Attorney General Eric Holder appeared at a meeting of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention last week to officially launch the Defending Childhood initiative, with grants announced to eight jurisdictions.
The mission is basically a re-branding of the Children’s Exposure to Violence project that the department has been working on, which will combine research and pilot projects aimed at developing the knowledge base on how to keep youth who witness or experience violence from becoming future victimizers.
The money for Defending Childhood will be cobbled together this year out of funds from a number of different Office of Justice Programs divisions, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). President Obama has asked for $37 million in fiscal 2011 funds for the initiative.
The demonstration sites for Defending Childhood are:
* City of Boston, Mass. ($160,000)
* City of Portland, Maine ($160,000)
* Chippewa Cree Tribe, Mont. ($153,210)
* City of Grand Forks, N.D. ($159,967)
* Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners, Ohio ($157,873)
* Multnomah County Department of Human Services, Ore. ($159,349)
* Rosebud Sioux Tribe, S.D. ($159,534)
* Shelby County, Tenn. ($159,099).
The Justice Department says the grants will be used for such activities as improving the identification, screening, assessment, and services referral of children and their families; increasing access to and use of quality programs and services; developing new programs and services where gaps exist.
Additional information:
Defending Childhood Web page at the Justice Department.
What else happened at the coordinating council meeting.
