In fiscal year 2023, OJJDP awarded more than $420 million to advance state, local, and Tribal efforts to address juvenile delinquency and victimization, improve the juvenile justice system, and enhance community safety. The funding includes formula grants to states and discretionary grants awarded through a competitive process.
OJJDP award recipients design and implement developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive interventions for youth, seeking to ensure that young people are served in their home communities whenever possible, are protected from violence and abuse, and have the opportunities they need to become healthy, responsible citizens. Following are highlights of OJJDP’s fiscal year 2023 discretionary grants, which fund a range of initiatives aimed at empowering youth to lead productive lives.
To help prevent contact with the juvenile justice system, OJJDP awarded $92.5 million to increase mentoring opportunities for youth and improve the quality of the mentoring they receive. The funding also supports research and training and technical assistance to support the delivery of high-quality mentoring to a diverse and growing population of youth.
Two programs—National Mentoring Programs and the Multistate Mentoring Programs Initiative—provide mentoring services for young people who are at risk or at high risk for delinquency, victimization, and juvenile justice system involvement. Another targets youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system; and one is aimed at youth affected by opioid and other substance misuse.
Programs intended to reduce gang violence and victimization through community-based approaches that deliver prevention and intervention services will receive $34.7 million in fiscal year 2023. The funding will help project sites implement multisystemic approaches that provide gang-involved or at-risk youth alternatives to violence, and encourage close collaboration among community-based organizations, service providers, and law enforcement. A school-based program emphasizes collaborative approaches between schools and local community-based organizations that operate violence prevention and early intervention programs. A separate program is designed to help children and their families exposed to violence build resilience, restore safety, heal emotional wounds, and prevent future violence.
OJJDP is investing more than $96 million to help law enforcement recover missing and exploited children, and protect youth online through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program. Victims of Child Abuse Act programs are receiving $41 million to support local, Tribal, and regional children’s advocacy centers—which use a multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases and to treat victims—and training and technical assistance for child abuse professionals.
The Office also is distributing nearly $101 million to drug courts serving youth and families facing substance misuse challenges; delinquency prevention and intervention initiatives targeting vulnerable and at-risk youth, and system-involved girls; communities establishing and sustaining effective youth reentry programs; and Tribal efforts to reduce delinquency and strengthen the juvenile justice system for American Indian and Alaska Native youth.
OJJDP is awarding more than $12 million for resources, training, and technical assistance needed to enhance state efforts to improve juvenile justice systems.
Resources:
Visit OJJDP’s Awards page to learn more about fiscal year 2023 awards. To see awards information by city and state, view the Office of Justice Programs’ interactive map.