Second Chance Act Strengthening Relationships Between Young Fathers, Young Mothers, and Their Children

Grants to USA nonprofits including tribal, faith-based, and community-based nonprofits to support incarcerated young mothers and fathers in order to reduce recidivism and improve their parenting skills. Applicants are encouraged to register to apply several weeks before the application submission deadline. Funding will be provided for the following two categories:

Category 1: Young Fathers and Their Children
Category 2: Young Mothers and Their Children

The goal for Category 1 and Category 2 is to improve outcomes for young fathers and mothers using evidence-based practices to reduce recidivism and support responsible parenting that leads to healthy child development, resiliency, and improved interactions among young fathers and mothers, their children, and family and community members.

Successful applicants will:

- Provide gender-specific mentoring and transitional services for young fathers or mothers during confinement and following release to their community based on assessed risks, strengths, and parenting needs to support their successful reentry.

- Identify any applicable partners that can help the applicant provide reentry transitional support services, specifically to young fathers or mothers reintegrating into their communities from a juvenile or adult correctional facility. Examples of such services may include mentoring, parenting, health and mental health, social work, education, legal, child welfare, housing, and other appropriate services.

- Ensure that support services, such as trauma-informed care, substance abuse treatment, job skill development, counseling, mentoring, and advocacy services that prepare young mothers and fathers to transition back to their communities, are holistic and comprehensive and take into consideration the needs of the target population that the applicant will serve. In addition, the continuum of services should provide participating young mothers and fathers the opportunity to adjust and prepare for reentry to the community.

- Make available sessions on child development milestones, avoiding child trauma, retaining custody, and intervening as the parent figure to improve parenting skills and promote a healthy relationship with the child.

- Ensure that services are gender-focused and racially and ethnically informed.

Priority considerations. OJJDP will give priority consideration to all applicants who address the following. Applicants are not required to address all of the priority considerations.

- Include a plan to implement activities that have been demonstrated to be effective in facilitating the successful reentry of juveniles.

- Provide for an independent evaluation of the project that includes, to the maximum extent feasible, random assignment of youth to program delivery and control groups. For the purposes of this solicitation, this may include the collection of robust performance measures, as identified above.