The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention announced yesterday the Juvenile Justice Reform and Reinvestment Initiative, which will fund three juvenile justice agencies (local or state) to develop “evidence-based and cost-measurement tools that will enable them to make informed decisions about resources and services for justice- involved youth.”
OJJDP will manage the competition and the grant, but the funding comes from the Office of Management and Budget’s Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation.
Some notes on this solicitation:
-In a nutshell, winners will have to start making decisions about diversion and sentencing options for juveniles based on individual need, program effectiveness and cost-benefit.
To accomplish this, agencies will be required to incorporate a risk/needs assessment screen; adopt the Standard Program Evaluation Protocol to compare program options; and track both costs and outcomes of system-involved youth.
At the end of the project, a system would theoretically be placing youth based on need, into community and residential programs that have been tapped based on a combination of cost and program effectiveness.
-Only state and local agencies can apply. For locals, the application must come with a signed letter of commitment from the state juvenile justice agency. That letter must guarantee two things: the state supports the proposal, and the state is in compliance with all four of the core requirements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.
-The total award will be about $750,000 for each winner, but each winner must budget $249,000 of that for training and technical assistance. OJJDP appears to have tapped a partner for that component of the project without putting it out for competition: the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at the Georgetown University, which was founded and is led by Clinton-era OJJDP Administrator Shay Bilchik.
Click here for more information. The deadline to apply is Aug. 23, although OJJDP suggests in the solicitation that proposals get into the Grants.gov system by Aug. 20.
OJJDP is also looking for someone to evaluate the project; click here for details on that. Proposals to evaluate the project are also due on Aug. 23.
Youth Services Insider is written by John Kelly, editor-in-chief of The Imprint.