Deadline: 29-Jul-21
The Pittsburgh Foundation is accepting applications for its Youth Justice Funding Opportunity with the experience, commitment, and capacity to implement intervention and prevention activities aimed at preventing youth involvement in the justice system as early as possible.
Youth justice is one of the most significant civil rights issues of our time with young adults who are involved in the juvenile or adult criminal justice systems disproportionately identified as having special needs, disproportionately low-income, and Black and Latinx.
In Allegheny County, Black youth are six times more likely to be detained than their white counterparts, and Black girls are ten times as likely as white girls to be referred to the juvenile justice system.
The collateral consequences of juvenile justice involvement include but are not limited to restricted school and education access, suspended driving license, difficulties joining the military, trouble obtaining a job, mental and physical trauma, difficulty attaining financial aid for higher education, financial burdens accrued from court fines, and eviction from public housing.
Prevention, early intervention and diversion approaches must be supported and institutionalized.
Priorities
Successful proposals under this funding opportunity will address one of the following priorities:
- Identify opportunities to prevent and address disproportionate system-involvement of youth of color, with a particular focus on girls of color in Allegheny County.
- Identify opportunities to support prevention and diversion initiatives.
- Engage youth as advocates against corrections system involvement by integrating their voices as agents of change, among their peers and in their communities.
- Support efforts to reform the system of restitution and court-related fees and fines.
Funding Information
- The Pittsburgh Foundation has allocated $450,000 for this funding opportunity and will support funding requests that range from $25,000 to $75,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Pittsburgh Foundation is seeking requests from nonprofit organizations with the demonstrated capacity and the relevant expertise and knowledge to carry out initiatives that reflect the RFP priorities. To be eligible for this grant opportunity, you must:
- Designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization. (If your organization does not have 501(c)(3) status, you may apply utilizing a?fiscal sponsor.)
- Be located in, and work must primarily benefit residents of Allegheny County.
- Have relevant knowledge and expertise in activities aimed at disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.
- Demonstrated capacity to carry out the work proposed in the application.
Preference
Preference will be given to those organizations or projects that:
- Demonstrate leadership and/or meaningful involvement by youth and families most directly impacted by the issues that the request is addressing.
- Utilize a racial equity lens and address the disparate outcomes impacting youth of color.
- Engage youth, communities, schools, the courts and other key stakeholders in addressing the above recommendations.
- Explain how they will evaluate their project and document and share outcomes, including successes and challenges of the proposed work.
For more information, visit https://pittsburghfoundation.org/other-grant-opportunities