devote technical assistance resources to support improved treatment and services programs for juvenile offenders with co-occurring disorders in the juvenile justice system. Previously, the focus of the grant had been on the provision of technical assistance to the adult system.

   Finally, OJJDP transferred funds to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to partially support additional costs associated with the conduct of an expanded and extended followup study of various treatment modalities for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in children. The expanded followup will assess substance abuse and use and related factors necessary for evaluating changes in ADHD children's risk for subsequent substance use and abuse attributable to their randomly assigned treatment conditions. In addition, the multimodal treatment study of children with ADHD affords the opportunity to assess the experience of study participants with the legal system, e.g., contacts with the juvenile justice system, acts of delinquency, court referrals, and other criminal and/or precriminal activities.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will transfer additional funds to support continuation of the NIC and CMHS technical assistance and the training and research of NIMH. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Juvenile Residential Facility Census

   In 1998, OJJDP will fund the development and testing of a new census of juvenile residential facilities.

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   This census will focus on those facilities that are authorized to hold juveniles based on contact with the juvenile justice system. During FY 1997, the project conducted an extensive series of interviews with facility administrators and facility staff onsite at 20 locations. The subjects covered in these interviews included education, mental health and substance abuse treatment, health services, conditions of custody, staffing, and facility capacity. From these interviews, the project staff have produced an extensive and detailed report for OJJDP discussing how best to capture information on these topics and has produced a draft questionnaire based on these results.

   In FY 1998, the project staff will refine the draft instrument and test it through a series of cognitive interviews onsite at approximately 25 facilities. After another round of revision and comment, the questionnaire will be tested for feasibility by conducting a sample survey of 500 facilities. Again, the questionnaire will go through a round of revision based on the test results before being finalized.

   This project will be conducted through an interagency agreement with the Bureau of the Census, Governments Division and Statistical Research Division. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97

   OJJDP will support the second round of data collection under the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 (NLSY97) through an interagency agreement with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In 1994, BLS began its design and development work for a new National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, similar to the ongoing National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Under the NLSY97, a nationally representative sample of 10,000 youth ages 12 to 17 years old was selected in order to study the school-to-work transition. However, BLS has acknowledged the importance of collecting additional data on the involvement of these youth in antisocial and other behavior that may affect their successful transition to productive work careers.

   The breadth of topics covered by this survey provides a rich and complementary source of information about risk and protective factors that are also related to the initiation, persistence and desistance of delinquent and criminal behavior. This interagency agreement supplements the data collection by asking questions about delinquency, guns, drug sales, and violent behavior. In addition to generating the first national, cross sectional, estimates of self-reported delinquency since the late National Youth Survey of the early 1980's, this new longitudinal survey will also provide an opportunity to determine the generalizability of the findings from OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency and other city-specific longitudinal studies across a nationally representative population of youth.

   The program will be implemented by the BLS under an interagency agreement. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative

   In FY 1998, OJJDP, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL's) Employment and Training Administration, will provide funding support to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for demonstration and evaluation of the TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative. DOL will provide $2.5 million to support the program, and OJJDP will provide $250,000 to support the initial costs of the evaluation. This initiative will provide employment training and other related services to at-risk youth through local Boys & Girls Clubs with TeenSupreme Centers. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America currently has 41 TeenSupreme Centers in local clubs around the country and may consider expanding the number of centers in 1998. DOL funds will support program staffing in the existing 41 TeenSupreme Centers and provide intensive training and technical assistance to each site. These funds will also be used by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide administrative and staffing support to this program from the national office. OJJDP funds will be used to support the evaluation component of the program. Boys & Girls Clubs of America will contract with an independent evaluator to evaluate the program.

   This jointly funded Department of Labor and OJJDP initiative will be implemented by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Technical Assistance to Native Americans

   American Indian programs for juveniles are facing increasing pressures because of the growing number of youth who are involved in drug abuse, gang activity, and delinquency. Many reservations are experiencing the problems that plague communities nationwide: gang activity, violent crime, use of weapons, and increasing drug and alcohol abuse.

