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NOFO: Juvenile Justice System Reform and Reinvestment Initiative Program 2025 (United States)

Deadline: 3 March 2025

The Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention with its Juvenile Justice System Reform and Reinvestment Initiative Program seeks to support states’ research-based, developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed responses to youth offending and other public safety and community challenges identified through stakeholder engagement and data analysis.

The justice reinvestment framework that informs this initiative is intended to guide states through a data driven, consensus-based system improvement process by helping states:

  • Conduct intensive and objective agency-spanning data analysis they could not otherwise procure on their own.
  • Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the juvenile justice system and other systems impacting youth, engaging all relevant stakeholders in the process.
  • Build the collaboration necessary to examine data on a statewide level while considering all aspects of the justice system, including local perspectives.
  • Craft innovative, data-driven approaches to improving public safety by identifying policies to reduce offending, recidivism, and costs.
  • Identify and align state and local resources to meet those ends.

Objectives

  • Improve youth outcomes. This can vary depending on the goals of individual projects, but may include reducing recidivism, improving behavioral health measures, school completion or job attainment, housing stability, etc.
  • Increase collaboration between systems and community partners to examine data on a statewide level while considering all aspects of the justice system, including local perspectives.
  • More efficiently and effectively reinvest funds and tailor services to meet identified needs for youth.
  • Share findings and outcomes from projects with the field to help broaden understanding of effective prevention and intervention strategies for youth.

Funding Information 

  • Estimated Total Program Funding: $4,860,000.
  • Award Ceiling: $1,620,000.

Deliverables

  • Award recipients will be expected to develop and submit the deliverables listed below in the course of implementing their proposed project:
    • Each funded program will be required to submit a detailed final report summarizing the changes made and preliminary outcomes at the conclusion of the grant period.

Eligibility Criteria

  • The types of entities that are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity are listed below:
    • Government Entities:  State governments
    • State Government Entities: For the purposes of this NOFO, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
    • Limit on Number of Applications: An applicant may submit more than one application if each application proposes a different project in response to the NOFO. Also, an entity may be proposed as a sub recipient in more than one application.

Review Criteria

  • Applications that meet the basic minimum requirements will be evaluated for technical merit by peer reviewers based on how the proposed project/program addresses the following criteria:
    • Statement of the Problem/Description of the Issue (10%): What critical issue or problem the applicant is proposing to address with this project.
    • Project Goals and Objectives (10%): How the proposed project will address the identified need and the purpose of the funding opportunity.
    • Project Design and Implementation (45%): The strength of how the applicant will implement activities, including the soundness of the project design and how the activities align with the stated goals and objectives.
    • Capabilities and Competencies (25%): The applicant’s administrative and technical capacity to successfully complete this project.
    • Budget (10%): Completeness and cost effectiveness.

Application Requirements

  • If OJP determines that an application does not include these elements, it will not proceed to merit review and will not receive any further consideration:
    • The application is submitted by an eligible applicant.
    • The requested award amount does not exceed the award ceiling.
    • The application is responsive to the scope of the NOFO.
    • The following application elements are included:
      • SF-424 (Grants.gov)
      • Proposal Narrative (JustGrants)
      • Budget detail form, which includes the budget items, their calculations, and explanation (JustGrants)

For more information, visit Grants.gov.