Dream will enhance and expand an innovative two-tiered, cross-age, peer-to-peer model to open new pools of mentors, especially in rural areas, and reach the most vulnerable youth around vermont

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded a $2,000,000 Project Grant under the Juvenile Mentoring Program (CFDA 16.726) to The Dream Program, Inc. The grant will fund a two-tiered, cross-age, peer-to-peer mentoring model to expand mentoring services and reach vulnerable youth, especially in rural areas of Vermont. The program will provide one-on-one and group mentoring services to 423 youth ages 6-17 in high-poverty, underserved neighborhoods. High school mentors will receive school-based instruction and credit aligned with Vermont's Flexible Pathways Initiative. The project aims to enhance protective factors, improve academic performance, and reduce negative behaviors among the target youth population. The grant period runs from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2027.

Peer-to-peer mentoring models provide a high-potential strategy to scale in a state where mentoring matches have been on the decline. The project's target population is rural youth (ages 617) in high-poverty, underserved neighborhoods with adverse childhood experiences. The project will provide an evidence-informed combination of one-on-one and group mentoring services to youth from this target group. With a two-tiered mentoring model, where high school mentors of younger youth are, themselves, mentored and coached, the impact and protective factors at both the mentee and mentor levels will be seen. High school mentors will receive school-based instruction, aligned with vermonts act 77 flexible pathways initiative, and receive credit and instruction benefiting graduation. The project will follow the standards from the national mentoring partnership and will conduct the quality mentoring system review process during year 1 of new site operations. All sites will meet the nationally recognized best practices in each of the six areas of core practice standards listed in the elements of effective practice for mentoring. As a result of this project, 423 youth across 30 schools and neighborhoods will have more supportive social environments that will reduce the likelihood of youth engaging in high-risk behaviors, including substance misuse.