May | June 2020

Staff Spotlight: Dr. TeNeane Bradford, Associate Administrator
photo of Katharine T. Sullivan and Dr. TeNeane BradfordIn December 2019, Dr. TeNeane Bradford (right) received the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for her work overseeing OJJDP's Title II Formula Grants program. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan is shown on the left.

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.

left quote In 2019, the State Relations and Assistance Division organized a comprehensive training conference to help states and territories carry out the Formula Grants program. We included interactive discussions, panels, and workshops, and we received a lot of positive feedback from the 200 attendees. I’m excited about our upcoming conference in October 2020.right quote

—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.