Community Prevention Grants Program

• NCJ Number: 227345
• Date Published: October 2009
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Series: OJJDP In Focus
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This overview of the Federal Community Prevention Grants program (CPG) - which funds collaborative, community-based delinquency prevention efforts - summarizes the authorizing legislation, eligibility criteria, the award process, performance measures, and training and technical assistance.

Abstract

The CPG program, which is administered by the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), integrates six principles: comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches, evidence-based strategies, community control and decisionmaking, leveraging of existing resources and systems, evaluation of program progress and effectiveness, and a long-term perspective. The program is authorized under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002. In order to be eligible to receive a CPG grant, the Governor or other chief executive officer of each State must designate a single State agency to receive, manage, and administer the funds. The State must also have a properly constituted State Advisory Group, as specified in the authorizing legislation. Regarding the award process, in most years, OJJDP allocates funds to qualifying States on the basis of their proportionate population younger than age 18; however, as a result of decreased congressional allocations for the CPG program over recent years, OJJDP has distributed an equal amount to all States and less for U.S. territories. States, in turn, award funds to qualified units of local government through a competitive process. In 2004, OJJDP introduced a series of performance measures in order to better determine how well local prevention programs were meeting their goals. OJJDP disseminates a set of quantitative performance indicators to the States, directing them to collect data from their local subgrantees and to report annually on the outputs and outcome of their prevention efforts. Regarding training and technical assistance, OJJDP offers a three-part training series that helps grantees write successful 3-year delinquency prevention plans. Listing of online sources of CPG information and a description of a Kentucky CPG program