Children Exposed to Violence

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention funds community-based programs that provide support services for children exposed to violence in homes, schools, and communities, and implement violent crime reduction strategies focused on violent juvenile offenders, under CFDA 16.818, with the most recent grant award made June 1, 2026.

The program funds concrete interventions including trauma-informed mental health counseling and therapy (cognitive-behavioral therapy, parent-child interaction therapy), on-site crisis response at crime scenes, case management and wraparound services, youth mentoring and job skills training, family support programs, violence prevention education, and multidisciplinary planning and coordination efforts. Representative recent awards demonstrate the scope: the Solano County Probation Department received $829,997 to implement a prevention and early intervention center serving youth and families in Fairfield, California; Able Literacy Academy received $826,925 to deliver cognitive-behavioral and parent-child interaction therapy to at least 300 children in Broward County, Florida; and the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General received $829,995 to provide wrap-around services including mental health care and case management to children who witnessed intimate partner violence-related homicides.

The program is active and mature, with 91 awards spanning back to 2010. The portfolio is predominantly Cooperative Agreements (80 percent of awards) with smaller shares of Project Grants (19 percent) and one Block Grant. Recent award activity shows consistency, with eight to ten awards per year over the past five years; nine awards were disbursed in 2026. Total federal dollars obligated across the portfolio reached $112.1 million. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention dominates funding, accounting for 65 awards and $60.4 million of federal dollars obligated; the broader Office of Justice Programs accounts for an additional 25 awards and $50.5 million. Recent awards cluster in the $800 thousand to $972 thousand range, with some mega-awards in the $1 million range from earlier funding years.

Two grant opportunities are currently open. The FY 2026 Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence (solicitation O-OJJDP-2026-172752) closed to new applications on November 16, 2026, and targets units of local government, state governments, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, tribal governments, and higher education institutions. A separate opportunity for Cooperative Agreements (O-OJJDP-2025-172361) had a March 10, 2025 due date and similarly targets multidisciplinary coalitions and community-based organizations to develop comprehensive approaches to help children exposed to violence build resilience and heal trauma. Eligible applicants include states, units of local government, federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribal organizations, nonprofit organizations, public and private universities, and independent school districts.