BJA FY 22 Preventing School Violence: BJA’s STOP School Violence Program | O BJA 2022 171118

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2022 171118

The BJA FY 22 Preventing School Violence: BJA's STOP School Violence Program (Funding Opportunity Number O-BJA-2022-171118) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, created under the Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018 (the STOP School Violence Act). The broader framing of the solicitation reflects the Office of Justice Programs' priorities around civil rights and racial equity, access to justice, support for victims and people impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, responding to evolving threats, and building trust between law enforcement and the community. Within that context, the purpose of this specific program is to prevent school violence by helping schools and communities put practical prevention strategies in place before threats escalate into harm.

The program focuses on prevention approaches that improve school climate and strengthen the capacity of schools to identify and address potential threats early. One major allowable area is training and implementation support for school-based behavioral threat assessment processes and/or multidisciplinary intervention teams. These approaches are designed to help schools recognize warning signs, assess the seriousness of concerning behavior, and coordinate appropriate interventions that can reduce risk among students while supporting student well-being. Rather than emphasizing physical security upgrades, the solicitation emphasizes preparedness, structured decision-making, and coordinated responses that can stop violence through early identification and intervention.

Another core area of funding is technology that supports anonymous reporting. The opportunity explicitly highlights anonymous reporting tools that can be deployed in the applicant's geographic area, including mobile phone-based applications, hotlines, or web-based reporting portals. The intent is to make it easier for students, teachers, school staff, and community members to share concerns about threats of school violence or other safety issues without fear of retaliation or stigma. These tools are meant to increase the flow of timely information to the appropriate school or community partners so risks can be assessed and addressed quickly.

The solicitation also allows for other school safety strategies that assist in preventing violence, as long as they align with the STOP School Violence Act and the program's prevention-oriented goals. At the same time, it draws firm boundaries around what the grant cannot pay for. Under the statute, BJA funds through this program cannot be used for "target hardening" equipment intended to physically secure buildings, such as cameras, security systems, fencing, locks, and similar items. The funds also cannot be used to hire armed security officers or school resource officers. For applicants whose primary needs are physical security upgrades, the solicitation specifically points them to the COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP), which is the more appropriate federal funding stream for target hardening activities.

From an applicant strategy standpoint, DOJ notes that multiple components of the Department are releasing FY 2022 solicitations supported by the STOP School Violence Act, including BJA, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Applicants are warned not to submit duplicate proposals with a similar project design and budget across these solicitations. In practical terms, this means an organization should choose the most fitting solicitation for its approach and avoid sending essentially the same project to multiple DOJ competitions.

Key administrative details in the source data include an award ceiling of $2,000,000, an anticipated 79 awards, and an original application closing date of June 14, 2022 (with a creation date of April 19, 2022). The listing references CFDA number 16.839 and identifies the funding instrument as a grant. Eligibility is described broadly as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full opportunity text, meaning interested applicants would need to confirm their eligibility category and any specific requirements by reviewing the full solicitation. Overall, this program is best understood as a prevention and early-intervention school safety grant: it supports training, threat assessment capacity, and anonymous reporting systems, while explicitly excluding building hardening and armed personnel costs.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 22 Preventing School Violence: BJA’s STOP School Violence Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.839.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 19, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 14, 2022. (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 $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 79 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O BJA 2022 171118

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