UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a reply from the Justice Department.
The division of the Justice Department that oversees juvenile justice programs and funds has terminated grants that “no longer support the Department’s priorities,” according to an email to staff obtained by Youth Services Insider.
There is no indication in the email — or in any public announcement by the Justice Department — of which of hundreds of grants this action applies to. The email cites federal agency authority to terminate grants in progress “if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Funds de-obligated from these grants will be repurposed for “current Department priorities,” according to the April 22 email from Maureen Henneberg, deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs. “Top-line Department priorities with respect to discretionary grant funding, focus on, among other things, more directly supporting certain law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting American children, supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, and promoting coordination of law enforcement efforts at all levels of government.”
Henneberg’s email said that grantees have received a notice of termination already, and have been frozen out of the federal payments system. They will have 30 calendar days to submit an appeal in writing.
The Office of Justice Program is comprised of several smaller divisions, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, or OJJDP. That office was established in the 1970s to enforce the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, which provides formula grants to states in exchange for adherence to four core requirements around the treatment of youth who come in contact with law enforcement and the courts.
But OJJDP also oversees hundreds of millions of dollars that go out to, among other things, mentoring and after-school programs, efforts to find missing and exploited children, and even volunteers who support youth in foster care.
The agency has made $477 million in fiscal 2024 grants, according to the Justice Department’s grant dashboard. There are currently no OJJDP grant opportunities listed for fiscal 2025; a few were actually pulled off the website a few days into the Trump administration.
Youth Services Insider asked the Justice Department for a list of OJJDP grantees that were terminated.
“This Department of Justice is focused on prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off of the streets, and protecting American institutions from toxic DEl and sanctuary city policies,” a department spokesperson said. “Discretionary funds that are no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities are subject to review and reallocation.”
