Deadline: 13 March 2017
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is seeking applications for funding under the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative.
The program furthers the Department’s mission by supporting mentoring programs to reduce juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, truancy, and other problem and high-risk behaviors.
The program supports the implementation and delivery of one-on-one, group, peer, or a combination of these types of mentoring services to at-risk and high-risk youth populations through applicant mentoring organizations and their active chapters or sub-awardees and among mentoring collaborative. This program also supports one or more enhancements to both improve access to and the impact of mentoring services.
The program’s goal is to improve outcomes, such as improved academic performance and reduced school dropout rates for at-risk, high-risk, or underserved youth; and reduce negative outcomes (including juvenile delinquency and gang participation) through mentoring. To achieve this goal, program objectives focus on supporting eligible programs
- to provide quality mentoring services tailored to the needs of the identified at-risk, high-risk, or underserved youth target population and
- to align grantees’ mentoring programs with research and evidence on effective mentoring practices
Program Categories
- National Mentoring Programs: This category supports organizations with the widest reach and capacity to provide youth mentoring services across the country. Only national organizations are eligible to apply in this category.
- Multistate Mentoring Programs: This category supports youth mentoring services in at least 5 states but fewer than 45 states. Only multistate organizations are eligible to apply in this category.
- Collaborative Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants must be part of a collaborative of at least three and as many as five mentoring organizations. OJJDP encourages multistate organizations to participate, but their participation is not required.
Funding Information
The estimated total program funding is $75,000,000
- National Mentoring Programs: An application may be for a performance period of as long as 3 years.
- Multistate Mentoring Programs: An application may be for a period of performance of as long as 3 years. Applicants that meet the minimum requirement of having active chapters or subawardees in at least five states may request as much as $2 million, and those applicants that demonstrate the broadest reach (as detailed above) may request as much as $5 million.
- Collaborative Mentoring Programs: An applicant may request as much as $1.25 million for a minimum period of performance of 1 year and as long as 3 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- National Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants are limited to national organizations, defined as organizations that have active chapters or subawardees in at least 45 states.
- Applicants must include a list of active chapters or subawardees and the states where they are located as an attachment to their application. For purposes of this solicitation, 2 or more independent organizations that form a collaborative to meet the 45-state requirement do not satisfy OJJDP’s definition of a national organization.
- The organization’s national headquarters must submit the application.
- OJJDP encourages applicants to minimize their administrative costs in an effort to subaward at least 90 percent of this award to active chapters or subrecipients, located in at least 38 states, while at the same time allowing for effective subrecipient oversight.
- Multistate Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants are limited to multistate organizations, defined as organizations that have operated an established mentoring program for at least 3 years and have active chapters or subawardees in at least 5 states but fewer than 45 states.
- Applicants must include a list of active chapters or subawardees and the states where they are located as an attachment to their application. For purposes of this solicitation, two or more independent organizations that form a collaborative to meet the five-state requirement do not satisfy OJJDP’s definition of a multistate organization.
- The organization’s headquarters must submit the application.
- Collaborative Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants must be part of a collaborative of at least three and as many as five mentoring organizations.
- Under the award, the mentoring organizations that form the collaborative must each provide services in at least one location that is independent of the other mentoring organizations and must all implement the same program design enhancement.
- Mentoring organizations within the collaborative must ensure that no individual will receive duplicate services from more than one member of the collaborative. The collaborative may include different mentoring organizations that receive funding from the same parent organization; however, official organizational charts must reflect that the mentoring organizations operate independently and at different locations.
- Each mentoring organization within the collaborative must already have an established mentoring program (operational for at least 1 year) at the time they submit an application for funding.
- OJJDP encourages applicants to consider partnering with those organizations—and in such a manner—that will best leverage shared costs for training or program-related activities.
- Applicants must submit memoranda of understanding (or analogous documents) demonstrating a formal collaborative partnership. One organization must be clearly identified as the lead applicant; however, subrecipients may be part of multiple Collaborative Mentoring Program proposals. OJJDP encourages multistate organizations to participate in Collaborative Mentoring Programs, but their participation is not required. National organizations are not eligible to apply.
How to Apply
Interested applicants can access the application package via given website.
Eligible Countries: United States
For more information, please visit Mentoring Opportunities for Youth.