SMART FY 2023 Invitation to Apply — Keep Young Athletes Safe Program | O SMART 2023 171813

Opportunity Information: Apply for O SMART 2023 171813

The SMART FY 2023 Invitation to Apply - Keep Young Athletes Safe (KYAS) Program is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative, administered through the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART Office), focused on preventing and responding to abuse of amateur athletes within the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and its national governing bodies. The grant is designed to fund continued, on-the-ground implementation of safeguards that protect young athletes from sexual, physical, and emotional abuse across these sport organizations. Rather than being a general youth sports safety program, this opportunity is narrowly targeted to strengthening prevention systems and compliance mechanisms within the USOPC ecosystem.

At the center of the program is the expectation that the grantee will design, build, and carry out practical prevention measures. That includes creating and maintaining educational materials and training programs aimed at reducing the likelihood of abuse and improving early identification of concerning behaviors. It also includes developing and operationalizing policies that define appropriate conduct, set clear boundaries, and establish consistent procedures for handling concerns. The emphasis is on tools that organizations can actually use day-to-day: structured training content, written standards, and step-by-step protocols that move beyond awareness and into routine practice across staff and volunteers.

A major required component is background screening. The grantee is responsible for developing background screening policies that apply to both new and existing personnel within USOPC-affiliated organizations, including staff, coaches, instructors, and volunteers. The goal is to ensure screening is not treated as a one-time checkbox, but as a standardized, enforceable policy framework that is implemented consistently and kept up to date. This reflects a prevention-first approach by reducing opportunities for individuals with disqualifying histories to enter or remain in positions of authority over athletes.

The opportunity also places strong weight on accountability through oversight. The grantee is expected to conduct regular and random audits to verify that, once policies and procedures are in place, they are actually being followed. These audits function as a compliance and quality-control mechanism, helping detect gaps between written policy and real-world practice. In effect, the grant supports both building the protective infrastructure (training, policies, screening) and verifying that the infrastructure is working as intended over time.

Reporting obligations are another key part of the program. The KYAS program requires the reporting of allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and those reports must follow applicable federal and state reporting requirements. This means the grantee and participating entities must have clear internal processes that align with mandatory reporting laws and ensure allegations are escalated appropriately, documented properly, and handled in a way that prioritizes athlete safety and legal compliance.

Administratively, this is a continuation-category grant opportunity (not an open-ended competition for many new recipients), with a single expected award. The award ceiling is listed as $2,251,344, indicating the maximum amount anticipated for the grant. The funding opportunity number is O-SMART-2023-171813, and the CFDA/assistance listing associated with it is 16.840, placing it within DOJ public safety and justice assistance programming. The application window shown in the source data is extremely short (created June 28, 2023, with an original closing date of June 29, 2023), which is consistent with an invitation to apply for a continuation award where the intended applicant is typically already identified and engaged in ongoing work.

The KYAS program is authorized under the Keep Young Athletes Safe Act of 2018 (36 U.S.C. 220531) and funded through the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328). Taken together, the authority and program design show that the federal government is investing in a sustained, system-based approach to athlete protection: preventing abuse through education and screening, creating enforceable policies and response tools, and validating implementation through audits and required reporting aligned with state and federal law.

• The Department of Justice, SMART in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SMART FY 2023 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 Jun 28, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 29, 2023. (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 $2,251,344.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O SMART 2023 171813

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