$18 Million to be Awarded to Nonprofits, Educators, and Other Community Leaders Working to Prevent Targeted Violence and Terrorism
WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Administered by the DHS Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the TVTP Grant Program is the only federal government grant program dedicated to helping local communities develop and strengthen local capabilities that prevent targeted violence and terrorism. In FY 2024, $18 million in TVTP grants are available for such projects run by state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. The applications must be submitted through FEMA GO by May 17, 2024. DHS will announce recipients in September 2024.
“Our nation’s ability to prevent targeted violence and terrorism requires all of us, working together, to develop programs and share best practices that build new prevention capabilities and strengthen our communities,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “This grant program helps do just that, and we are grateful to Congress for the resources it has provided to invest in community programs across our country.”
The TVTP Grant Program supports online, in-person, and hybrid projects that address the threat of online pathways to violence as well as the threat of violence in physical spaces. CP3 has invested $70 million across the United States in the past four years to increase awareness, establish local prevention networks and provide training to community members. Previously funded recipients include Palm Beach County, who in 2023 was able to leverage their Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team (BTAM), created through their TVTP award, to stop an individual on the Palm Beach State College campus who had threatened mass violence.
“Working with DHS CP3’s TVTP Grant Program has provided various benefits to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Palm Beach County. PBSO has been able to provide training to the students in Palm Beach County through Project Safe Learning, from the two detectives that were provided through the grant allowing us to create the program and enhance the efforts to keep our schools safe,” said Captain Randy Foley of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Behavioral Services Division. "The grant has fostered collaboration and information sharing through quarterly trainings with law enforcement agencies throughout Palm Beach County. Funds from the grant have provided PBSO with the means to set up a Targeted Violence Unit that utilizes a co-responder model that enables a proactive approach in preventing violence.”
“Because of CP3’s TVTP grant program, Life After Hate was able to expand its efforts to help individuals disengage from violent extremist groups and online hate spaces,” said Patrick R. Riccards, Executive Director and CEO of Life After Hate. “As a result of TVTP, our offerings are stronger and more effective, allowing us to do more to build safer communities.”
The FY24 iteration of the TVTP Grant Program continues to prioritize engaging underserved communities which are often disproportionately the targets of violence. Projects supported under this program must adhere to strict privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties standards described in the NOFO guidance. Projects must be designed and operated in ways that do not infringe on individuals’ freedom of speech or target anyone based on the exercise of their First Amendment rights. Examples of past third-party evaluation reports, grantee-authored closeout reports, and grantee TVTP project webpages can be found at CP3’s TVTP Grantee Results Webpage.
TVTP grants are a critical part of President Biden’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism to expand community-based diversion of individuals at risk of committing targeted violence or terrorism and boost training opportunities to support local prevention efforts in vulnerable communities.
The latest Homeland Security Threat Assessment listed targeted violence and terrorism as one of the most pressing threats facing Americans. The Department expects the threat of violence from radicalized individuals and small groups already present in the United States to remain high.
The TVTP Grant Program also encourages innovation to harness the best ideas from those directly engaging with members of the community. CP3 has worked with grantees, as well as third party evaluators in collaboration with DHS’ Science & Technology Directorate, to identify best practices that enhance protections for participants in prevention programs. As grantees continue their innovative work, CP3 will incorporate the lessons learned and promising practices identified in the third-party evaluations into future grant cycles. These evaluation reports are accessible at CP3’s Grantee Evaluation Reports webpage.
Through CP3, DHS strengthens our country’s ability to prevent targeted violence and terrorism nationwide, through funding, training, increased public awareness, and partnerships across every level of government, the private sector, and in local communities. Leveraging an approach informed by public health research, CP3 brings together nonprofits, social services, mental health providers, educators, faith leaders, public health and safety officials, law enforcement, and others in communities across the country to help people who are on a pathway to violence before harm occurs. Since 2021, CP3 has delivered nearly 250 briefings to communities and stakeholder groups on the threat of violence and creating local prevention efforts.
For more information on the application process and available funding, please see the NOFO on FEMA GO. Visit the TVTP Grant Program Resource page or contact CP3 at TerrorismPrevention@hq.dhs.gov for additional information on how to apply.