TRENTON
- The New Jersey Governor’s Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP)
Committee has awarded a grant to the City
of Trenton to expand delinquency prevention
services to young people who are in gangs
or at-risk of gang involvement. The award
is in the amount of $95,000.
This Prevention Grant is established to
reduce risk factors of delinquent behavior
and increase the resources for gang prevention
and intervention. The program entitled,
“Comprehensive Gang Strategy”
concentrates on four areas where risk
factors for gang association originate,
the community, school, family and the
individual.
“The
funding that we have received from the
JJDP Committee will have a major impact
on how the City of Trenton will be enabled
to service 100 youth identified as presenting
high risk behavior. The youth that this
grant will allow the City of Trenton to
serve are youth who without intervention
would be on the long road to becoming
statistics. True community outreach is
an area that has been missing from the
strategic model that we have chosen, not
because it was unknown, but because we
did not have the resources to make it
a reality. The JJDP Committee has enabled
us to meet the need by providing the resources,”
Samuel Frisby, Director of Department
of Recreation, City of Trenton.
The Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC),
as the designated planning authority for
the allocation of federal grant funds,
works with the JJDP Committee to identify
youth serving appropriate programs, award
funds and monitor their success. The JJDP
Committee is responsible for the distribution
of more than $3 million in federal grant
awards annually to local and state agencies.
The JJDP Committee reviews proposals for
programs that aim to reduce delinquency
and/or seek to create local delinquency
prevention strategies. Programs that receive
funding work with individuals, families
and communities to reduce the risk factors
associated with delinquency. Programs
that demonstrate success are eligible
for continued funding for a maximum of
three consecutive years.
The Juvenile Justice Commission is committed
to helping local communities address the
specific needs of their young people.
We are proud to be part of a partnership
that takes a proactive approach to help
adolescents and their families, said Howard
L. Beyer, Executive Director, JJC. We
know that the earlier we reach out to
children, the better chance we have of
ensuring that they lead productive lives.
Created in 1995 to unite services for
delinquent young people, the JJC is the
single state agency responsible for providing
juvenile correctional rehabilitation and
parole services. The JJC also funds local
prevention programs that divert young
people from involvement in the juvenile
justice system.
The project is monitored by staff from
the Program Development and Prevention
Services arm of the JJC’s Office
of Local Programs and Services.
For more information on the JJC, please
visit www.njjjc.com.