OJJDP FY 17 Mentoring Opportunities for Youth

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. Mentoring promotes positive behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes for youth and reduces risk factors. It has been shown to improve academic performance and/or social or job skills, support behavioral or other personal development, and reduce consumption...

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. OJJDP encourages applicants to minimize their administrative costs in an effort to subaward at least 90 percent of this award to active chapters or subrecipients, located in at least 38 states, while at the same time allowing for effective subrecipient oversight. 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, two or more independent organizations that form a collaborative to meet the five-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 mentoring organizations that form the collaborative must each provide services in at least one location that is independent of the other mentoring organizations and must all implement the same program design enhancement (see definition of the same program design enhancement on page 7). Mentoring 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 mentoring organizations that receive funding from the same parent organization; however, official organizational charts must reflect that the mentoring organizations operate independently and at different locations. Each mentoring organization within the collaborative must already have an established mentoring program (operational for at least 1 year) 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 their participation is not required. National organizations are not eligible to apply. For-profit organizations (as well as other recipients) must agree to forgo any profit or management fee.Eligible applicants must provide mentoring services to youth who are 17 years old or younger at the time of admission to the program. 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 the 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 email to support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays. For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact the Response Center by telephone at 800–851–3420 or TTY: 301–240–6310 (hearing impaired only), by email at grants@ncjrs.gov, or by web chat. Response Center hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on the solicitation close date. Answers to frequently asked questions that may assist applicants are posted at www.ojjdp.gov/grants/solicitations/FY2017/FAQ/MentoringOpps.pdf. A solicitation review call will be held on January 26, 2017, from 1 to 2 pm ET. This call will provide a detailed overview of the solicitation and allow an opportunity for interested applicants to ask questions. Preregistration is required for all participants. Register by clicking on this link: http://ojjdptta.adobeconnect.com/e6zqvd04f8w/event/registration.html and follow the instructions. Due to the limited time, OJJDP encourages participants to review the solicitation and submit any questions they may have in advance, and no later than January 19, 2017. Submit your questions to grants@ncjrs.gov with the subject as Questions for Mentoring Opportunities for Youth webinar. grants@ncjrs.gov