OJJDP is offering the National Youth Defense Training and Technical Assistance Grant to enhance high-quality legal representation for youth.

OJJDP envisions a nation where our children are free from crime and violence. If they come into contact with the justice system, the contact should be rare, fair, and beneficial to them. This program supports improvements for youth defense. In alignment with current knowledge and understanding of adolescent development, juvenile justice leaders-including the defender community, in particular – are shifting the vernacular used to describe young people to ensure system actors are using language that affirms the dignity and value of all youth, supports positive identity development, and promotes fairness, equity, and justice for all youth. For this reason, this solicitation uses the term “youth” in lieu of the term “juvenile.” Funding awarded under this solicitation must be used to improve what has historically been referred to as “juvenile indigent defense.” Where the term “youth defense” or “youth indigent defense” is used in this solicitation, it means the defense of juveniles who are indigent.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to invite an application for continuation for the National Youth Defense Training and Technical Assistance program to enhance public safety, improve youth outcomes, and strengthen public confidence in the juvenile justice system by ensuring that youth have access to high-quality legal representation and access to resources that address the collateral consequences of justice system involvement.

Statutory Authority: Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459,4539.