A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to the department of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention to establish a pilot program for at‑risk children.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year to establish a pilot program in Edgecombe County to provide programs and services, including nutritional and recreational services and housing, to children who have no adult supervision during all or part of the hours those children are not in school and who are either neglected or who are at risk of becoming undisciplined or delinquent.  The pilot program shall be established by January 1, 2005. The program shall work with appropriate local and State agencies and programs to provide services, treatment, and care to children who are in need of social services or medical or psychiatric care or treatment.  
SECTION 2.  The Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention shall evaluate the pilot program established by this act and report to the General Assembly by May 1, 2005, on the structure, operations, and the expenditures related to the administration and operation of the program.  The report shall include information on the number of children served and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot program in helping those children.  The Department shall submit the report required by this section to the Chairs of the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2004.