The Iowa Mentoring Partnership, a collaborative partner of Volunteer Iowa, announced today that it has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to build mentoring program capacity in rural communities, with a focus on youths affected by opioids. The project will complement the efforts of local mentoring programs by focusing on strengthening risk and protective factors for youths and families. Programs are aimed at building strong mentoring relationships for youths by providing enhanced support for mentor-mentee matches, empowering community engagement for youths and increasing parental involvement. Iowa’s award is part of more than $172 million in grants to 48 states; the Iowa Mentoring Partnership was the only Iowa organization to receive an award.