1784-1784.4
WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 1784-1784.4
1784. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) That the mobilization of community resources to assist in providing youthful offenders with necessary educational, psychological, medical, and other services which relate to root causes of delinquency is vital. (b) That due to increased and heavy caseloads, probation officers cannot be expected to assume the full burden of providing necessary services to youthful offenders. (c) That addressing the root causes of delinquent behavior in a cost-effective manner yields enormous societal benefits in the prevention of future criminality and the integration of the offender into productive society. (d) That by encouraging community participation, programs such as the Juvenile Justice Connection Project in Los Angeles County have achieved great success in providing services to young people at a substantial savings to the taxpayer. (e) That efforts to implement similar projects throughout the state should be encouraged and supported. 1784.1. (a) The Director of the Youth Authority shall, upon request, provide technical assistance to judges, probation officers, law enforcement officials, school administrators, welfare administrators, and other public and private organizations and citizen groups concerning the development and implementation of juvenile justice community resource programs. (b) As used in this article, "juvenile justice community resource program" means a program which does both of the following: (1) Develops a directory or bank of public and private agencies, practitioners, and other community resources to offer services that are needed by youthful offenders, including, but not limited to, medical, psychological, educational, recreational, and vocational services. (2) Provides diagnostic screening for youthful offenders referred to the program and matches the offender with a provider of services. (c) As used in this article, "youthful offender" means a person described by Section 601 or 602. 1784.2. (a) The Director of the Youth Authority shall provide grants from funds made available for this purpose, for the development, implementation, and support of juvenile justice community resource programs. (b) Any public or private nonprofit agency that does not directly deliver services may apply to the director for funding as a juvenile justice community resource program pursuant to this article. (c) Funding may consist of organizational and program grants. (1) As used in this article, "organizational grants" means grants for the purpose of funding community organization efforts in order to develop a bank of public and private agencies, and other community resources, to provide services needed by youthful offenders and to provide financial support to the referral program. An applicant may receive only one organizational grant, which may not exceed thirty thousand dollars ($30,000). (2) As used in this article, "program grants" means grants to support the operating costs of the referral programs. A program grant may not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) per applicant per year. As a further limitation, beginning in the second year of the program grant, the amount of the program grant may not exceed a prescribed percentage of the referral program's operating budget, as follows: 50 percent in the second year of the program grant, 33 percent in the third year, 25 percent in the fourth year, and 20 percent in the fifth and subsequent years of the program grant. (d) The director shall consider all of the following factors, together with any other circumstances he or she deems appropriate, in selecting applicants to receive funds pursuant to this article. (1) The stated goals of applicants. (2) The number of youthful offenders to be served and the needs of the community. (3) Evidence of community support, including, but not limited to, business, labor, professional, educational, charitable, and social service groups. (e) In addition to the factors specified in subdivision (d), in selecting applicants to receive program grants, the director shall also consider all of the following: (1) Description of the number and type of service providers available. (2) Existence of support and involvement by participants in the local juvenile justice system, including law enforcement, probation, prosecution, and the judiciary. (3) The organizational structure of the agency which will operate the program. (4) Specific plans for meeting the percentage of local funding of operating costs as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c). (f) After consultation with the advisory committee, and upon evaluation of all applicants pursuant to the above criteria and any other criteria established by the advisory committee, the director shall select the public or private nonprofit agencies which he or she deems qualified to receive funds for the establishment and operation of the programs. (g) The initial evaluation, selection, and funding of applicants shall take place prior to January 1, 1986. 1784.3. The Director of the Youth Authority shall appoint an eight-member advisory committee on community resource referral programs to advise him or her on matters relating to this article. Committee members shall include representatives of business, labor, professional, charitable, educational, and social service groups, as well as those working within the juvenile justice system. The members of the committee shall be entitled to their reasonable expenses, including travel expenses, incurred in the discharge of their duties. 1784.4. The director may accept funds and grants from any source, public or private, to assist in accomplishing the purposes of this article.