U.S. Department of Justice: Mentoring for Child Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Domestic Sex Trafficking Initiative

This program supports efforts of eligible applicant organizations to develop or enhance their mentoring capacity, facilitate outreach efforts, and increase the availability of direct services for child victims (17 years old or younger) of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. Under this initiative, the Office on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) expects successful applicants to join current and previously funded grantees and to work with OJJDP’s training and technical assistance provider to develop or enhance mentoring service models and mentor training based on best practices to focus on the needs of girls and boys, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth who are at risk or are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking; develop or update strategies to recruit and maintain mentors to serve this target population; begin or enhance efforts to identify and enroll girls and boys, including LGBTQ youth who are in need of services; and provide needed services to these youth.

Program models should use existing and/or create new community collaboratives and partnerships that address local needs and use local resources most effectively for this target population. Specific deliverables include:

• Implement or enhance efforts to identify girls and boys, including LGBTQ youth, who are at risk for or victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. This may include street outreach efforts, partnerships with organizations that serve the youth community, and/or collaboration with key stakeholders in the community.
• Develop or enhance mentor service models for girls and boys, including LGBTQ youth, who are at risk for or victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. Qualified mentor programs involve structured relationships between an adult (counselor, case manager, trained volunteer, and/or survivor) and the youth mentee in one-on-one and/or group sessions. These sessions may include structured and informal activities that relate to social competence, life skills, victim support, job skill development, mental health, substance abuse, and other related subjects. Research indicates that youth participating in mentoring relationships that last 12 months or longer demonstrated improvement compared to those with shorter relationships.
• Indicate how their mentoring practices and proposed activities align with each of the six evidence-based standards in the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, as highlighted on OJJDP’s National Mentoring Resource Center website. These standards include recruitment, screening, training, matching, monitoring and support, and closure.
• Implement or enhance baseline training for mentors and provide ongoing development and support after the initial training is complete. Initial orientation trainings must include specific information about youth who are victims of or at risk for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. However, training must go beyond a one-shot model to provide for the continuous development and support of mentors to help them enhance their knowledge and abilities, while they build relationships with their young mentees, respond to their needs, and support their healing.
• Develop or enhance direct services to girls and boys, including LGBTQ youth, who are at risk for or victims of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. This may include services, such as intensive case management, court advocacy, appropriate shelter, safety planning, mental health treatment, medical care, dental care, substance abuse treatment, acquiring identification or benefits, specialized educational services/GED, job training, employment assistance, transportation, victim advocacy, and other support services, such as accompanying the victim during his/her participation in a criminal prosecution against the youth, when appropriate.
• Include public awareness activities as part of their projects and discuss how their strategies will raise awareness of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic sex trafficking of youth.

Amount: Up to 10 awards of up to $450,000 each will be made.

Eligibility: States, territories, units of local government (including federally recognized tribal governments, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior), nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations), and institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education.

Link: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=280766

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