Club Awarded Grant for Mentor Program
The Boys & Girls Club of Ventura has received a federal grant totaling $194,140 to continue a mentoring program for at-risk juveniles who are on probation, club officials said.
The Justice Department grant was announced Friday for the 5-year-old program, “Facing the Future Juvenile Mentoring Project,” said Diane Koranda, the club’s director of development.
The funds will allow the club to serve 130 youths over the next three years.
Children enrolled in the program are generally boys and girls on probation for committing a crime. Occasionally, other youths are admitted for such problems as truancy and failing classes in school, Koranda said.
Since the program started, it has targeted Latino youths between the ages of 12 and 18 who live on the city’s west side and are gang members or gang associates.
The program runs 10 weeks and includes counseling, goal setting, career development, computer education and guest speakers. Mentors are generally volunteers from a cross-section of the community.
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