SECTIONS 1784-1784.4 - California Statutes

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.