   From FY 1992 to FY 1995, OJJDP funded four American Indian sites to support the development of community-based programs to deal with these problems. These sites were the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona; the Navajo Nation Chinle District in Arizona; the Red Lake Ojibwe in Minnesota; and the Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico. Each of these communities implemented programs specifically designed to meet the needs of the tribe. For example, in Gila River, an alternative school was developed and implemented. The Navajo Nation expanded the Peace Maker program to accommodate additional delinquent offenders, an approach that was adopted by the Red Lake and Pueblo of Jemez communities. Additional programming, such as job skills development, was also initiated in some of these communities to meet the needs of tribal youth. Although these programs were well received, the sites also needed to expand programming options such as gang and drug prevention and intervention programs.

   In FY 1997, American Indian Development Associates (AIDA) was selected to implement OJJDP's national technical assistance program for tribes and urban tribal programs across the country. This 3-year program will support the development of additional program options for the four tribes previously funded and extend technical assistance to tribal communities and urban tribal programs nationwide. AIDA initially developed a needs assessment instrument and provided other technical assistance to Juvenile Detention Facilities in Indian Country under an agreement to support the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Corrections Program Office's project with the Gila River and Yankton Tribes. AIDA also facilitated team learning activities during the Arizona Indian Youth Gang Prevention Conference, coordinated the First Native American Juvenile Justice Summit, and provided technical assistance to Indian tribes on behalf of OJJDP, the Office of Tribal Justice, and the OJP Indian Desk.

   In FY 1998, AIDA will continue to provide technical assistance to American Indian and Alaskan Native communities. Technical assistance will enable the tribes to further develop alternatives to detention, specifically targeting juveniles who are first or nonviolent offenders; design guidebooks for the tribal peacemaking process to be used in addressing juvenile delinquency issues that are reported to Family District Court systems; design and

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   implement juvenile justice needs assessments to assist tribes in responding to juvenile detention and alternatives to detention needs; develop protocols to implement State Children's Code provisions that affect Native American Children; establish sustainable, comprehensive community-based planning processes that focus on the needs of tribal youth; plan and conduct juvenile justice training seminars; and assist John Jay College of Criminal Justice to design and develop a Tribal Justice Training and Technical Assistance Workshop under OJJDP's Law Enforcement Training Contract. The workshop will emphasize juvenile probation, serious habitual offenders, and tribal youth gangs.

   This program will be implemented by the current grantee, American Indian Development Associates. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Youth Court: A Training and Technical Assistance Delivery Program

   OJJDP considers teen courts, also called peer or youth courts, to be a promising mechanism for holding juvenile offenders accountable for their actions while promoting avenues for positive youth development. Teen courts are included as a promising early intervention program in OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders.

   To encourage the use of teen court programs to address problems associated with delinquency, substance abuse, and traffic safety, OJJDP provided funding in FY 1996 to supplement the existing Teen Court Program of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The NHTSA grant was awarded in FY 1994 for a 3-year project period to the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) to develop a teen court guide and provide training and technical assistance to develop or enhance teen court programs. This NHTSA grant was supplemented with OJJDP FY 1996 and FY 1997 funds to support the development of the joint publication Peer Justice and Youth Empowerment: An Implementation Guide for Teen Court Programs and to provide an expanded technical assistance capacity.

   The national response to APPA's training and technical assistance and to the Guide has been very enthusiastic. A second printing of the Guide will be available later this year. NHTSA and OJJDP have received numerous requests to provide additional training seminars and technical assistance based on the Guide.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP is collaborating with NHTSA, HHS, and the Department of Education, to enhance the training seminars with information on the possibility of teen courts being used as an integral part of balanced and restorative justice initiatives and to help address the growing problem of children who are being suspended and expelled from school because of misbehavior, including misbehavior related to learning problems. These activities will complement current training on the use of teen courts to address youth possession and use of alcohol and marijuana, issues of particular interest to these agencies. Technical assistance will be provided to selected jurisdictions with site-specific strategic planning for the program organizers on developing, implementing, or enhancing teen court programs, particularly in school-related areas. OJJDP will award a competitive grant under the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants program to implement a 2-year training and technical assistance program.

