Foundation Seeks Proposals for Juvenile Justice Reform Projects Led by Young People

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion is request­ing pro­pos­als for projects that address youth jus­tice reform led by youth or young adults who have been involved with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem. Pri­or­i­ty areas for projects are restora­tive jus­tice and prac­tices; pre­ven­tion prac­tices that divert youth from ini­tial con­tact with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem; expan­sion of com­mu­ni­ty-based sup­port for young peo­ple already engaged in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem; or solu­tions iden­ti­fied by youth or com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers with direct expe­ri­ence with the jus­tice system.

The Casey Foun­da­tion will make two to four grants with bud­gets from $25,000 to $50,000. This grant oppor­tu­ni­ty evolved from an ini­tia­tive led by mem­bers of Casey’s Youth Advi­so­ry Coun­cil — emerg­ing lead­ers in jus­tice reform — to iden­ti­fy and exe­cute a solu­tion to an under­de­vel­oped or over­looked area of Casey’s juve­nile jus­tice work. Alum­ni of the coun­cil framed the RFP and will join Casey staff to select the projects to be funded.

The select­ed orga­ni­za­tions will have non­prof­it 501(c)(3) sta­tus or fis­cal spon­sors with 501(c)(3) sta­tus. They will demon­strate the capac­i­ty and rel­e­vant exper­tise to car­ry out youth-led projects, such as authen­tic youth-adult part­ner­ship, as well as a clear com­mit­ment to the pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al devel­op­ment of young peo­ple. The Foun­da­tion also is seek­ing orga­ni­za­tions that have shown a com­mit­ment to racial equi­ty and inclu­sion and that have active­ly engaged young peo­ple and fam­i­lies with jus­tice sys­tem expe­ri­ence in its work. Each of the projects fund­ed will be led by two or more young peo­ple between the ages of 15 and 26 who have been involved with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem. The select­ed orga­ni­za­tions’ staff may or may not also be engaged with the project.

Down­load the RFP on Youth- and Young Adult-Led Youth Jus­tice Reform Projects

Inter­est­ed orga­ni­za­tions should noti­fy the Foun­da­tion of their intent to apply no lat­er than Wednes­day, May 18, 2022. The dead­line for com­plet­ed pro­pos­als is Fri­day, May 27, 2022. The intent to apply and final pro­pos­als should be sent to David Brown, a senior asso­ciate at the Foundation.

FAQ and Infor­ma­tion Session

The Foun­da­tion held a pre-bid con­fer­ence for poten­tial appli­cants on May 11, 2022.

In addi­tion, the Foun­da­tion recent­ly released a set of Fre­quent­ly Asked Ques­tions about this pro­pos­al process.