FY24 STOP School Violence Program Competitive Solicitation

The STOP School Violence Program is designed to improve school safety by providing students, teachers, and staff with the tools they need to recognize, respond quickly to, and prevent acts of violence.

With this solicitation, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks to increase school safety by implementing solutions that will improve school climate. Solutions include school-based behavioral threat assessments and/or intervention teams to identify school violence risks among students, technological innovations that are shown to increase school safety such as anonymous reporting technology, and other school safety strategies that assist in preventing violence.

Funding Categories:

• Category 1: States
• Category 2: Localities, Nonprofits, and School Districts

Eligible Applicants:

• Category 1:
• State governments
• Public- and state-controlled institutions of higher education (the grant still needs to be utilized for K-12 schools and not higher education directly)
• Category 2:
• City or township governments
• County governments
• Native American tribal governments (federally recognized)
• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education
• Independent school districts
• Other: Units of local government, such as towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or other general purpose political subdivisions of a state

Private K–12 schools, including private charter schools, should apply as “nonprofits.” Public charter schools should apply as “independent school districts.”

Tips for Reading this Solicitation

After you have determined whether you are eligible to apply, view page 18 of the solicitation. The Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) offers a free anonymous reporting system (Safer Ohio School Tip Line) as well as free behavioral threat assessment training (both Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines or CSTAG and National Threat Evaluation Reporting Office or NTER models both of which are approved for Ohio Schools) and technical assistance for all Ohio schools. The OSSC highly recommends utilizing these free resources and evaluating your other needs when applying for these grants. Your regional school safety team can assist you with discussing your options. 

Other areas to apply for funding under this grant include:

• Train school personnel and educate students on preventing school violence, including strategies to improve a school climate.
• Provide specialized training for law enforcement who work in schools and/or with school-age populations such as school resource officers (SROs) and probation officers.
• Hire school support personnel such as climate specialists, school psychologists, school social workers, school-based violence interrupters, and others directly supporting the prevention of school violence. *By statute, funds may not be used to hire new SROs but may be used to pay overtime to existing SROs who are performing duties as part of a grant that are outside the scope of their normal job duties. Please note the COPS Hiring Program is open right now and can help temporarily fund SROs for LE agencies. 
• Implement community violence intervention strategies in a school setting.
• Implement simulation-based experiential learning.
• Partner with local law enforcement to develop information-sharing practices and protocols that allow law enforcement, school practitioners, community-based support service providers, and others to regularly share information around violent crime outside of the school environment that may impact a student’s behavioral health and well-being in the school environment. *An example of this is the Handle with Care program. This program is FREE in Ohio to participate in, reach out to your school safety team for more information.

Each of the above areas of funding have more information in the solicitation that spells out what the funding can and cannot be used on. The OSSC can assist you with reviewing your grant submission to verify you have completed all required components. Don't delay if you are interested in taking advantage of this grant or others.

For more information and to apply please click here or use the link below.

Who are my regional school safety team contacts?

Use the interactive map here to find your OSSC contacts. 

Where can I find other grants?

The OSSC updates the website regularly with grant opportunities for schools. Check it out here.