OJJDP FY 17 Smart on Juvenile Justice: Enhancing Youth Access to Justice Initiative

This initiative is composed of three categories listed below. Eligible applicants are limited to nonprofit organizations having a 501(c)(3) exemption with the Internal Revenue Service; for-profit organizations, including Tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations; and institutions of higher education, including Tribal institutions of higher education. For-profit organizations must agree to forgo any profit or management fee. Category 1: Training and Technical Assistance. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) will provide funding to a national training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to deliver intensive assistance to states to develop and implement effective, well-resourced, statewide juvenile defense reform strategic plans. The provider will also work to improve indigent defense, including post-disposition representation, and the overall level of systemic advocacy by providing the juvenile defense bar with cost-effective, innovative training programs, tools and practice guidelines, technical support, capacity-building assistance, and leadership opportunities, and by collaboratively engaging experts and stakeholders. Category 2: State and Tribal Juvenile Defender Resource Centers. Resource centers will be funded to help state, Tribal, and local juvenile defense systems enhance the quality of legal representation, leverage resources, and collect and analyze data to measure the effectiveness of services. Category 3: Second Chance Act- Juvenile Reentry Legal Services. This program will provide grants to community based non- profit organizations to provide direct civil legal services, mentoring and reentry planning to justice involved youth that are transitioning or have recently transitioned back to their families and communities following secure confinement or out-of-home placement by providing the youth with direct civil legal services, mentoring and collective advocacy strategies to address the collateral consequences of justice-system involvement and overcome barriers to securing housing, education, and employment in order to reduce recidivism.