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Grants 101

Section 3

Preventing and Intervening in Juvenile Offending and Victimization

Overview

OJP provides targeted funding to enhance programs and collaborations that address juvenile offending and victimization through research and demonstration projects, training and technical assistance, and other information dissemination efforts.

Within OJP, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has primary responsibility for preventing and controlling juvenile delinquency, improving the juvenile justice system, and protecting children. Other OJP components also provide programming and research support for outreach to juveniles and their families.

OJP supports an array of activities that help states, tribal jurisdictions, communities, and local governments meet the many juvenile justice challenges they face, including the following:

Holding juvenile offenders accountable for their unlawful actions.
Preparing juvenile offenders for returning to their communities following release from secure correctional facilities.
Supporting evidence-based delinquency prevention programs and alternatives to detention.
Addressing juvenile gang activity and violence.
Addressing the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.
Combating juvenile alcohol and drug abuse.
Helping children victimized by crime and abuse.

OJP programming strives to divert young people from the juvenile justice system, improve community safety, protect children from sexual predators, strengthen the juvenile justice system, and respond to childhood abuse, neglect, and victimization. The ultimate goal is to support young people in their efforts to become productive, contributing members of their communities.

Discretionary Programs

Program Name Community-Based Violence Prevention Demonstration Programs
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $10,00,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://ceasefirechicago.org/
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
The purpose of this program, which will be closely coordinated with a broader administration initiative, is to reduce the risk that youth will be affected by community violence. The Reducing Community Violence program will be modeled after the successful Operation CeaseFire intervention that is widely credited with significantly reducing homicides in targeted Chicago communities. Operation CeaseFire focused on deterrence strategies, as well as an increase of focused law enforcement activities. This demonstration program will include separate solicitations focusing on research, technical assistance, and evaluation; these programs will be coordinated with BJA.

Program Name Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Implementation Initiative
Grantee Block/Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $2,400,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/eudl
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
OJJDP will establish a discretionary component of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program that enables states to implement an assessment, strategic planning, and implementation process. Applicants will explain how they will assess local conditions and design a long-term strategic plan; implement selected and approved actions of that plan; collect, analyze, and report data; and have an expert panel assess how the state responded to the recommendations, crafted its strategic plan, and implemented portions of the plan with the remaining funds.

Program Name Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $5,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.great-online.org
Program Contact David Adams, (202) 514 5309, David.Adams@usdoj.gov
Program Description
G.R.E.A.T. is a law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum for school-age youth. With prevention as its primary objective, the program is intended to immunize youth against delinquency, violence, and gang membership. G.R.E.A.T. has developed partnerships with nationally recognized organizations, such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues. These partnerships encourage positive relationships among the community, parents, schools, and law enforcement officers. G.R.E.A.T. lessons focus on providing life skills to students to help them avoid using delinquent behavior and violence to solve problems.

Program Name ICAC Program-Law Enforcement Strategies for Protecting Children at High Risk for Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
Children and youth who leave and remain away from home without parental permission are at risk of developing and have a disproportionate share of serious health, behavioral, and emotional problems. OJJDP will fund strategies to address the problem of chronic runaway juveniles who are exploited sexually for commercial gain or who are at risk of such exploitation. OJJDP intends to identify best practices for dealing with high risk victims that support a victim centered approach. This program will provide an opportunity for state and local law enforcement agencies and their community partners to replicate successful strategies to protect these youth.

Program Name Juvenile Drug Courts and Mentoring Initiative
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
This program will support a structured mentoring component of the juvenile drug court by providing youth participating in a drug court with a caring and supportive adult mentor who will share information and insight, listen to the youth, and provide encouragement.

Program Name Mentoring for Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiatives
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link www.safeschools.samhsa.gov/initiative/spotlight.aspx
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
In FY 2010, OJJDP will seek opportunities to coordinate and collaborate with the Department of Education on school safety issues and school- and community-wide programs to reduce truancy and keep students in school. In the past, OJJDP has supported comprehensive community-wide initiatives to reduce and prevent school and community violence and foster safe schools. Proposed areas of collaboration may include programs to reduce truancy; prevent bullying, including cyber bullying, which is prevalent among girls; and promote conflict resolution. OJJDP also proposes to collaborate with the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative through competitive funding to SS/HS sites to support mentoring programs and strategies aimed at reducing truancy.

