MEMPHIS, Tenn. — “On average every year in Memphis there’s 11,000 cases that come through juvenile court,” said Richard Graham.
Graham is the Executive Director of the Juvenile Intervention and Faith Based Follow up program or Jiff.
For the third year in a row, he asked the City Council for $150 thousand to help fund the mentorship program that teaches young men life skills to keep them out of trouble.
“Every year in Memphis there`s 300 to 600 kids that are revolving through the doors of juvenile court. Repetitive visits. The average Jiff youth has been in juvenile court three or more times,” explained Graham.
Council member Joe Brown said $150 thousand wasn`t enough money for a program like Jiff.
He said the city needed to do more to help support it.
“150,000. That`s peanuts compared to what`s going out here in the United States of America and the county should come through,” he said.
Graham also asked the county for the same amount.
He told WREG he wanted to raise a total of $1.2 million to help serve more young men, but he needed help from those in the community.
Graham also said a campaign to raise additional funding for JIFF is scheduled to start in June.
He hoped getting more young men involved in this program would help prevent more teen violence.