SMART FY 2024 Keep Young Athletes Safe | O SMART 2024 172099

Opportunity Information: Apply for O SMART 2024 172099

The SMART FY 2024 Keep Young Athletes Safe (KYAS) grant is a discretionary federal funding opportunity from the DOJ SMART Office focused on reducing and preventing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of amateur athletes within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and each National Governing Body (NGB). The central purpose is to fund one organization to design and run a comprehensive, prevention-oriented safety program that strengthens how these sports organizations educate, screen, monitor, and respond to abuse risks, with an emphasis on practical implementation rather than purely advisory guidance.

Under KYAS, the selected grantee is expected to create and deploy a full set of protective measures aimed at youth and other amateur athletes. This includes developing educational materials and tools, building training programs that can be delivered broadly, and helping establish or improve policies that prevent abuse and address concerns when they arise. The work is meant to operate at multiple levels, with the applicant needing the capacity to implement training and related activities nationally, statewide, and locally. In other words, this is not a small pilot limited to one region or one sport; it is intended to function across the USOPC and NGB ecosystem with consistent standards and usable resources.

A major required component is background screening policy development for both new and existing personnel connected to USOPC organizations, including coaches, instructors, volunteers, and other staff. The program is not limited to drafting a policy on paper; it also requires oversight to ensure the screening and broader safeguarding procedures are actually being followed. To that end, the solicitation calls for the grantee to conduct regular and random audits after implementation, verifying that prevention and identification procedures are being applied correctly and consistently. This audit requirement signals that the funder is prioritizing accountability and real-world compliance, not just training completion or policy adoption.

The opportunity also emphasizes mandated reporting and appropriate escalation of allegations. The KYAS program requires reporting of any allegations of sexual and physical abuse in accordance with applicable state and federal reporting requirements. That expectation ties the program to real investigative and public safety outcomes, and it sets a clear standard that safeguarding is not only about education and prevention but also about ensuring allegations are handled lawfully and promptly, including involvement of law enforcement when required.

Eligibility is limited to nonprofits and certain nongovernmental entities with nationally recognized expertise in identifying and preventing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse within the USOPC and NGB athletic context. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a recognized background in investigating allegations of abuse and reporting to law enforcement, and those investigative practices must directly inform the applicant's prevention approach and training content. The solicitation is therefore looking for an organization that combines prevention education with credible, field-tested investigative and reporting experience, rather than a group that only produces general awareness materials.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as a grant (funding instrument type: Grant) in the law, justice, and legal services activity area, under CFDA 16.840. The funding opportunity number is O SMART 2024 172099, and the title is SMART FY 2024 Keep Young Athletes Safe. The application deadline shown is August 9, 2024. The award ceiling is $2,123,869, and SMART expects to make one award, meaning the program is structured as a single, sizeable national effort rather than multiple smaller grants spread across different recipients. The posting was created on June 27, 2024. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofits other than institutions of higher education, and other qualifying entities as specified in the listing.

• The SMART in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SMART FY 2024 Keep Young Athletes Safe" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.840.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-09. (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 $2,123,869.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for O SMART 2024 172099

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