Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, announced Friday that the Santa Barbara office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program received more than $450,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The funding is for the Fighting Back Mentor Program, a 14-year initiative of the Santa Barbara Fighting Back community partnership.

The project targets youth ages 8 to14 in several high-risk neighborhoods in Santa Barbara and Isla Vista. The youths come from families in which one or more members are gang-involved, and/or exhibit other risk factors. The project will match 210 youths with screened, trained adult mentors who provide a one-to-one mentoring relationship in a school setting, through structured group activities and at community locations in the summer months.

“I am thrilled the Justice Department has recognized both the need in the Santa Barbara community to combat gang violence and the exemplary work the Fighting Back School-Based Mentoring Program provides to our local young people,” Capps said. “This grant will keep our streets safer and help our community’s most vulnerable young people realize their full potential. Supporting mentors for troubled youth is an investment that will provide immeasurable returns for years to come.”

Mentor program coordinator Juliana Lee said, “All of our amazing mentors have already helped change the lives of hundreds of kids, and now we can ensure that they will continue to have the support throughout the years to come. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, but have one thing in common: a passionate heart to empower the lives of our youth.”

“It has become increasingly clear to us — the citizens of Santa Barbara — that our children are at risk due to the influence of gangs. Mentoring provides an effective prevention mechanism that reduces the recruitment pool of potential gang members,” said Ed Cue, director of delinquency programs. “Our children are looking for role models. The adults that mentor children are heroes in the eyes of those children. We need more adults to take a stand and become mentors, not because it is popular or politically correct, but because it’s the right thing to do. Funding from the Department of Justice will go a long ways to make that happen for children in South Santa Barbara County.”

— Emily Kryder is the communications director for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.