   School Safety Training and Technical Assistance

   Since 1984, OJJDP and the U.S. Department of Education have provided joint funding to the National School Safety Center to promote safe schools--free of crime and violence through training and technical assistance and the dissemination of information. This initiative 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. OJJDP will continue this partnership with the Department of Education by issuing a competitive solicitation for a cooperative agreement with a private nonprofit organization to provide training and technical assistance to communities and school districts across the country. It is expected that these activities will be closely coordinated with the ongoing review of literature, research, and evaluation of school-based demonstration efforts being undertaken by the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence with OJJDP FY 1998 funding support.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Disproportionate Minority Confinement

   OJJDP is interested in exploring additional work in the area of disproportionate minority confinement in secure detention or correctional facilities, adult jails and lockups, and other secure institutional facilities. The proposed work will include a variety of activities, including--but not limited to--demonstration programs, national education efforts, and local program evaluations.

   Disproportionate minority representation in secure juvenile facilities and other institutions is a major problem facing the juvenile justice system. While minorities represent 32 percent of the juvenile population ages 12 to 17, they represent 68 percent of the confined juvenile population.

   OJJDP has previously funded programs designed to assist and enable States to identify strategies to address the overrepresentation of minority juveniles, including an evaluation of a county juvenile court's efforts to reduce minority overrepresentation. Similar efforts, particularly those that offer conceptual, indepth, capacity-building will help to ensure that minority juvenile offenders receive appropriate treatment at all stages of the juvenile justice system process. OJJDP will join the Rockefeller Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Open Society Institute, California Wellness Foundation, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance in making funds available to the Youth Law Center to support the initiative Building Blocks For Youth, a 3- year effort to promote a comprehensive approach to addressing the problem of disproportionate incarceration of minority youth in the juvenile justice system. The initiative provides a five-pronged strategy based on research and targeted at policies and attitudes that contribute to differential treatment of minority youth. It supports the Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce Disproportionate Minority Confinement program being implemented by Cygnus Corporation and OJJDP's Formula Grants technical assistance provider and its ongoing efforts to reduce DMC.

   Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections

   OJJDP will provide support for arts programs for youth in juvenile detention centers and corrections facilities through the establishment of artist-in-residence programs. This initiative will increase awareness of opportunities to

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   establish visual, performing, media, and literacy artist-in-residence programs in juvenile detention centers and corrections facilities.

   OJJDP will encourage the development of these programs by convening interested arts organizations and juvenile justice agencies for the purpose of providing training in arts program development to one demonstration site and three enhancement sites.

   OJJDP will be collaborating with the NEA and will issue a competitive solicitation in FY 1998. The awarded grantees will receive training and technical assistance support over the duration of the grant through a provider selected by NEA and OJJDP.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   ``Circles of Care''--A Program To Develop Strategies To Serve Native American Youth With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Needs

   The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is developing a Guidance for Federal Applicants that will result in the funding of a 3- year program to 6-8 sites to plan and develop systems of care for American Indian youth who are seriously emotionally disturbed and/or substance abusers. The grantees will engage in a structured process to plan, develop, and test a system of care that achieves the outcomes developed by American Indian, Alaskan Native, or urban nonprofit organizations serving populations of American Indian or Alaskan Native youth.

   OJJDP will provide resources, including grant funds and technical assistance, where appropriate, to assure that American Indian/Alaskan Native youth who are in the juvenile justice system and who are seriously emotionally disturbed or substance abusers are planned for and made part of the service system. OJJDP will transfer funds to CMHS/ SAMHSA to assist with the development and implementation of this program.

   Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center

   In FY 1993, OJJDP competitively funded the American Bar Association (ABA) to determine the status of juvenile defense services in the United States, develop a report, and provide training and technical assistance. The ABA--along with its partners, the Youth Law Center of San Francisco, California, and the Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--conducted an extensive survey of public defender offices, court-appointed systems, law school clinics, and the literature. These data were then analyzed and a report, entitled A Call for Justice, was developed and published in December 1995.

   The ABA has also developed and delivered specialized training to juvenile defenders in several jurisdictions, such as the State of Maryland, the State of Tennessee, Baltimore County, Maryland, and several other States and localities, to assist in increasing the capacity of juvenile defenders to provide more effective defense services. In October 1997, the ABA and its partners organized and implemented the first Juvenile Defender Summit at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. The Summit brought together public defenders, court-appointed lawyers, law school clinic directors, juvenile offender services representatives, and others for a 2\1/2\-day meeting to examine the issues related to juvenile defense services and recommend strategies for improving these services.

   This work has served as a catalyst for the development of a more permanent structure 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 will provide seed money in FY 1998 to fund the initial planning and implementation of a Juvenile Defender Center. The grantee is expected to establish a broad-based partnership of public and private organizations to help ensure long-term financial support for 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 brief bank, and information on expert witnesses. OJJDP anticipates that this program will be a 5-year effort.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

   In 1996, one in four juvenile arrests was of a female, and increases in arrests between 1992 and 1996 were greater for juvenile females than juvenile males in most offense categories. Yet programs to address the unique needs of female delinquents have been and remain inadequate in many jurisdictions. The risk factors that females face are not identical with those facing males. Major risk factors for girls include abuse and exploitation, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and parenting, low or damaged self-esteem, and truancy or dropping out of school. Communities and their juvenile justice systems need to develop programs designed to help female offenders overcome these risk factors.

   Cook County, for example, used an FY 1995 competitive grant to build a network of support for juvenile female offenders in Cook County. The County's work in this area involved developing a gender- specific needs and strengths assessment instrument and a risk assessment instrument for juvenile female offenders, providing training in implementing gender-appropriate programming, and designing a pilot program that includes a community-based continuum of care with a unique case management system.

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide continuation funding to the Cook County gender-specific program. In addition, Cook County will provide technical assistance and support to the State of Connecticut in planning for systemic change and modifications in policies and procedures that will facilitate more effective handling of female juvenile offenders and establish a hierarchy of sanctions with an emphasis on pregnant girls and girls who are mothers. Cook County will share lessons learned and help Connecticut develop specialized programs for girls from prevention to detention; identify and utilize a range of support services to augment the program; incorporate changes in program components that work with pregnant girls and girls who are mothers; and develop outreach initiatives and planning. Additional technical assistance for this effort will be provided by Greene, Peters, and Associates, OJJDP's gender-specific training and technical assistance grantee. Connecticut will use the FY 1998 funds to conduct a 1-year planning grant to plan for statewide systemic

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   change to provide gender-specific services, programs, and case management for female juvenile offenders, including those who are pregnant and mothers.

   The project will be implemented, in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, by the current grantee, the Cook County Bureau of Public Safety and Judicial Coordination, and the State of Connecticut's Office of Alternative Sanctions. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation Capacity Building

   The question of ``what works'' pervades discussions of juvenile justice. To find answers, program administrators and agency personnel need to conduct rigorous evaluations of programs of interest. OJJDP has determined that a strong, cooperative arrangement between OJJDP and State agencies responsible for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programming can most effectively provide answers to this question. To that end, OJJDP will provide funding in FY 1998 for an assessment of the current capacity of State and local agencies to evaluate juvenile justice programs, to conduct regional training workshops and provide technical assistance in response to the needs assessment, and to design a project that identifies programs proven by evaluation to be effective. A goal of this program is to build the capacity of State formula grants agencies to conduct rigorous evaluations of juvenile justice programs and projects funded in their states with JJDP Act funds. OJJDP will then take the lead in disseminating evaluation results and information to the field.

