Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided updated information on the: (1) number of federal programs that served at-risk or delinquent youths in fiscal year (FY) 1998; (2) amount of FY 1998 appropriations dedicated toward youths in these programs; and (3) services these programs provided.
GAO noted that: (1) the number of programs decreased from 127 in FY 1996 to 117 in FY 1998; (2) between the two fiscal years, several programs were eliminated and others were established; (3) of the programs eliminated, some were not funded after FY 1996 or were demonstration programs whose specific authorized period expired; (4) the agency officials were unable to provide complete information for components in the programs that targeted youths and could not always identify the portion of funding dedicated to at-risk and delinquent youths; and (5) nevertheless, the officials estimated that the appropriations available to serve these youths increased slightly from about $4.3 billion to more than $4.4 billion in FY 1998.
