Multistate Mentoring Programs

The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Office of Justice Programs and its Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), has released the FY25 Multistate Mentoring Programs funding opportunity. This program is designed to support organizations providing mentoring services to youth populations who are at risk or high risk of delinquency, victimization, or involvement in the juvenile justice system. The program emphasizes the importance of mentoring as an intervention strategy that helps youth improve academic performance, avoid negative behaviors such as delinquency and substance abuse, and strengthen resilience and life outcomes. The program offers three categories of funding depending on the scale of the applicant’s operations. Category 1 is for mentoring organizations operating in a single state and seeking to expand to an additional state or jurisdiction within their current state. Category 2 is for organizations already delivering structured mentoring programs in 2 to 10 states, and Category 3 applies to organizations with operations in 11 to 44 states. Funding amounts range from $1,000,000 for Category 1 awards to as high as $4,000,000 for applicants in Categories 2 and 3 that demonstrate the broadest reach across affiliates and sites. The total funding available under this program is $25,180,000, with awards expected to last 36 months beginning October 1, 2025. Eligibility extends to a wide range of entities, including state, county, city, township, and special district governments; federally recognized and non-federally recognized Tribal governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; and nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status. Applicants must have at least three years of experience providing structured, standalone mentoring services. In addition, the primary applicant must be the headquarters office of the mentoring organization or the headquarters office of the mentoring curriculum being implemented. Applicants affiliated with larger organizations will be deemed ineligible if the proposed model is already being implemented through the headquarters of the larger organization. Applications must be submitted through a two-step process. First, applicants must complete and submit the SF-424 in Grants.gov by October 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Next, they must complete the full application in JustGrants by October 27, 2025, at 8:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The full application requires a proposal narrative, budget detail form, executive summary chart, mentoring program profile, organizational history, program model overview, resumes of key staff, and other documents. The application process also requires compliance with Intergovernmental Review under Executive Order 12372 in states that participate in that process. Applicants are advised to begin the SAM.gov registration process no later than October 6, 2025, to ensure they can meet the deadlines. OJJDP will evaluate applications first for basic minimum requirements and then through peer review based on the problem statement, project goals and objectives, project design and implementation, applicant capacity and competencies, and budget completeness and cost-effectiveness. Additional considerations include geographic coverage, priority areas identified by the Department of Justice, past performance, and financial risk. Awards will be issued as grants and announced through JustGrants notifications, with unsuccessful applicants receiving peer reviewer comments for future improvement. The program has strict spending guidelines. Funds may be used to support new or existing mentoring matches, recruit and train mentors, and implement evidence-based mentoring models. However, funds may not be used for training and technical assistance, incentives for youth participants, entertainment, or research and evaluation activities. Award recipients must submit quarterly financial reports, semi-annual performance reports, and other required documentation in JustGrants. They are also required to collect performance data to demonstrate progress in serving at-risk youth, increasing mentor capacity, and aligning their services with evidence-based practices. Applicants seeking assistance may contact the OJP Response Center at 800-851-3420 or 202-353-5556, or email OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov. Additional technical support is available through SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and JustGrants help desks, each of which maintains its own contact information and service hours. Pre-application webinars and training videos are available through OJJDP’s Funding Webinars Multimedia page to help applicants prepare strong submissions.

Submit early, begin SAM.gov registration well in advance, ensure consistency across all attachments, and align project with OJJDP priority goals.