Congress Approves Funding for Youth Mentoring
December 15, 2014
December 2014
The U.S. House and Senate have completed work on funding for Fiscal Year 2015 including a small increase for the youth mentoring grants managed by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) at the Department of Justice. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 approves $1.014 trillion to fund the government for the remainder of FY15 and avoided a second government shutdown in as many years. President Obama signed the bill into law on December 15, 2014.
The so-called omnibus appropriations bill approved $90 million for the Youth Mentoring Program at OJJDP. This is an increase over the FY14-approved level of $88.5 million. MENTOR, along with a number of national mentoring organization partners encouraged the House and Senate to increase funding for mentoring at OJJDP and grow opportunities for more quality mentoring matches across the country.
Starting in January, a new Congress – the 114th Congress – will begin. Newly-elected Members of Congress will be sworn-in to office and new offices and committee assignments will be handed out. MENTOR will be working with a bipartisan group of legislators on a strategic effort to increase federal investment in quality youth mentoring. Stay tuned for more information on this important effort and the critical role Mentoring Partnerships and other advocates will play in its success.
To learn more about MENTOR’s advocacy efforts and how you can make your voice heard, click here.