This article shall be known and may be cited as the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge Grant Program.

The Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge Grant Program shall be administered by the Board of Corrections for the purpose of reducing juvenile crime and delinquency. This program shall award grants on a competitive basis following request-for-proposal evaluation standards and guidelines developed by the Board of Corrections, as authorized by this article, to counties that (a) develop and implement a comprehensive, multiagency local action plan that provides for a continuum of responses to juvenile crime and delinquency, including collaborative ways to address local problems of juvenile crime; and (b) demonstrate a collaborative and integrated approach for implementing a system of swift, certain, graduated responses, and appropriate sanctions for at-risk youth and juvenile offenders.

To be eligible for this grant, each county shall be required to establish a multiagency juvenile justice coordinating council that shall develop and implement a continuum of county-based responses to juvenile crime. The coordinating councils shall, at a minimum, include the chief probation officer, as chair, and one representative each from the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, the sheriff’s department, the board of supervisors, the department of social services, the department of mental health, a community-based drug and alcohol program, a city police department, the county office of education or a school district, and an at-large community representative. In order to carry out its duties pursuant to this section, a coordinating council shall also include representatives from nonprofit community-based organizations providing services to minors. The board of supervisors shall be informed of community-based organizations participating on a coordinating council. The coordinating councils shall develop a comprehensive, multiagency plan that identifies the resources and strategies for providing an effective continuum of responses for the prevention, intervention, supervision, treatment, and incarceration of male and female juvenile offenders, including strategies to develop and implement locally based or regionally based out-of-home placement options for youths who are persons described in Section 602. Counties may utilize community punishment plans developed pursuant to grants awarded from funds included in the 1995 Budget Act to the extent the plans address juvenile crime and the juvenile justice system or local action plans previously developed for this program. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following components:

The Board of Corrections shall award grants that provide funding for three years. Funding shall be used to supplement, rather than supplant, existing programs and grants may be awarded to any county including those counties currently receiving funds pursuant to this article. Grant funds shall be used for programs that are identified in the local action plan as part of a continuum of responses to reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. No grant shall be awarded unless the applicant makes available resources in an amount equal to at least 25 percent of the amount of the grant. Resources may include in-kind contributions from participating agencies. In awarding grants, priority shall be given to those proposals which include additional funding that exceeds 25 percent of the amount of the grant. In awarding grants, priority shall also be given to programs in counties where the population exceeds 500,000 and the rate of violent crime exceeds the state average.

The Board of Corrections shall establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants, which shall take into consideration, but not be limited to, all of the following:

The Board of Corrections may award up to a total of two million dollars ($2,000,000) statewide, in individual grants not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000), on a competitive basis to counties to assist in establishing a multiagency coordinating group or developing a local action plan.

The Board of Corrections shall create an evaluation design for the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge Grant Program that will assess the effectiveness of the program. For grants awarded before July 1, 1998, the board shall develop an interim report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 1999, and a final analysis of the grant program in a report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001. For grants awarded after July 1, 1998, the board shall develop an interim report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001, and a final analysis of the grant program in a report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2003.

Funding for the Juvenile Crime Enforcement and Accountability Challenge Grant Program for grant awards made before July 1, 1998, shall be provided from the amount appropriated in Item 5430-101-0001 of the Budget Act of 1996. Up to 5 percent of the amount appropriated in Item 5430-101-0001 of the Budget Act of 1996 shall be transferred upon the approval of the Director of Finance, to Item 5430-001-0001 for expenditure as necessary for the board to administer this program, including technical assistance to counties and the development of an evaluation component.