Perkins Grants are posted at http://www.fldoe.org/workforce/dwdgrants/2014/doc/department-juvenile-justice-rfp-2014-15.doc and are due on May 19.  The purpose of these grants are to develop more fully the academic, career, and technical skills of secondary students by implementing new, or improving existing, career and technical education programs leading to industry certification in Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) programs.

Overview

Section 1003.52(1), Florida Statutes, states "the Legislature found that education is the single most important factor in the rehabilitation of adjudicated delinquent youth in the custody of Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) programs." It is the goal of the Legislature that youth in the juvenile justice system are afforded the opportunity to obtain a high quality education.

The Department of Education (DOE) serves as the lead agency for juvenile justice education programs, curriculum, support services, and resources. To this end, DOE and DJJ each designate a Coordinator for Juvenile Justice Education Programs to serve as the point of contact for resolving issues not addressed by district school boards and to provide each department’s participation in the following activities:

• Training, collaborating, and coordinating with the Department of Juvenile Justice, district school boards, educational contract providers, and juvenile justice providers, whether state operated or contracted.
• Collecting information on the academic performance of students in juvenile justice programs and reporting on the results.
• Developing academic and career protocols that provide guidance to district school boards and providers in all aspects of education programming, including records transfer and transition.
• Prescribing the roles of program personnel and interdepartmental district school board or provider collaboration strategies.

MyFloridaYouth.com

The My Florida Youth website was developed to serve as a portal and central location to access all of the youth resources available through Florida’s government agencies and departments. Housed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the site focuses heavily on educating youth about their career and education options while providing links to other Youth Partnership resources for parents and professionals.