SMART FY 2022 Invitation to Apply — Keep Young Athletes Safe Program | O SMART 2022 171425

Opportunity Information: Apply for O SMART 2022 171425

The SMART FY 2022 Invitation to Apply - Keep Young Athletes Safe (KYAS) Program is a continuation grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice's SMART Office (Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking). Its core purpose is to fund ongoing, practical prevention work designed to protect amateur athletes, especially youth, from sexual, physical, and emotional abuse within the athletic programs connected to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and each national governing body. In plain terms, this funding supports the systems that help stop abuse before it happens, while also strengthening the processes for recognizing, reporting, and responding when misconduct is suspected or confirmed.

The program expects the funded organization to take a comprehensive approach. This includes designing and rolling out educational materials and training programs, along with clear policies and procedures that set expectations for safe conduct and reduce opportunities for abuse. The work is not limited to awareness campaigns; it also covers the creation of concrete tools and written guidance for handling identified or suspected abuse, so that organizations are prepared to act consistently and correctly. A major required component is background screening: the grantee is responsible for developing background screening policies that apply to both new and existing staff and participants in USOPC-related settings, including coaches, instructors, and volunteers. Beyond creating these policies, the grantee must also oversee compliance through regular and random audits to verify that the safeguards are actually being followed in real-world operations rather than just existing on paper.

Another central requirement is mandatory reporting. The KYAS program specifically requires that allegations of sexual and physical abuse be reported in accordance with applicable state and federal reporting laws and requirements. This signals that the grant is meant to reinforce formal reporting pathways and legal compliance, not to replace or work around them. The overall emphasis is on prevention measures plus accountability mechanisms, combining education, policy infrastructure, screening, and verification through auditing.

Legally, this program is authorized under the Keep Young Athletes Safe Act of 2018 (36 U.S.C. 220531) and funded through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public Law 117-103). The opportunity materials reference the U.S. Center for SafeSport in connection with the broader athlete safety framework. The listing also explains that this is an invitation-to-apply situation: OJP generally expects that an entity receiving an Invitation to Apply letter will be eligible for funding, but it still reserves the right to determine later that an invited applicant is not legally eligible, depending on the specifics.

Several administrative and funding conditions are highlighted. Recipients and subrecipients, including any for-profit organizations involved, must forgo any profit or management fee, meaning grant funds must be used for allowable program costs rather than generating profit. The SMART Office will consider project designs where multiple entities carry out the work, but only one organization can be the official applicant; any partners must be included as subrecipients/subgrantees. The opportunity is categorized as a continuation grant in the law, justice, and legal services area under CFDA 16.840. The funding opportunity number is O-SMART-2022-171425. The original closing date listed is September 2, 2022, and the award ceiling shown is $2,248,126.

• The SMART in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SMART FY 2022 Invitation to Apply — Keep Young Athletes Safe Program" 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 2022-09-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-09-02. (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 $2,248,126.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for O SMART 2022 171425

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