STAAR Foundation Awarded Pathway to Excellence Grant and Building a Continuum of Care Grant
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. – Jul. 9, 2024. The STAAR Foundation is proud to share two new grant awards to support justice system-involved juveniles in Oklahoma directly. The STAAR Foundation has received a sub-award of the Building a Local Continuum of Care grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for $330,000, as well as a $600,000 Pathway to Excellence grant from the Arnall Family Foundation over the next three years.
The Pathway to Excellence grant will assist juveniles with workforce job readiness and access to education. These efforts aim to reduce high incarceration rates and improve workforce development. Through a new partnership with the Office of Juvenile Affairs Oklahoma, the STAAR Foundation seeks a structured pathway for juvenile referrals to increase employability.
“The STAAR Foundation is hopeful that through these referrals, more individuals will find sustained employment, receive their GED, and become eligible for industry trade apprenticeship programs,” said Gerald Scott, Executive Director of STAAR Foundation.
The Office of Juvenile Affairs’ commitment to juvenile statewide justice and delinquency prevention programs aligns with the STAAR Foundation’s efforts to enrich lives through training, education, resources, and cultural diversity. The long-term goal of this effort is to support sustainable, research-based, and data-informed recidivism-reduction policies, practices, and programming. OJA will hire a full-time lead coordinator, a full-time Continuum of Care Youth and Family Engagement Coordinator, and a Data Manager to assist with tracking and reporting.
“We will establish a framework to connect juvenile justice system improvement efforts with child-serving organizations across the state, to address the over-representation of minority youth in the justice system, and to build an effective cross-agency network of services and connections,” said Scott.
About the STAAR Foundation: The STAAR Foundation is an Oklahoma City-based 501c3 nonprofit agency that aims to enrich the lives of incarcerated men, women, and juveniles through education, training, resources, and cultural diversity. To learn more, visit https://www.staarfoundation.org/