   This project will be implemented by the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA), using the model developed under a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to enhance the criminal justice evaluation capacity of States and localities.

   Field-Initiated Research

   OJJDP's efforts to address the problems of juvenile offending are enriched most through the thoughtful and dedicated efforts of researchers in the field. Through the work of agencies, individuals, and organizations, OJJDP has benefited from innovative thinking and new directions. To encourage such innovative research in juvenile offending and juvenile justice, OJJDP is considering offering grants in FY 1998 for research initiated by researchers in the field. Through this series of grants, OJJDP would expect to learn new alternatives and options for various problems facing the juvenile justice system.

   OJJDP is particularly interested in research that opens new avenues of inquiry regarding youth criminality, the prevention of juvenile crime, interventions with youthful offenders, and juvenile justice system policy and practice.

   Field-Initiated Evaluation

   OJJDP has decided not to fund a field-initiated evaluation program in FY 1998. Although OJJDP understands that such evaluations are important and that there is a need for knowledge of ``what works'' in the juvenile justice field, limited resources preclude funding this program in FY 1998. However, OJJDP will support a Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program Research and Evaluation program and continue the numerous evaluations already underway and referenced in this Program Plan. OJJDP is making $1.95 million available through a competitive solicitation issued by the National Institute of Justice for topical research or evaluation projects and researcher-practitioner partnerships. The deadline for submission of proposals under this program is July 14, 1998. For a copy of the solicitation, forms, and guidelines, contact NCJRS at 800-851-3420 or the Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421-6770.

   Analysis of Juvenile Justice Data

   Funding for this new program will provide for the analysis and interpretation of diverse sources of data and information on juvenile offending and the juvenile justice system, beyond that currently funded for the analysis of OJJDP data sets. This project will provide a source for identifying and reporting important information from nontraditional sources. The project will develop OJJDP's capacity to use and analyze data collections covering such related areas as health, education, and employment. It will provide a means for routinely publishing specialized reports that assimilate such data sources. It will also support the management and direction of OJJDP efforts through the contribution of analyses directed towards the Office's priorities and initiatives.

   A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders

   In FY 1998, OJJDP will begin a multiyear, multisite evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The evaluation will first look at the lessons learned from the Comprehensive Strategy training and technical assistance process that was provided in three pilot communities: Fort Myers and Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego, California. The evaluation will then look at the effect of the 2-year training and technical assistance process that is currently being provided in 5 States and 26 local jurisdictions and is about to commence in up to two additional States. The training and technical assistance process is designed to transfer the knowledge, skills, tools, and practices necessary to develop a comprehensive strategic plan in each community. The evaluation will document the effectiveness of the training and technical assistance process in a sample of communities. The evaluation will also look at the crime and delinquency outcomes and the level of services being provided in each of the jurisdictions that have successfully completed the training and technical assistance process and are implementing their comprehensive strategic plan. In the first year, the evaluation will also document baseline data in the States and local communities. This project will be implemented by Caliber Associates under OJJDP's current evaluation contract. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Training and Technical Assistance

   In a 1994 survey, more than half of the respondents identified crime and violence as the most important problem facing this country, and violence was unanimously identified as the ``biggest problem'' facing the Nation's public schools. Many communities are ready to take meaningful action to combat these problems, but are struggling in determining both ``what works'' and how to implement those effective strategies and programs. As a result, many jurisdictions are moving forward with insufficient knowledge on how to be successful in both of these areas of focus.

   To address this issue, OJJDP will award a cooperative agreement to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado. CSPV has completed a study, begun in 1996, of 10 violence

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   prevention programs that met a rigorous scientific standard of program effectiveness and replicability--programs that could be documented in ``blueprints'' that could be utilized for further replication. Under this grant, CSPV will provide technical assistance to community organizations and program providers to ensure quality replication of Blueprint model programs that have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing adolescent violence, crime, and substance abuse.

