Enhancing Juvenile Indigent Defense (EJID) Program

 
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    CFDA#

    16.836     		 

    Funder Type

    Federal Government

    IT Classification

    B - Readily funds technology as part of an award

    Authority

    Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

    Summary

    The goal of this program is to ensure that youth involved in the juvenile justice system have access to high-quality legal representation and access to resources that address the collateral consequences of justice system involvement. Studies and dozens of state assessments conducted by national organizations reveal that nearly every state falls short of its constitutional obligation to provide effective legal representation for children. Few children in this country currently receive valuable access to a qualified youth defender. Deficiencies in youth defense service delivery include:

    • Lack of access to qualified counsel throughout the delinquency process, leading to poor case dispositions, costly incarceration, and collateral consequences that undermine youth success.
    • Children being financially responsible for paying for their attorney because burdensome indigence determinations and counsel-related fees prompt many to waive their right to counsel. Inexperienced, untrained, nonspecialized, and under-resourced defenders with unmanageable caseloads representing children in juvenile court.
    • Children navigating the system without a qualified attorney by their side, particularly during interrogation, where coercive tactics elicit waivers of rights and confessions.
    • Children languishing in costly out-of-home placements, when community-based services are more effective at addressing their underlying needs and providing them pathways to become successful, productive adults.
    • Children forgoing legitimate opportunities for appeal because they have no knowledge or understanding of appellate law, are unequipped to handle their own legal appeal process, and have no access to appellate counsel.
    • Unaddressed collateral consequences – such as barriers to educational attainment, gainful employment opportunities, and safe, secure housing – undermining children's post-incarceration reentry process due to a dearth of post-disposition legal advocates.
    • In addition, because youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth from economically-distressed households are already overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, these vulnerable youth populations and their families and communities are disparately impacted by the lack of representation.

    Goal: Implement enhancements that improve juvenile indigent defense. Best practices for Enhancing Juvenile Indigent Defense can be found in the National Juvenile Defense Standards.

    • Objective 1: Ensure youth involved with the juvenile justice system have access to legal representation.
    • Objective 2: Ensure that entities and individuals providing juvenile indigent defense services to youth involved in the juvenile justice system have access to the resources, tools, and information necessary for legal representation. 
     

    History of Funding

    Up to $2,500,000 was available in total funding for FY23.

    Up to $1,750,000 was available in total funding for FY20.

    Additional Information

    This solicitation has two categories:

    • Category 1: State and Local Youth Defense System Improvements. Category 1 will support grants to states and localities to improve youth defense delivery by implementing tailored strategies to meet existing gaps and needs. The goal of this program is to implement youth defense delivery system enhancements that strengthen and improve youth defense.
    • Category 2: National Youth Defense Training and Technical Assistance. Category 2 will support training and technical assistance to state and local youth defense grantees, regional youth defender groups, youth defender offices, and individual (public and appointed) youth defenders. The goals of the training and technical assistance are to strengthen and improve the quality of youth defense practice nationally; help youth defender offices improve service delivery and build sustainable capacity; advance racial justice through youth defense; and cultivate youth defense leaders, build communities of practice, and elevate youth defense as a specialized legal career path.

    Agency Funding Priorities:

    In order to advance public safety and help meet its mission, OJP will provide priority consideration to applicants that propose (as applicable within the scope of this funding opportunity) projects designed to advance the goals listed below. Applicants seeking priority consideration should specify in the proposal narrative (and in the budget detail form, if applicable) which of the following goal(s) the project is intended to advance and how it will do so:

    • (a) Directly supporting law enforcement operations (including immigration law enforcement
    • operations);
    • (b) Combatting violent crime;
    • (c) Supporting services to American citizens;
    • (d) Protecting American children;
    • (e) Supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault; and
    • (f) State/local law enforcement efforts that are coordinated with federal law enforcement efforts
    • (including immigration law enforcement efforts)—at minimum as shown by—
    1. compliance with 8 U.S.C. § 1373, which provides that state and local government entities may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, receiving from, maintaining, or exchanging information regarding citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual with components of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or any other federal, state or local government entity; and
    2. having in place a statute, ordinance, rule, regulation, policy, or practice that is designed to ensure both— (A) that agents of the United States acting under color of federal law in fact are given access to any pertinent correctional facility for the purpose of permitting such agents to meet with individuals who are (or are believed by such agents to be) aliens and to inquire as to such individuals' right to be or remain in the United States; and (B) that, when any such facility receives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security a formal written request authorized by the Immigration and Nationality Act that seeks advance notice of the scheduled release date and time for a particular alien in such facility, then such facility in fact will honor such request and (as early as practicable) provide the requested notice to such Department.


    Contacts

    National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center

    National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center
    Bureau of Justice Assistance
    810 Seventh Street NW
    Washington, DC 20531
    (800) 851-3420
    (301) 240-5830
     

  • Eligibility Details

    Category 1: State and Local Youth Defense System Improvements

    • State governments
    • Special district governments
    • City or township governments
    • County governments
    • Other

    Category 2: National Youth Defense Training and Technical Assistance

    • 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
    • For-profit organizations other than small businesses
    • Small businesses

    Deadline Details

    Applications will be submitted to the DOJ in two steps:

    • Step 1: The applicant must submit the required Application for Federal Assistance standard form (SF)-424 and a Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) form to Grants.gov by October 23, 2025, 11:59 PM.
    • Step 2: The applicant must submit the full application, including attachments, in JustGrants at JustGrants.usdoj.gov by October 30, 2025, 8:59 PM.

    Award Details

    Up to $1,600,000 is available in total funding. Up to five awards will be granted. Award maximum is $400,000. Cost sharing/matching is not required for either program area 1 or 2. Project periods will be 36-months, beginning October 1, 2025.

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