BJA FY 23 STOP School Violence Training and Technical Assistance (STOP TTA) Program | O BJA 2023 171653

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2023 171653

The BJA FY 23 STOP School Violence Training and Technical Assistance (STOP TTA) Program is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The purpose of the award is to strengthen the national infrastructure that helps schools and communities prevent and respond to school violence by providing training, technical assistance, and related support to two major federal school safety initiatives: the BJA STOP School Violence Program and the COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP). Rather than funding individual local school security upgrades directly, this solicitation is centered on building and sustaining a high-capacity national resource that can guide communities toward effective, evidence-informed school safety practices and help them implement those practices well.

A key feature of this solicitation is the intent to continue and expand the work of the National Center for School Safety, which was originally funded in 2019. The funded entity is expected to function as a national hub for school safety knowledge and assistance, supporting jurisdictions that are trying to improve school safety planning, prevention strategies, and intervention approaches. In practical terms, this means developing a usable knowledge base (for example, tools, guidance, and synthesized lessons learned) and a technical assistance delivery model that communities can actually access and apply. The emphasis is on helping recipients of STOP School Violence Program and SVPP awards, and more broadly helping communities seeking to strengthen school safety systems, adopt approaches that are effective, coordinated, and appropriate for their context.

The opportunity also sits within OJP's broader public-safety and justice priorities. The solicitation explicitly ties the work to advancing civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, supporting crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, protecting the public from evolving threats, and building trust between law enforcement and the community. For applicants, this framing signals that the training and technical assistance should not be purely tactical or enforcement-driven; it should also reflect fairness, constitutional and civil rights considerations, and community trust-building. In the school safety context, that often translates into supporting prevention and intervention strategies that are evidence-based, non-discriminatory, and coordinated across schools, law enforcement, mental health partners, and community stakeholders.

From an administrative standpoint, the award is made as a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement during the project period. In other words, the recipient should expect an active partnership with BJA (and coordination with the COPS Office as relevant), including ongoing collaboration, reporting, and alignment with federal program goals. The funding instrument choice typically fits projects where the federal government wants consistent national-level outputs, standardized resources, and coordinated technical assistance that aligns with evolving needs across multiple programs.

The solicitation (Funding Opportunity Number O-BJA-2023-171653; CFDA/Assistance Listing 16.839) lists a maximum award amount (ceiling) of $8,000,000. While the number of expected awards is not specified in the provided source data, the size of the ceiling and the national-center focus suggest a single or very limited number of awards designed to support a comprehensive national effort rather than many smaller local projects. The original application closing date was May 1, 2023, and the opportunity was created on March 9, 2023.

Eligible applicants are broad and include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (both those with 501(c)(3) status and those without, as long as they are not higher education institutions in the non-501(c)(3) category), and for-profit organizations other than small businesses. This range of eligibility reflects the technical assistance nature of the work: the government is seeking an organization (or a lead organization with partners) that can operate at a national scale, create high-quality training and tools, and provide hands-on support to diverse communities, which can include universities, research and training organizations, nonprofits with school safety expertise, and capable private-sector entities.

Overall, the STOP TTA Program can be understood as an investment in the "how" of school violence prevention: improving capacity, consistency, and effectiveness across communities by strengthening training, technical assistance, and shared knowledge for school safety efforts supported by BJA and the COPS Office. The intended outcome is that communities working to prevent school violence have better access to practical guidance, tested resources, and expert support, leading to stronger planning and implementation and, ultimately, safer school environments built in a way that also supports equity, rights, and public trust.

• The Bureau of Justice Assistance in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 23 STOP School Violence Training and Technical Assistance (STOP TTA) 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 2023-03-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-01. (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 $8,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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, For-profit organizations other than small businesses.

Apply for O BJA 2023 171653

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