   The specific goal of this project will be to assist in the replication of these blueprint programs by (1) determining the feasibility of program development for each community or agency request for technical assistance in terms of a needs assessment and the capacity for the community/agency to implement the program with integrity and (2) providing training and technical assistance to communities/agencies that are ready to begin the implementation process. CSPV will both monitor and assist the program during its first year of operation.

   This project will be implemented by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence because of its unique status as the developer of the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project and previous research in this specific area. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Teambuilding Project for Courts

   OJJDP, in conjunction with the State Justice Institute (SJI), will support projects to (1) explore emerging issues that will affect juvenile courts as they enter the 21st century, and (2) develop and test innovative approaches for managing juvenile courts, securing resources required to fully meet the responsibilities of the judicial branch, and institutionalizing long-range planning processes across the multiple disciplines in the juvenile justice system. This joint effort will test innovative programs and procedures for providing clear and open communications between the judiciary, other branches of government, and juvenile justice practitioners.

   The primary goal will be to develop and implement a teambuilding project designed to facilitate better coordination and information sharing and foster innovative, efficient solutions to problems facing juvenile courts. Activities may include (1) preparing and presenting educational programs to foster development of effective multidisciplinary teams; (2) delivering onsite technical assistance to develop a team or enhance an existing partnership; (3) providing information on teambuilding through a national resource center; and (4) preparing manuals, guides, and other written and visual products to assist in the development and operation of effective teams.

   A competitive assistance award will support the demonstration project. Funds will be transferred to SJI to administer the program through a cooperative agreement under the new Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program.

   Evaluation of Youth-Related Employment Initiative

   OJJDP is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to support youth employment and training programs that will result in the reintegration of juvenile offenders into society. DOL will provide funding for three different demonstration programs: large-scale model community demonstration programs in high-crime areas; an education and training youth offenders initiative that will provide comprehensive school to work education and training within juvenile corrections facilities and followup services and job placement as part of community aftercare; and communitywide coordination projects to small-and medium- sized communities to develop linkages among various agencies that support prevention and recovery services for youthful offenders. OJJDP will fund a 3-year evaluation of the education and training of youthful offenders within juvenile corrections facilities and the community aftercare component of this initiative.

   A competitive solicitation will be issued for this evaluation as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

   Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

   Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and Preventing Delinquency

   Reports of child victimization, abuse, and neglect in the United States continue to be alarming. For example, in 1996 alone, an estimated 3.1 million children were reported to public welfare agencies for abuse or neglect. Nearly 1 million of those children were substantiated as victims. Usually, abuse is inflicted by someone the child knows, frequently a family member.

   Numerous studies cite the connection between abuse or neglect of a child and later development of violent and delinquent behavior. Acknowledging this correlation and the need to both improve system response and foster strong, nurturing families, several offices and bureaus of the Office of Justice Programs joined in FY 1996 to develop a coordinated program response. The resulting initiative, a 5\1/2\ year demonstration program designed to foster coordinated community responses to child abuse and neglect, was titled Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and Preventing Delinquency. (An accompanying evaluation program, Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program, was also developed.)

   The purpose of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program is to break the cycle of early childhood victimization and later juvenile or adult criminality and to reduce child and adolescent abuse and neglect and resulting child fatalities. It strives to do this by providing fiscal and technical support for efforts to restructure and strengthen State and local criminal and juvenile justice systems to be more comprehensive and proactive in helping children and adolescents and their families. The program also has as a goal to implement or strengthen coordinated management of abuse and neglect cases by improving the policy and practice of the criminal and juvenile justice systems and the child welfare, family services, and related systems. These goals require communities to develop, implement, and/or expand cross-agency strategies.

   OJJDP, the administering agency for the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program, awarded competitive cooperative agreements in FY 1997 to five demonstration sites and to a national evaluator. Funds are provided by OJJDP, the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Violence Against Women Grants Office (VAWGO). Recipients of the awards are the National Children's Advocacy Center, Huntsville, Alabama; the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; Heart of America United Way of Kansas City, Missouri; Toledo Hospital Children's Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio; and the Community Network for Children, Youth and Family Services of Chittenden County, Vermont. The national evaluator is Westat, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland.