Program Name Second Chance Act Adult and Juvenile Offender Reentry Demonstration Projects
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $37,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/SecondChance.html; http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/grants/solicitations/FY2010/SecondChanceMentoring.pdf
Program Contact Thomas Murphy, 202-353-8734, thomas.murphy@usdoj.gov
Program Description
OJJDP will fund additional demonstration projects under the Second Chance Act Youth Offender Reentry Initiative, which supports a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile facilities each year and are returning to their communities. The goal of this initiative is to increase public safety and reduce the rate of recidivism for offenders released from juvenile residential facilities. Demonstration projects will provide necessary services to youth while in confinement and following their release to the community. The program focuses on addressing the unique needs of girls reentering their communities.

Program Name Department of Justice Children's Exposure to Violence Initiative
Grantee Competitive/Continuation
FY 2010 Funding $5,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link www.safestartcenter.org
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
This initiative provides continuation funding for Safe Start programs to enhance the accessibility, delivery, and quality of services provided to young children who have been exposed to violence or who are at high risk. Programs will focus on practice innovation, research and evaluation, training and technical assistance, resource development, and public awareness.

Additionally, OJJDP will support a competitive solicitation in Indian Country to implement a tribal component to the Safe Start initiative. The tribal component will engage tribal leaders, law enforcement, courts, and service providers to increase their capacity to protect and respond to the needs of children exposed to violence and their families.

In connection with this initiative, OJJDP will fund a 12-month, full time fellow position located at OJJDP to focus on children’s exposure to violence programming. OJJDP will develop a solicitation to invite individuals interested in working with the office for a year to apply for consideration. The position is funded via a grant to the fellow’s home institution in the amount of his or her salary and benefit costs for the duration of the fellowship.

Program Name Youthful Sexual Offenders Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
This program will assist localities in responding to instances of child sexual victimization by perpetrators who are younger than 18 years old, with a specific emphasis placed on intrafamilial child victims and offenders. The program will develop communities’ capacity to use a multidisciplinary approach when working with children who have been sexually abused by other children and adolescents. The program will also build communities’ capacity to provide treatment and supervision resources to youthful perpetrators of sexual abuse against children. OJJDP will coordinate this program with the SMART Office.

Program Name Youth Violence Prevention Programs
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $8,600,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
This program will foster innovations and advancements in youth violence prevention practices at the community level. The goal is to demonstrate the implications for policy and practice and to enhance juvenile justice, child protection, and delinquency prevention. OJJDP is interested in reducing risk factors and enhancing protective factors to prevent youth from becoming victims of violence. This program will focus on supporting communities in their efforts to develop and implement effective and coordinated violence prevention and intervention initiatives by building protective factors to combat juvenile delinquency, reducing child victimization, and improving the juvenile justice system.

Program Name Children’s Advocacy Centers
Grantee National Children’s Advocacy Center (Continuation)
FY 2010 Funding $22,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link www.nationalcac.org
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
OJJDP will provide continuation funding to programs that improve the coordinated investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. These programs include funding for a national subgrant program for local children’s advocacy centers, a membership and accreditation program, regional children’s advocacy centers, and specialized technical assistance and training programs for child abuse professionals and prosecutors. Local children's advocacy centers use multidisciplinary teams of professionals to coordinate the investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases.

Program Name Internet Crimes Against Children National Training Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $4,700,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://www.icactraining.org
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program helps state and local law enforcement agencies develop an effective response to sexual predators who prey upon juveniles via the Internet and other electronic devices and child pornography cases. OJJDP will issue solicitations related to ICAC activities and programs including:

Designing and implementing the 2011 ICAC National Training Conference.
Research on Internet and other technology-facilitated crimes against children.
Training for ICAC officers, prosecutors, judges, and other stakeholders.
Technical assistance to support the ICAC Program.
Technical assistance to support implementation of the ICAC program.

