OJJDP FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Victims of Child Abuse Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers Program | O OJJDP 2023 171831

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OJJDP 2023 171831

The OJJDP FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Victims of Child Abuse Regional Children's Advocacy Centers Program is a Department of Justice funding opportunity offered through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to strengthen the national response to child abuse and neglect by investing in four regional support centers. The program is designed to reinforce and improve how communities investigate child abuse, coordinate services, and support child victims and their families through the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) model and multidisciplinary team (MDT) approaches. It is framed within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) broader priorities of advancing civil rights and racial equity, improving access to justice, supporting crime victims and justice-involved individuals, enhancing community safety, addressing evolving threats, and building trust between law enforcement and communities.

At its core, the solicitation seeks to fund four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers, with one center located in each of the four U.S. Census regions. These regional centers function as capacity builders and quality improvers for the CAC movement, providing guidance, support, and technical assistance to local CACs, MDTs, and state chapter organizations. The emphasis is on development, expansion, and continuous quality improvement, meaning the centers are expected to help jurisdictions strengthen existing practices and also bring CAC and MDT capabilities to areas that may be under-resourced, newly forming, or seeking to raise their performance to more consistent, evidence-informed standards.

The activities supported by this grant are oriented toward improving both systems outcomes and victim-focused outcomes. On the systems side, the program aims to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect by enhancing coordination among professionals involved in these cases, such as law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, medical and mental health providers, victim advocates, and other partners. On the victim services side, it aims to strengthen the delivery of CAC services to children and families, which typically includes child-friendly forensic interviewing, advocacy and case coordination, referrals to trauma-informed mental health treatment, and linkages to medical evaluation and other supports. The regional centers are intended to elevate practice across multiple states or jurisdictions in their region by disseminating training, facilitating peer learning, and promoting consistent, high-quality multidisciplinary responses.

This is a continuation-category opportunity using a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement beyond a standard grant, often through collaboration on goals, deliverables, or ongoing coordination with the awarding agency. The solicitation is tied to the statutory authority of the Victims of Child Abuse Act, codified at 34 U.S.C. 20303, which underpins federal support for CAC-related infrastructure and improvements to the national response to child maltreatment.

From a funding and competition standpoint, the opportunity anticipated four total awards, aligning with the four-region structure. The award ceiling listed is $1,250,000, reflecting the maximum expected funding per award under this announcement. The funding activity category is Law, Justice and Legal Services, and the CFDA number associated with the program is 16.758, which corresponds to OJJDP victim-related and child protection assistance programming. The opportunity was posted on July 12, 2023, with an original closing date of July 20, 2023, indicating a short application window consistent with an invited-to-apply solicitation.

Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with additional eligibility details referenced in the solicitation's eligibility clarification section. In practice, invited-to-apply opportunities typically target specific organizations or incumbent entities with established regional roles and demonstrated capacity to provide technical assistance and leadership across a multi-state footprint.

In summary, this OJJDP funding opportunity supports a regional infrastructure that helps local CACs, MDTs, and state chapters improve how child abuse cases are handled from first report through investigation, prosecution, and healing services. The expected result is stronger coordination across disciplines, more consistent quality in CAC services, better support for child victims and families, and improved justice system outcomes for child abuse and neglect cases, delivered through four federally supported regional centers operating across the U.S. Census regions.

• The Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OJJDP FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Victims of Child Abuse Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.758.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 12, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 20, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,250,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O OJJDP 2023 171831

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