U.S. Attorney McSwain Announces More Than $83 Million in Grant Money Available to Support School Safety

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that more than $83 million in Department of Justice grant funds is available to help communities improve school security and protect students, teachers, and staff from threats of violence.

“Protecting our children from violence is always at the forefront of my mind,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “My Office and the Department of Justice take seriously every threat of violence in our community, and we will do everything in our power to prevent tragedy from occurring in a school setting. These grants are provided to bolster school security, develop anonymous school threat reporting systems, educate and train students and faculty, and support law enforcement officers and first responders in their work.”

“School violence is no longer an abstract threat but has become a tragic reality in too many of America’s communities. Moving to meet this challenge is among the Administration’s top domestic priorities,” said Katharine T. Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. “The Department of Justice is front and center in the fight to meet this challenge. OJP is making historic amounts of grant funding available to ensure that our communities have access to innovative and diverse solutions.”

The funding is available through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which is the federal government’s leading source of public safety funding and crime victim assistance in state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. OJP’s programs support a wide array of activities and services, including those designed to tighten school security and improve the reporting of threats. 

The following funding opportunities regarding school safety are currently available: 

• Research and Evaluation on School Safety

            Link:                            https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-17308

            Available Funds:         $5 million                                          

            Deadline:                     April 13, 2020

This solicitation seeks applications for funding to conduct research in areas including the root cause of school violence and the effectiveness of different approaches to stopping school violence.

• Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence

           Link:                            https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/ojjdp-2020-17926

           Available Funds:         $7 million                                          

           Deadline:                     April 27, 2020

Funding under this program can be used to develop support services for children exposed to violence in their homes, schools, and communities, as well as to develop, enhance, and implement violent crime reduction strategies that focus on violent juvenile offenders.

• STOP Act School Violence Program

           Link:                            https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/bja-2020-17312

           Available Funds:         $71.4 million              

           Deadline:                     June 9, 2020

This program is designed to improve school security by providing students and teachers with the tools they need to recognize, respond to, and prevent acts of violence. Funding can be used in multiple areas, including training school personnel and students on preventing student violence and developing threat assessment and intervention teams.

For more information regarding all OJP funding opportunities, please visit: https://www.ojp.gov/funding/explore/current-funding-opportunities.