Community and Schools Youth Drug Prevention Program (United States)

OJJDP seeks to support a National Community and Schools Youth Drug Prevention Program for the purpose of delivering substance use prevention programs in schools in partnership with local law enforcement and community coalitions. The successful national organization will provide funding and training and technical assistance (TTA) to local non-profits who will be required to build community coalitions in partnership with law enforcement to educate youth in schools and in extracurricular programming on drug prevention. Community coalitions consist of community leaders that organize to meet the local prevention needs of the youth and families in their communities. Partnerships among non-profit organizations, community coalitions and law enforcement ensure that communities implement comprehensive approaches to prevent youth substance use.

This program will support communities to implement a range youth substance use prevention strategies that include but not limited to the following:

• Developing comprehensive drug prevention programs for all students from preschool through grade 12 that include health education, early intervention, mentoring, treatment referral, and related activities.
• Devising strategies to integrate family engagement approaches to educate and inform to prevent or interrupt further substance use.
• Providing professional training and development for school personnel, parents, law enforcement officials, and other community members.
• Supporting “safe zones of passage” for students between home and school through enhanced law enforcement, neighborhood patrols, and similar measures.

Objective

• The program’s overall objective is to provide project sites with the training and technical assistance needed to develop strategies, partnerships, and processes to deliver substance abuse prevention and intervention education in schools and in extracurricular programming. This may include the implementation of new programs and/or referrals to treatment services.

Priority Areas

• In order to further OJP’s mission, OJP will provide priority consideration when making award decisions to the following:
  • Applications that propose project(s) that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to accessing services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization.
    • To receive this consideration, the applicant must describe how the proposed project(s) will address identified inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. Project activities under this consideration may include but are not limited to the following: improving victim services, justice responses, prevention initiatives, reentry services and other parts of an organization’s or community’s efforts to advance public safety.
  • Applicants that demonstrate that their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed project(s) are enhanced because they (or at least one proposed subrecipient that will receive at least 40 percent of the requested award funding, as demonstrated in the Budget web-based form) are a population-specific organization that serves communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization.
    • For purposes of this solicitation, population-specific organizations are nonprofit, nongovernmental, or Tribal organizations that primarily serve members of a specific underserved population and have demonstrated experience and expertise providing targeted services to members of that specific underserved population.
    • To receive this additional priority consideration, applicants must describe how being a population-specific organization (or funding the population-specific subrecipient organization(s)) will enhance their ability to implement the proposed project(s), and should also specify which historically underserved populations are intended or expected to be served or have their needs addressed under the proposed project(s).
    • Note: Addressing these priority areas is one of many factors that OJP considers in making funding decisions. Receiving priority consideration for one or more priority areas does not guarantee an award.

Funding Information

• Anticipated Maximum Dollar Amount per Award: Award will be up to $10,000,000
• Anticipated Total Amount to be Awarded Under This Solicitation: $10,000,000
• Period of Performance Duration (Months): 36

Eligibility Criteria

• Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
• Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education
• For profit organizations other than small businesses
• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.