Program Name Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force: Minnesota
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $320,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/programs/ProgSummary.asp?pi=3&ti=&si=&kw=&PreviousPage=ProgResults
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program seeks to maintain and expand state and regional ICAC task forces to address technology-facilitated child exploitation. These task forces work collaboratively as a national network of law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies that prevent, interdict in, and investigate Internet crimes against children. The program requires existing task forces to develop multijurisdictional, multiagency responses to such offenses by providing funding and other support to state and local law enforcement agencies as a means to help them acquire the necessary knowledge, personnel, and equipment. Under this solicitation, only state and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies within the Federal Judicial District of Minnesota are eligible to apply.

Training and Technical Assistance

Program Name Family Drug Court Programs
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/program-substance-abuse/drug1.htm
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
This program will continue to support the implementation of family drug courts that serve substance abusing adults who are involved in the family dependency court system as a result of child abuse or neglect. The Center for Children and Family Futures will provide training and technical assistance to family drug courts.

Funding provided by OJJDP and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will enhance the capacity of existing juvenile drug courts to serve substance abusing juvenile offenders through the integration and implementation of the juvenile drug court and the Reclaiming Futures program models. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges provides training and technical assistance for OJJDP’s juvenile drug court initiatives.

Program Name Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program National Training and Technical Assistance
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding TBD
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.great-online.org
Program Contact David Adams, (202) 514-5309, David.Adams@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The training and technical assistance provider will plan and support national policy meetings; coordinate the implementation of the national G.R.E.A.T. training programs; provide support for G.R.E.A.T. participation in conferences and exhibits; provide technical assistance for curriculum development meetings and in-service trainings; develop, provide, and maintain Internet-accessible, secure databases; produce, store, and disseminate promotional material about G.R.E.A.T.; operate and maintain the G.R.E.A.T. Web site; coordinate production and distribution of educational materials to support G.R.E.A.T. trainings; and gather and analyze statistical data on program implementation.

Program Name Juvenile Indigent Defense National Clearinghouse
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $750,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
This program supports the development and implementation of a model national training and technical assistance program for juvenile defense attorneys. Forty years ago, in the landmark In Re Gault decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found that children in the juvenile justice system have the right to an attorney. Today, many young people in the court system, particularly low income and minority children, lack representation by well trained and well resourced lawyers and many juvenile defendants receive no counsel at all. The goal of this initiative is to develop competent juvenile defense attorneys who can work in the best interests of youth facing charges in juvenile delinquency court and to improve the judicial system’s response in juvenile delinquency courts.

Program Name Missing and Exploited Children National Training Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,900,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
Authorized by the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, this program will help state and local law enforcement, child protection, prosecutors, medical providers, and child advocacy center professionals develop an effective response to child victimization cases.

Program Name National Juvenile Delinquency Court Improvement Program
FY 2010 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
Grants to judicial administrative authorities will support the implementation of the "Sixteen Key Principles of a Juvenile Delinquency Court of Excellence." The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges developed these principles in close consultation with OJJDP and approximately 100 experts. The initiative will be modeled on the HHS State Court Improvement Program, which has been instrumental in the nationwide implementation of comprehensive systemic improvements to courts’ handling of child abuse and neglect or dependency cases.

Program Name National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Youth in Custody
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Demonstration Programs Division, (202) 307-5914
Program Description
An organization or partnership of organizations will provide an array of technical assistance and training services for state, tribal, local, nonprofit, and other youth-serving organizations that handle youth in custody and youth being released from custody. This initiative will also cover organizations that provide reentry services such as pre-release planning, transitional placement, and community services.

Program Name Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Office of Policy Development, (202) 353-9258
Program Description
This program will provide training and technical assistance to state, tribal, local, and nonprofit entities that work in the juvenile justice and victimization field on how to prepare for and carry out an evaluation of their activities. The Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center will develop easily accessible tools and resources for the field and will assist in the development of evidence-based strategies and programs.

