Youth PROMISE Act

Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act or the Youth PROMISE Act

This bill authorizes grants to local and tribal governments to assess, develop, and implement evidence-based practices to prevent juvenile delinquency and criminal street gang activity.

Specifically, it authorizes the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to award:

• PROMISE Planning and Assessment grants to help PROMISE Coordinating Councils conduct community strengths and needs assessments and develop PROMISE Plans to coordinate the delivery of prevention and intervention programs and activities, and
• PROMISE Implementation grants to implement PROMISE Plans. 

OJJDP must also award grants for: (1) data collection and analysis to assess, designate, and rank high-need geographic areas; and (2) regional partnerships to support PROMISE Coordinating Councils.

The bill establishes requirements for PROMISE Coordinating Council eligibility and membership composition, PROMISE Plan components, grant application contents, and regional research partner support.

It amends the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to create a PROMISE Advisory Panel to: (1) assess successful evidenced-based prevention and intervention practices, (2) establish with the OJJDP a system to evaluate grant applications, and (3) develop performance standards to evaluate grantees' programs and activities. 

It establishes the National Research Center for Proven Juvenile Justice Practices to collaborate, collect, and disseminate information about successful evidenced-based prevention and intervention practices.