The knoxville leadership foundation (KLF) and partners will continue the successful knoxville area mentoring initiative (kami) to serve 400 at-risk youth under the age of 17 from knoxville, knox…

The Knoxville Leadership Foundation (KLF) was awarded a $681,818 project grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under the Juvenile Mentoring Program (CFDA 16.726). The grant will fund the Knoxville Area Mentoring Initiative (KAMI), a collaborative mentoring program for 400 at-risk youth under age 17 in Knoxville, Knox County, and Union County, Tennessee. KAMI partners, including KLF, YMCA of East Tennessee, Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, and Joy of Music Youth Music School Corporation, will provide mentoring services and opioid prevention education to youth selected based on current or previous opioid use, family history of opioid use, or involvement in foster care due to parental opioid use. The partners will match 400 youth with 250 mentors and deliver opioid education curriculum to help youth understand the dangers of drug misuse. The grant period is from October 1, 2022 to May 31, 2024.

The knoxville leadership foundation (KLF) and partners will continue the successful knoxville area mentoring initiative (kami) to serve 400 at-risk youth under the age of 17 from knoxville, knox county, and union county, tennessee. Kami is a collaborative partnership of four mentoring organizations in east tennessee, including KLF's amachi mentoring program (lead applicant), big brothers big sisters of east tennessee (bbbset), ymca of east tennessee, and the JOY of music school (joms), with decades of experience executing mentoring programs in their communities. Kami is also supported by cherokee health systems (CHS) and the metro drug coalition (MDC). The selection of youth will be based upon several factors, including their current or previous opioid use, a high rate of opioid use in their communities, opioid use within their families, or involvement in foster care as a result of opioid use. Kami's objective is to prevent opioid and other drug use by providing caring adult mentors, providing youth and families with opioid education, and connecting youth and families with support services. Four hundred youth will be paired with 250 screened and trained mentors. The opioid prevention curriculum will allow youth and families to understand the dangers of drug misuse and ensure that they can identify the facts surrounding opioids. Parents and guardians will be included in these education initiatives and will receive information and resources about how to protect their children from opioid misuse. KLF will facilitate the collection of data from each partner, including the number of mentees and mentors, mentor and mentee attrition rates, mentor training completion and retention, behavior changes in the mentees, mentee victimization, and general demographic data on youth served. Kami partners will work to monitor ojjdp performance measures and behavior changes related to substance use, anti-social behavior, and family relationships through mentor and mentee pre- and post-surveys, which will also analyze the growth and effectiveness of programming, along with proposed recommendations. None of the data collected will be used for research purposes.