Action for Children advocates for adequate funding for community juvenile justice prevention and intervention programs and services, increasing funding to reflect higher demand for services and conducting meaningful evaluation and technical support for research-based juvenile programs and services.

23,000 youth annually receive community-based services, but funding has not been increased in years.About 23,000 youth annually receive locally provided juvenile services, but funding for such services has remained stagnant for nearly 8 years.  Legislators have expressed concern about a lack of adequate information on local program effectiveness; however, underfunding these services does not increase state knowledge about their effectiveness.  It merely puts programs at risk.  North Carolina must ensure adequate, recurring funding for community juvenile justice programs and services.  A commitment to addressing the need for increased funding to reflect higher demand for services is necessary at the state and local levels.  Rather than underfunding juvenile programs and services, North Carolina must commit to assisting these programs in conducting meaningful evaluations.

The North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention partners with Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils in each county to galvanize community leaders, locally and statewide, to reduce and prevent juvenile crime. JCPC board members are appointed by the county Board of Commissioners and meet monthly in each county. The meetings are open to the public, and all business is considered public information. DJJDP allocates approximately 23 million dollars to these councils annually. Funding is used to subsidize local programs and services.