OJJDP FY 18 Gang Suppression: A Law Enforcement and Prosecutorial Approach to Address Gang Recruitment of Unaccompanied Alien Children | OJJDP 2018 13845

Opportunity Information: Apply for OJJDP 2018 13845

The OJJDP FY 18 Gang Suppression grant opportunity (OJJDP 2018-13845) is a Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention initiative that funds community efforts to reduce violent youth crime, especially gun and gang violence and related victimization. The program is built around the idea that lasting violence reduction requires coordinated action between law enforcement, prosecutors, and a broader set of local partners. Rather than supporting isolated activities, it emphasizes comprehensive strategic planning and cross-sector implementation so communities can align prevention, intervention, and enforcement or focused deterrence strategies into a single public safety approach. Although the title highlights gang recruitment of unaccompanied alien children, the core design centers on youth gun and gang violence reduction through locally driven plans supported by federal funding and hands-on technical assistance.

Awards are made as cooperative agreements, meaning the federal agency typically plays an active role beyond simply providing funds, often through oversight, guidance, and required coordination with federally supported training and technical assistance resources. The opportunity falls under CFDA 16.544 (law, justice, and legal services). Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments, special district governments, and federally recognized tribal governments, with additional eligibility potentially allowed as clarified in the full solicitation. The solicitation was posted June 28, 2018, with an application deadline of August 27, 2018. OJJDP anticipated making about six awards, with an award ceiling of up to $1.2 million per award.

The solicitation is organized into three distinct categories so communities can enter at the stage that matches their readiness and capacity. Category 1, Program Planning, is intended for planning sites described as high-crime but low-capacity communities. The purpose here is to fund and structure a law enforcement-focused collaborative planning process that brings together police, prosecutors as appropriate, local leadership, and key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive public safety action plan aimed at reducing youth gun and gang violence. A major feature of this category is intensive support through OJJDP-provided training and technical assistance, helping jurisdictions strengthen data use, partnership development, problem analysis, and strategy selection so they can move toward an implementable plan that fits local conditions.

Category 2, Implementation, is designed for jurisdictions described as high-crime and high-capacity, meaning they already have the infrastructure and partnerships to put strategies into action. Applicants under this category are expected to submit comprehensive plans that are essentially ready to launch and can be reviewed and approved by OJJDP. Funding supports a targeted implementation effort that uses a law enforcement-focused, community-based, cross-sector approach. In practice, this can include coordinated prevention initiatives for at-risk youth, intervention services for youth already involved in gangs or violent peer groups, and enforcement or focused deterrence components aimed at the small number of people and places driving serious violence. The emphasis is on executing a coherent plan rather than running unrelated programs, with the goal of achieving measurable reductions in youth violence and victimization and improving community safety.

Category 3, Training and Technical Assistance (TTA), funds the capacity-building backbone of the initiative. Under this category, resources are provided to support both existing OJJDP youth violence grantees and the new communities funded through Categories 1 and 2. The intent is to improve planning quality, strengthen implementation, and help sites use effective practices for youth gun and gang violence reduction. This may involve guidance on collaboration structures, strategy selection, performance measurement, implementation fidelity, and problem-solving during rollout. By pairing direct site funding with robust TTA, OJJDP aims to help communities move from planning to action and sustain coordinated violence reduction efforts over time.

Overall, the opportunity targets communities facing serious youth violence and gang activity and offers two main pathways: one for jurisdictions that need structured support to build a credible plan (Category 1) and another for jurisdictions prepared to act immediately (Category 2), with a third track that ensures ongoing training and technical assistance across all participating sites (Category 3). The unifying goal across categories is to reduce youth gun and gang violence through collective action led in coordination with law enforcement and local partners, supported by federal funding and active engagement from OJJDP.

• The Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OJJDP FY 18 Gang Suppression: A Law Enforcement and Prosecutorial Approach to Address Gang Recruitment of Unaccompanied Alien Children" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.544.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 28, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 27, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for OJJDP 2018 13845

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