U.S. Attorney Announces More Than $83 Million Available to Support School Safety

MEMPHIS – U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee today announced that more than $83 million in Department of Justice grants is available to help communities improve school security and protect students, teachers and faculty from threats of violence.

"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 OJP, 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 programs designed to tighten school security and improve the reporting of threats.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said: "Promoting school safety and preventing targeted violence against our school faculty, administrators and students is a top priority, and demands urgent actions to strengthen school security and provide accurate assessment, identification, and quick response to potential threats. These grant resources from the Office of Justice Programs will allow our state and local partners to focus on the emerging area of school safety in a comprehensive way."

A number of funding opportunities for school safety are currently open, with another opening in the near future:

Research and Evaluation on School Safety
https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-17308
Total Available $5 million                     Deadline 4/13/2020

STOP Act School Violence Program (FY20)
https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-17308
Total Available $71.4 million                Deadline 4/13/2020

Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence
https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/ojjdp-2020-17926
Total Available $7 million                     Deadline 4/27/2020

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

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