OJJDP FY 2015 Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative

This solicitation supports applicant organizations as they strengthen and/or expand their existing mentoring activities with active chapters or subawardees and/or other mentoring organizations. Mentoring activities include direct one-on-one, group, peer, or a combination of these types of mentoring services for at-risk and underserved youth populations. Successful applicants should implement programs that will recognize and address the factors that can lead to or serve as a catalyst for delinquency or other problem behaviors in underserved youth. Expansion of mentoring activities should create...

Category 1—National Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants are limited to national organizations, defined as organizations that have active chapters or subawardees in at least 45 states. Applicants must include a list of active chapters or subawardees and the states where they are located as an attachment to their application. For purposes of this solicitation, 2 or more independent organizations that form a collaborative to meet the 45 state requirement do not satisfy OJJDP’s definition of a national organization. The organization’s national headquarters must submit the application, and OJJDP requires successful applicants to subaward 90 percent of this award to active chapters or subawardees in at least 38 states. Category 2—Multistate Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants are limited to multistate organizations, defined as organizations that have operated an established mentoring program for at least 3 years, and have active chapters or subawardees in at least 5 states but fewer than 45 states. Applicants must include a list of active chapters or subawardees and the states where they are located as an attachment to their application. For purposes of this solicitation, 2 or more independent organizations that form a collaborative to meet the 5 state requirement do not satisfy OJJDP's definition of a multistate organization. The organization’s headquarters must submit the application. Category 3 —Collaborative Mentoring Programs: Eligible applicants must be part of a collaborative of at least three and as many as five mentoring organizations. Under the award, the organizations that form the collaborative must each provide services in at least one location that is independent of the other organizations and must all implement the same program design (see definition of the same program design on page 7). Organizations within the collaborative must ensure that no individual will receive duplicate services from more than one member of the collaborative. The collaborative may include different organizations receiving funding from the same parent organization; however, official organizational charts must reflect that the organizations operate independently and at different locations. Each organization within the collaborative must already have an established mentoring program at the time they submit an application for funding. OJJDP encourages applicants to consider partnering with those organizations – and in such a manner – that will best leverage shared costs for training or program-related activities. Applicants must submit memoranda of understanding (or analogous documents) demonstrating a formal collaborative partnership. One organization must be clearly identified as the lead applicant; however, subrecipients may be part of multiple Collaborative Mentoring Program proposals. OJJDP encourages multistate organizations to participate in Collaborative Mentoring Programs, but participation of a multistate organization is not required. National organizations are not eligible to apply. For-profit organizations must agree to forgo any profit or management fee. At the time of application, eligible applicants must provide mentoring services to youth who are 17 years old or younger. An organization that applies for funding in Category 1 may not apply for funds in any other category, but an organization that applies for funding in Category 2 may also apply as a member of the collaborative to receive funds in Category 3, see chart below.

For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035, or via e-mail to support@grants.gov. Hotline hours of operation are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except federal holidays. For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact the Response Center by telephone at 800-851-3420, by e-mail at responsecenter@ncjrs.gov, or by Web Chat at https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp. Answers to frequently asked questions that may assist applicants are posted at www.ojjdp.gov/grants/solicitations/FY2015/FAQ/MentoringUnderservedFAQ.pdf.