OJJDP FY 19 Supporting Effective Interventions for Adolescent Sex Offenders and Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems | OJJDP 2019 15003

Opportunity Information: Apply for OJJDP 2019 15003

The OJJDP FY 19 Supporting Effective Interventions for Adolescent Sex Offenders and Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number OJJDP 2019 15003) is a discretionary Department of Justice initiative administered through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). It is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means the federal agency expects to be more actively involved than in a standard grant, often through collaboration, oversight, and shared planning around implementation and outcomes. The overall intent is to help communities build stronger, coordinated responses to youth with problematic sexual behaviors, while also ensuring child victims and families receive appropriate, evidence-based support focused on healing and long-term safety.

The core purpose of the program is threefold: prevent sexual reoffending, promote healing, and expand or strengthen services for victims and families. Rather than focusing only on the youth who displayed harmful behaviors, the opportunity emphasizes a comprehensive approach that addresses the needs of the child victim or victims, the youth with sexual behavior problems, and the parents or caregivers on both sides. The program is explicitly centered on community-based solutions, meaning applicants are expected to build interventions that function in real-world local systems and are supported by coordinated partnerships among relevant disciplines.

A key feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on multidisciplinary, comprehensive intervention models. In practice, this points applicants toward partnerships that can include juvenile justice agencies, child welfare, victim advocacy organizations, behavioral health providers, schools, medical professionals, and other community stakeholders. The goal is a coordinated response that does not operate in silos, but instead aligns case identification, assessment, treatment planning, victim services, family support, and ongoing safety management. The opportunity also includes funding not only for local project sites but also for a training and technical assistance provider that can help those sites develop, implement, and refine their intervention models, with an eye toward improving consistency and quality across different jurisdictions.

The population focus is specific: interfamilial and/or coresidential child victims and youth with problematic sexual behaviors. That includes situations where the child victim and the youth who caused harm are in the same household or living arrangement, or where there is a family relationship that complicates safety planning, caregiving decisions, and ongoing contact. The opportunity recognizes that these cases often involve complex family dynamics, heightened trauma risks, and difficult decisions about supervision, placement, and reunification, all of which require specialized clinical and system responses.

The solicitation provides examples of problematic sexual behaviors to clarify the types of cases this program is intended to address. These include sexual contact between children who do not know each other well, such as in foster care placements or institutional settings; sexual contact involving significant differences in age, size, or developmental level; aggressive or coerced sexual contact; sexual contact that results in harm; and sexual contact that causes another child to be highly upset or fearful. The inclusion of these examples signals that the program is concerned with harmful, developmentally inappropriate, or coercive behaviors, and not normal childhood curiosity, and that interventions should be appropriately tailored to risk level and developmental needs.

Applicants are expected to propose comprehensive, evidence-based intervention strategies that serve both the child victim(s) and the youth with sexual behavior problems, along with their parents or caregivers. This expectation implies that strong proposals will be grounded in proven or promising practices, incorporate structured assessment and individualized treatment planning, and include meaningful supports for caregivers who must manage safety and provide stability. It also suggests an integrated model where victim services are not an afterthought and where family engagement is treated as essential to both accountability and healing.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was created on April 23, 2019, with an original closing date of June 25, 2019. The award ceiling listed is $500,000, with an anticipated total of four awards. The program is cataloged under CFDA number 16.543 and falls under the funding activity category of Law, Justice and Legal Services, reflecting its intersection of juvenile justice system involvement, child protection concerns, and therapeutic service delivery.

Eligibility is broad, allowing a range of governmental, educational, nonprofit, tribal, and private entities to apply. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); private institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations other than small businesses, along with other entities as clarified in the solicitation. This wide eligibility suggests OJJDP is seeking strong local capacity and credible partnerships wherever they exist, whether housed in a public agency, a university-based program, a community nonprofit, a tribal government, or another qualified organization capable of leading a coordinated community response.

Overall, the opportunity is designed to help communities develop and strengthen structured, evidence-informed interventions for a challenging subset of cases involving youth sexual behavior problems and child victims who often remain connected through family or shared living environments. The emphasis on multidisciplinary coordination, victim and family services, and training and technical assistance reflects a systems approach aimed at reducing future harm while supporting recovery and stability for children and families.

• 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 19 Supporting Effective Interventions for Adolescent Sex Offenders and Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.543.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 25, 2019. (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 $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for OJJDP 2019 15003

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