Office of Justice Programs and Bureau of Justice Assistance

Bureau Of Justice Assistance STOP School Violence Program

Key Dates

Solicitation Issue Date: April 17, 2024

Deadline: June 12, 2024

Eligibility

Category 1:

  • State governments
  • Public and state – controlled institutions of higher education

Category 2:

  • City or township governments
  • County governments
  • Native American tribal governments (federally recognized)
  • Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
  • Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education • Private institutions of higher education
  • Independent school districts
  • Other – units of local government, such as towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or other general purpose political subdivisions of a state

Private K–12 schools, including private charter schools, should apply as “nonprofits.” Public charter schools should apply as “independent school districts.”

Applicants may propose to use the grant to contract with or make one or more subawards to: 

  • Local educational agencies 
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Units of local government or tribal organizations

Link

Website

Estimated # of Awards

Anticipated Number of Awards:  

Category 1: up to 10 

Category 2: up to 69

Anticipated Award Range

Anticipated Maximum Dollar Amount per Award:  

Category 1: up to $2,000,000/ 3 years

Category 2: up to $1,000,000/ 3 years

*** While the maximum allowable funding amount is $2,000,000 (Category 1) or $1,000,000 (Category 2), OJP encourages applicants, including those who are new or who have never before received a federal award, to submit a proposed budget that best supports their project objectives and organizational capabilities, even if the budget is at a lower amount that the maximum allowable funding level.

Matching Requirements

N/A

Summary:

The STOP School Violence Program is designed to improve school safety by providing students, teachers, and staff with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and prevent acts of violence. It provides funding to states, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribes, public agencies (e.g., school districts, towns, cities and municipalities, individual schools, police departments, sheriff’s departments, governmental mental health service providers, and health departments), and nonprofit entities (including private schools). The program implements training that will improve school climate using school-based behavioral threat assessments and/or intervention teams to identify school violence risks among students, technological solutions shown to increase school safety such as anonymous reporting technology, and other school safety strategies that assist in preventing violence.

With this solicitation, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks to increase school safety by implementing solutions that will improve school climate. Solutions include school-based behavioral threat assessments and/or intervention teams to identify school violence risks among students, technological innovations that are shown to increase school safety such as anonymous reporting technology, and other school safety strategies that assist in preventing violence.

How this grant can be used:

All eligible applicants may submit one application that includes proposals for one or more of the following
areas:

1. Develop and operate technology solutions such as anonymous reporting systems (ARS) for threats of school violence, including mobile telephone applications, hotlines, websites, or other school safety technology solutions, for accurate identification of danger (without resorting to discriminatory stereotypes or violating privacy) or other technology solutions shown to improve school safety.

2. Develop and implement multidisciplinary behavioral threat assessment (BTA) and/or intervention teams. Behavioral Threat Assessment and/or intervention teams must be multidisciplinary and should coordinate with law enforcement agencies, behavioral health specialists, community stakeholders, and school personnel.

3. Train school personnel and educate students on preventing school violence, including strategies to improve a school climate.This includes training for school officials on intervening and responding to individuals in mental health crises, social-emotional learning, anti-bullying prevention, suicide prevention, and other evidence-based programs that may improve school climate. When proposing training, states, schools, and school districts should also consider training developed and provided to different audiences. In addition to teachers, school administrator training on psychological and physical safety should be considered. Partners such as youth-serving organizations and law enforcement officers can also be trained in the same school safety, so the messages are reinforced throughout the community. Proposals should include plans for ongoing training. This will ensure that high quality plans are implemented with attention to continuous improvement. Learning should be continuous and built upon through professional development. Coaching throughout implementation can help personnel focus on mitigating any unintended harmful consequences such as bias and student rights violations. Applicants are also encouraged to include students in their school safety initiatives.

4. Provide specialized training or create specialized training policies for law enforcement who work in schools and/or with school-age populations such as school resource officers (SROs) and probation officers.Such training should include the basics of mental health awareness, conflict resolution, mediation, restorative justice principles and practices, problem solving, mentoring principles, crisis intervention, youth development, implications of trauma and trauma-informed interaction with youth, basic classroom instruction and expectations, integrated response training with mental health and school psychologists, family and parent engagement, and appropriate use of information.

5. Hiring school support personnel such as climate specialists, school psychologists, school social workers, school-based violence interrupters, and others directly supporting the prevention of school violence. These hires can work independently in the school or as part of an SRO co-responder model.

Example awardees/programs

Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District (CA) | 2022 | $1,000,000

AADUSD, a rural school district in Los Angeles, California, will serve as the lead agency for the STOP grant application. Established in 1881, AADUSD has the distinction of being one of the oldest districts in the state of California–serving the rural towns of Acton and Agua-Dulce as well as surrounding unincorporated areas–over a 200 square mile radius, within Los Angeles County. This STOP grant includes the fourteen schools that operate under the district’s authority including four K-12, six high schools, two middle schools, one elementary school and one K-8 school. In total, we serve a combined diverse student population of 11,912 students with 55% Hispanic, 25% White, 11% African American, 4%Asian, and 5% two or more races. At 66%, the percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals (poverty indicator) in the schools is significantly higher than the state average of 48%.

Ashe County School District (NC) | 2022 | $$607,423

Ashe County Schools (ACS), in collaboration with RTI International, proposes a Restorative Justice in Ashe County Schools (RJACS) project in response to the 2022 BJA STOP School Violence Program grant solicitation. We will work with district and school staff, professional organizations, and school resource officers to develop and pilot restorative justice practices in Ashe County Schools. Implementing evidence-based restorative practices will improve school climate, reduce disciplinary infractions, and increase school safety.

Elgin Independent School District (TX) | 2022 | $1,000,000

Elgin Independent School District (EISD) is the Local Education Agency for the city of Elgin Texas. EISD is rural and is struggling with access to the mental health services available in larger cities. The purpose of the proposed STOP Project is to obtain additional resources and training needed for teachers, administrators, law enforcement, and stakeholders to reduce and prevent school violence, improve school climate, and educate students. Based on its current threat assessments and needs assessmentsEISD is requesting funding from STOP for these targeted activities and anticipated outcomes:

  • The addition of two Climate specialists/Violence Interrupters for elementary and secondary school students.
  • Increased access to resources and services through Bilingual (Spanish and English) support of school Social Worker(s) and STOP Specialists.
  • Increase contact with parents and the community through anonymous on-line reporting of threats of school violence.
  • Increased collaborative active threat simulation drills and training between law enforcement and school staff at each campus.
  • Increased physical security to critical infrastructure through technology (Anonymous Reporting and threat assessment).
  • Increased time law enforcement personnel can be on campuses during the school day to provide support and enhance relationship-building with younger students.