Second Chance Act Youth Offender Reentry Program: Department of Justice (US)

Deadline: 15-Jun-21

The Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention’s Second Chance Act Youth Offender Reentry Program is now open for applications to reduce the number of crimes committed by people under community supervision while promoting the fair administration of justice and advancing public safety, with categories as under:

Category 1: Youth Offender Reentry Program will support states, local governments, and tribal governments in partnership with interested persons (including federal corrections and supervision agencies), service providers, and nonprofit organizations to provide comprehensive reentry services for moderate to high-risk youth offenders before, during, and after release from confinement.
Category 2: Community-Based Youth Reentry Program will provide funding to nonprofit organizations to support transitional services to assist in the reintegration of youth into the community and to deliver training on offenders and victims’ issues.

Priority Areas

The Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights, increases access to justice, supports crime victims, protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

In FY 2021, OJP will give priority consideration in award decisions to applications that demonstrate ways in which their projects will advance one or more of these areas.

To receive priority consideration for advancing one or more of the Department’s priorities, the applicant must provide a sufficient narrative explanation as an attachment, that specifies how the project will advance the promotion of civil rights, access to justice, support to crime victims, protecting the public from crime and evolving threats, or building trust between law enforcement and the community.

In addition, OJP will give priority consideration, if applicable, to applicants that demonstrate that the individuals who are intended to benefit from the requested grant reside in high-poverty areas or persistent-poverty counties.

Priority consideration is one of many factors that OJP considers in making funding decisions and is not a guarantee of an award.

Category 1: Youth Offender Reentry Program – Program Specific Priority Areas
- In FY 2021, and in addition to the “Priority Areas” section above, priority consideration will be given to Category 1 applications as follows under Section 101 of the Second Chance Act that best:
  - Demonstrate a commitment to partner with a local evaluator to identify and analyze data that will enable the grantee to target the intended offender population and serve as a baseline for purposes of the evaluation; and
  - Demonstrate a focus initiative on geographic areas with a disproportionate population of offenders released from prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities;
  - Include input from nonprofit organizations in any case where relevant input is available and appropriate to the grant application; input and coordination with facility administrators for service delivery prerelease; consultation with crime victims and offenders who are released from prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities; input and coordination with families of offenders, the juvenile justice coordinating council of the region, the reentry coordinating council of the region, or from other interested persons;
  - Demonstrate effective case assessment and management abilities in order to provide comprehensive and continuous reentry, including planning for prerelease transitional housing and community release that begins upon admission for juveniles and jail inmates and, as appropriate, for prison inmates, depending on the length of the sentence;
  - Establish prerelease planning procedures to ensure that the eligibility of an offender for federal, tribal, or state benefits upon release is established prior to release, subject to any limitations in law, and to ensure that offenders obtain all necessary referrals for reentry services, including assistance identifying and securing suitable housing;
  - Deliver continuous and appropriate mental health services, drug treatment, medical care, job training and placement, educational services, vocational services, and any other service or support needed for reentry;
  - Review the process by which the applicant adjudicates violations of parole, probation, or supervision following release from prison, jail, or a juvenile facility, taking into account public safety and the use of graduated, community-based sanctions for minor and technical violations of parole, probation, or supervision (specifically those violations that are not otherwise, and independently, a violation of law);
  - Provide for an independent evaluation of reentry programs that include, to the maximum extent possible, random assignment and controlled studies to determine the effectiveness of such programs; or
  - Target moderate and high-risk youth offenders for reentry programs through validated assessment tools; or target offenders with histories of homelessness, substance abuse, or mental illness, including prerelease assessment of the housing status of the offender and behavioral health needs of the offender with clear coordination with mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness services systems to achieve stable and permanent housing outcomes with appropriate support services.
Category 2: Community-Based Youth Reentry Program – Program-Specific Priority Areas
- In FY 2021, and in addition to the “Priority Areas” section below, priority consideration will be given to Category 2 applications as follows:
  - Applications that include a plan to implement activities that have been demonstrated effective in facilitating the successful reentry of offenders
  - Applications that provide for an independent evaluation that includes, to the maximum extent feasible, random assignment of offenders to program delivery and control groups

Award Information

Category 1
- Amount: $750,000.00
- Number of Awards: 5
- Performance Start Date: 10/1/21 12:00 AM
- Performance Duration (Months): 36
Category 2
- Amount: $750,000.00
- Number of Awards: 8
- Performance Start Date: 10/1/21 12:00 AM
- Performance Duration (Months): 36

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Applicants: City or township governments, County governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, State governments, Other
Category 1
- State governments, City or township governments, County governments, Indian/Native American tribal governments (federally recognized), Other.
- For purposes of this solicitation, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- Category 1 applicants should include demonstration of partnership with interested persons (including federal corrections and supervision agencies), service providers, and nonprofit organizations).
Category 2
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Indian/Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments).
- Category 2 applicants must attach a Memorandum of Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOA/MOU) that clearly demonstrates an established, collaborative relationship between the applicant and the correctional agencies that:
  - oversee the specific facility or facilities from which the applicant proposes to recruit the target reentering population and
  - oversee community corrections (probation and/or parole) for the target population.