   Four of the five funded demonstration sites are in the process of developing implementation plans. The fifth is in the initial stages of implementing its plans to improve the coordination of prevention, intervention, and treatment services and to improve cross-agency coordination. The national evaluator has

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   begun the process of assessing site needs and developing measurement variables. Each award has been made under a 5\1/2\ year project period.

   In FY 1998, Safe Kids/Safe Streets grantees will continue to implement their plans. Continuation awards will be made to each of the current demonstration sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program

   To evaluate the Safe Kids/Safe Streets grant program, OJJDP competitively awarded a grant to Westat, Inc. in FY 1997. The purpose of the evaluation is 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 will begin a process evaluation and determine the feasibility of an impact evaluation. If it is determined that an impact evaluation is feasible, additional funds may be awarded to implement such an evaluation in FY 1998.

   The goals for Phase I of the Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program are (1) to understand the process of implementation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program in order to strengthen and refine the program for future replication; (2) to identify factors that contribute to or impede the successful implementation of the program; (3) to help develop or improve the capability and utility of local data systems that track at-risk youth, including victims of child neglect or abuse; (4) to build an understanding of the general effectiveness of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program approach and its program components; and (5) to help develop the capacity of Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites to evaluate what works in their communities.

   The objectives of this initial phase of the evaluation are (1) to develop a detailed design, including data collection instruments, for a process evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program for implementation in collaboration with all sites; (2) to develop templates for capturing the data necessary for the national process evaluation and to make those templates available for implementation at the sites; and (3) to provide evaluation training and technical assistance for, and to collaborate with, grantees at each of the sites in implementing a process evaluation of the development and implementation of each Safe Kids/Safe Streets program site.

   This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, Westat, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Secondary Analysis of Childhood Victimization

   In FY 1997, OJJDP awarded a two-year grant to the University at Albany, State University of New York, to support secondary analysis of data that were collected on 1,200 individuals as part of a National Institute of Justice research project that began in 1986. The data set includes extensive information on psychiatric, cognitive, intellectual, social, and behavioral functioning. It also contains information on documented and self-reported criminal and runaway behavior in a large sample of unsubstantiated cases of early childhood physical and sexual abuse and neglect and matched controls. The data base includes information from archival juvenile court and probation department records and law enforcement records and interview information on a range of topics, including psychiatric assessment, intelligence, and reading ability.

   The initial set of secondary analyses, during the first year of the OJJDP award, focused on childhood victimization as a precursor to running away and subsequent delinquency. Initial research questions focused on whether running away puts a child at increased risk for becoming a violent offender and repeat violent offender as a juvenile and whether abused and neglected children who run away are at greater risk than children who have not been abused.

   In FY 1998, the research will look at several other outcomes such as out-of-home placements and drug use by children who run away. Gender differences will also be explored. This research will also explore the differential impact of childhood victimization by race/ethnicity.

   This project is being conducted by Cathy Spatz Widom, principal researcher, under a grant to the University at Albany, State University of New York. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation in Weed and Seed Sites

   OJJDP will administer an evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation programs in six Weed and Seed sites across the Nation with funds transferred to OJJDP from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Six Weed and Seed sites, one of which is a SafeFutures site, are providing nurse home visitation services. These sites have been designated for evaluation in order to determine the impact of the specific program model of nurse home visitation implemented within normal operating environments in communities. Nurse home visitation has been found to be effective in reducing welfare dependency, increasing employment, decreasing or delaying repeat childbearing, reducing the incidence of child maltreatment, and reducing crime and delinquency within the context of randomized clinical trials.

   The project will be implemented by the University of Colorado Prevention Research Center. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

   Dated: June 10, 1998. Shay Bilchik, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

   [FR Doc. 98-15832Filed6-16-98; 8:45 am]

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