ROCKVILLE, MD — Goodwill Industries International has been awarded $19.1 million by the U.S. Department of Justice for mentoring services to help youth develop and deploy career plans. The grant is part of the $129 million awarded to various nonprofits for mentoring services to help youth who have disadvantages avoid becoming involved in delinquency.
With the Department of Justice funding, Goodwill will implement GoodGuides — a national mentoring program — that will help youth, ages 12-17, prepare for school completion, develop work skills, identify career paths, and transition to post high school graduation including post-secondary training. These youth will receive guidance through trusted adult mentors.
“Goodwill’s goal is to help youth overcome challenges that are preventing them from succeeding in life,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “The youth mentoring grant from the Department of Justice will allow for positive role models to provide structured and supportive relationships and skills development to youth with demonstrated risk factors allowing them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities.”
The demonstrated risk factors that enable youth to participate in the mentoring program include school failure, prior delinquency, homelessness, family violence and other disadvantages to being successful in life. The program will offer these youth a pathway out of poverty and crime through support services and positive youth development approaches.
“Goodwill GoodGuides will expand career-focused youth mentoring in communities across the country,” said Wendi Copeland, vice president of mission services for Goodwill Industries International. “Goodwill will recruit, train and support mentors to engage youth and their families in promoting their career development and life skills.”
The Recovery Act, signed into law by President Obama, provides the Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) with more than $85 million for national mentoring programs to reduce juvenile delinquency, violence, gang participation, school failure and dropout rates.
Read the DOJ release.
