OJJDP FY 2022 Strategies To Support Children Exposed to Violence

OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

Youth violence is a critical issue for many communities across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), homicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic Black or African American youth. (American Journal of Preventive Medicine 55(4): 462-469, 2018) OJJDP recognizes this issue and has a long history of supporting cross-sector, multilevel, community-based collaborations that engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders to combat youth violence. OJJDP's current approach to addressing the complex issues related to youth violence is the development of approaches that build the capacity of communities to help children and their families exposed to violence.

The Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence solicitation provides funding for communities to develop coordinated and comprehensive community-based approaches to assist children and their families who are exposed to violence build resilience and prevent future juvenile violence and delinquency. Funding can be used to develop and/or enhance support services for children exposed to violence and to help family-serving organizations better recognize and help families at risk for violence.

For the purposes of this solicitation, the term children exposed to violence" can include, but is not limited to child maltreatment, domestic or intimate partner violence, community violence, school violence, domestic violence, bullying and harassment by peers, and physical assault with or without weapons.