Program Name AMBER Alert National Training and Technical Assistance Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $3,200,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://www.amberalert.gov
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
The AMBER Alert National Training and Technical Assistance Program provides training and technical assistance support to enhance the AMBER Alert network; increases and improves law enforcement response to missing, endangered and abducted children; increases the recovery rate of abducted children; strengthens child alert systems in the nation's northern and southern borders to better protect American children abducted to or through foreign countries; creates greater community capacity in understanding broader issues related to exploitation and abuse of children; and enhances public participation in the recovery of missing, endangered, and abducted children.

Research and Statistical Programs

Program Name Evaluations of Girls’ Delinquency Programs
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $900,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Office of Policy Development, (202) 353-9258
Program Description
This program will document and measure the effectiveness of delinquency prevention, intervention, and/or treatment programs to prevent and reduce girls’ risk behavior and offending. Over the past two decades, the number of girls entering the juvenile justice system has dramatically increased. This trend raised a number of questions for OJJDP, including whether this reflected an increase in girls' delinquency or changes in society's responses to girls' behavior. OJJDP’s Girls Study Group recently completed a review of evaluations of girls’ delinquency programs and found that most programs have not been evaluated, thereby limiting knowledge regarding the most appropriate and effective programs for girls.

Program Name Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation Programs
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,350,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Office of Policy Development, (202) 353-9258
Program Description
Flexible funding will be provided for creative yet rigorous research and evaluation that advances OJJDP’s mission to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP seeks applications addressing a broad range of research and evaluation topics and methodologies in the fields of delinquency prevention, intervention, and treatment. This includes studies that address child victimization issues.

Program Name National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
Funding will support the design and implementation of the third National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children. The study consists of several complimentary studies designed to measure the size and nature of the nation’s missing children problem. This study provides national estimates of missing children based on surveys of households, juvenile residential facilities, and law enforcement agencies.

Program Name National Girls Institute
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link N/A
Program Contact Office of Policy Development, (202) 353-9258
Program Description
The National Girls Institute will evaluate promising and innovative prevention, intervention, treatment, education, detention, and aftercare services for delinquent and at-risk girls. The institute will promote integrated and innovative programs that use a comprehensive service delivery system to meet the unique developmental and cultural needs of girls and their families and will provide training, technical assistance, research, information dissemination, collaboration, policy development, and other leadership functions.

Program Name National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Program
Grantee U.S. Census Bureau (Continuation)
FY 2010 Funding $1,900,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb
Program Contact Office of Policy Development, (202) 353-9258
Program Description
This program will support several key national juvenile data collection programs, some of which have existed for several years and others of which are new. Programs include the following:

Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, which collects information about all youth residing in facilities who are awaiting or have been adjudicated for a status or delinquent offense.
Juvenile Residential Facility Census, which collects information about the security and services of facilities that hold youth for delinquent offenses, pre and post- adjudication.
Census of Juveniles on Probation, which collects a 1-day count of all youth on formal probation, including demographic characteristics and the offense for which they are being supervised.
Census of Juvenile Probation Supervision Offices, which collects information about the offices that oversee the youth who are on probation in the United States.

Program Name Technology-Facilitated Crimes Against Children Research Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $2,000,000
OJP Sponsor OJJDP
Web Link ojjdp.ncjrs.gov
Program Contact Child Protection Division, (202) 616-3637
Program Description
This program will support research that will expand understanding of the scope and prevalence of technology- and Internet-facilitated crimes against children. Proposed projects should aim to produce information that will assist federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutors working Internet- or technology-facilitated crimes against children cases as well as policymakers and professionals who care for and educate children and youth.

This solicitation is for a field-initiated program for research and evaluation on topics relevant to Internet- or technology-facilitated crimes against children. OJJDP has identified several priority research areas. OJJDP seeks research to identify investigative factors that reliably indicate whether a subject of an online child exploitation investigation poses a high risk of harm to children. OJJDP seeks research on the scope and prevalence of children and youth creating and distributing explicit images of themselves or their peers, with the goal of forming preventive strategies.