Dr. TeNeane Bradford and her staff in OJJDP’s State Relations and Assistance Division support states and territories in implementing OJJDP’s Title II Formula Grants program. The program helps states reduce and prevent delinquency, improve their juvenile justice systems, and comply with the core requirements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.
The core requirements call for states to deinstitutionalize status offenders, separate juveniles from adult inmates in secure facilities, remove juveniles from adult jails and lockups, and address racial and ethnic disparities. In fiscal year 2019, the Office awarded more than $37.6 million in formula grants.
As part of its oversight of the Formula Grants program, Dr. Bradford’s division conducts site visits and compliance audits as well as annual administrative reviews to determine whether states are eligible to receive formula grant funds and the amount for which they are eligible, based on their compliance with the core requirements. The division also provides technical assistance and sponsors and facilitates trainings to help states maintain eligibility and achieve full compliance with the core requirements.
Dr. Bradford also manages OJJDP’s Nonparticipating States program, which provides funds to nonprofit organizations and local governments in states that have chosen not to participate or that have been found ineligible to participate in the Formula Grants program. She also oversees several other grant programs designed to help state systems improve their operational effectiveness across various parts of their juvenile justice systems.
—Dr. TeNeane Bradford, Associate Administrator
As part of OJJDP’s commitment to improving the juvenile justice system, Dr. Bradford and her staff, in collaboration with the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators, organize trainings for superintendents, directors, and administrators of state and local secure juvenile justice facilities.
Before joining OJJDP in 2017, Dr. Bradford served as senior supervisory policy analyst, acting assistant director of grants administration, and lead grant monitoring specialist in the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Dr. Bradford previously worked as the state reentry director/intensive supervision state coordinator at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice.
Dr. Bradford earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of South Carolina, master’s degrees in management and human resource development from Webster University, and a doctorate in public service leadership with an emphasis on criminal justice from Capella University.