OJJDP is dedicated to enhancing the welfare of America’s youth and broadening their opportunities for a better future. To carry out this mission, the Office provides national leadership and resources to help states, Tribes, and local governments prevent and respond to youth delinquency, and develop effective and equitable juvenile justice systems. In fiscal year 2022, OJJDP is making more than $398 million in awards to states, Tribes, local governments, and community-based organizations.

OJJDP funding supports efforts that protect youth who come into contact with or are at risk of contact with the juvenile justice system and that further the Office’s three priorities—treating children as children; serving children at home, with their families, and in their communities; and opening up opportunities for system-involved youth. A variety of OJJDP programs work to ensure children are diverted from adult courts and facilities, helping fulfill the first priority.

The Office awarded more than $69 million to 19 organizations under its National Mentoring Programs and Multistate Mentoring Programs initiatives, which provide mentoring services to young people who are at risk or high risk for delinquency, victimization, and juvenile justice system involvement. The Mentoring for Youth Affected by Opioid and Other Drug Misuse program distributed more than $16.2 million to 16 organizations to support youth impacted by opioids and other substances. The National Mentoring Resource Center received nearly $2.7 million to support mentoring organizations with comprehensive resources, evidence-based practices, and research.

OJJDP is awarding nearly $45 million through the Title II Formula Grants program to states, territories, and the District of Columbia to carry out prevention and intervention services for youth and improve juvenile justice systems. The funding helps jurisdictions implement many of the Office’s priorities, including diverting children from adult courts, jails, and prisons, providing community-based alternatives to incarceration, and ending the use of detention as punishment for status offenses.

Four jurisdictions and a training and technical assistance provider received almost $2.5 million under the Enhancing Juvenile Indigent Defense program to provide youth with high-quality legal representation. OJJDP awarded $350,000 under the Addressing the Training Needs of Juvenile Prosecutors program to help states expand training for prosecutors and support staff who work on behalf of youth.

Under the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program, four jurisdictions were awarded a total of $3 million to enhance existing programs and improve outcomes for youth with substance use or co-occurring mental health disorders. The Office awarded $4 million to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals to provide training and technical assistance to states and local governments developing or enhancing juvenile drug treatment courts. Five Tribal entities received $2 million under the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation for Tribal juvenile healing to wellness courts.

By strengthening and expanding the use of community-based alternatives to out-of-home placement, many OJJDP programs help carry out the Office’s second priority. The Juvenile Justice System Reform and Reinvestment Initiative—which promotes a broad set of reforms such as expanding community-based responses to delinquency—awarded more than $2.4 million to two states for efforts designed to reduce reoffending, improve outcomes for youth, and end racial and ethnic disparities. An additional $1 million will support training and technical assistance.

OJJDP awarded more than $2.2 million to three communities under the Family-Based Alternative Sentencing Program to support models that divert parents or primary caregivers from the prison system, promote family unification, and prevent children from entering the foster care or juvenile justice systems.

The Reducing Risk for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System program allocated $3.9 million to six project sites and a training and technical assistance provider to deliver early-intervention programs and treatment services to girls involved in the juvenile justice system. The program is intended to expand the use of community-based alternatives and limit participants’ juvenile justice involvement.

Several OJJDP programs reinforce the Office’s third priority by ensuring that justice-involved youth have the same access to opportunities available to other youth. OJJDP allocated more than $18 million for two programs—the Second Chance Act Youth Reentry Program and the Second Chance Act Addressing the Needs of Incarcerated Parents and Their Minor Children program—to help communities strengthen effective youth reentry programs.

OJJDP’s Arts Programs for Justice-Involved Youth distributed $200,000 to three organizations to support high-quality arts programs for justice-involved youth.

Under the Byrne Discretionary Community Project Funding/Byrne Discretionary Grants Program, 18 communities received more than $8.9 million for a wide range of efforts aimed at improving the criminal and juvenile justice systems, preventing delinquency, and supporting reentry.

A number of OJJDP’s programs address Office goals beyond the three stated priorities for transforming the juvenile justice system. They include efforts to reduce gang violence, address the opioid crisis, support American Indian and Alaska Native youth, and to address issues related to missing children, the sexual exploitation of children, and child victims of abuse.

The Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence program allocated nearly $25 million to 23 project sites and a training and technical assistance provider. The Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence program received nearly $7 million to fund seven project sites and training and technical assistance.

OJJDP’s Opioid Affected Youth Initiative awarded more than $9 million to 13 project sites, along with an additional $1.5 million to support training and technical assistance. Twenty-one programs received more than $15 million under the Family Treatment Court Program; an additional $5 million will support training and technical assistance.

Under the Tribal Youth Program (through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation), OJJDP distributed more than $7.5 million to 20 Tribes, along with $2.5 million for training and technical assistance to Tribal communities.

Other programs funded by OJJDP in fiscal year 2022 include:

• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children—$38.7 million, and $7.8 million for training and technical assistance.
• National AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program—$4.4 million.
• Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program—$31.2 million, and more than $8.4 million for training and technical assistance.
• Victims of Child Abuse Act programs—$27.6 million to support local, Tribal, and regional children’s advocacy centers; and $19.5 million for training and technical assistance for Tribal children’s advocacy centers, child abuse prosecutors, court-appointed special advocates, and judicial, legal, and social services professionals.
• National Resource Center for Justice-Involved LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Youth—$1 million.
• Supporting Effective Interventions for Youth With Problematic or Illegal Sexual Behavior program—$2.6 million.

Resources:

Visit OJJDP’s Awards page to learn more about fiscal year 2022 awards.