1. (1) To receive a grant, an applicant must submit an application to the office in accordance with any policies adopted by the executive director of the department. At a minimum, the application must include the following information:

   1. (a) The types of deflection services that will be provided;
   2. (b) Verification that the applicant is serving an area of high need; and
   3. (c) An official letter from at least one referring agency demonstrating the agency's intent to refer youth to the deflection program to provide the youth with trauma-informed health and development services in lieu of warning, citation, or arrest. For regional applications described in subsection (2)(c) of this section, letters of intent are required for each jurisdiction proposed in the application.

2. (2)

   1. (a) To be eligible to receive a grant, an applicant must be:

      1. (I) A nonprofit organization;
      2. (II) A federally recognized Indian tribe, as defined in 25 U.S.C. sec. 1603 (14);
      3. (III) A tribal organization, as defined in 25 U.S.C. sec. 1603 (26);
      4. (IV) An urban Indian organization, as defined in 25 U.S.C. sec. 1603 (29); or
      5. (V) A private entity whose board of directors is majority controlled by Native Americans and that is fiscally sponsored by a nonprofit organization.
   2. (b) To be eligible to receive a grant, an applicant must be a nongovernmental entity, with the exception of a tribal government applicant, and must not be a law enforcement or probation entity.
   3. (c) Applicants from two or more local jurisdictions may jointly apply for a grant award to deliver deflection program services on a regional basis and may receive a joint grant award that is the aggregate of the amount each individual eligible applicant would have received had each individual eligible applicant applied independently.

3. (3) The office shall review the applications received pursuant to this section. In awarding grants, the office shall give priority to eligible applicants in communities, including rural communities, that:

   1. (a) Deflect youth at the earliest possible point of justice system involvement;
   2. (b) Serve otherwise under-resourced communities;
   3. (c) Employ individuals who have lived experience as a youth in the justice system; or
   4. (d) Demonstrate experience effectively serving youth populations who are justice-system-involved or at risk of system involvement.
4. (4) Subject to available appropriations, on or before June 30 each year of the grant program, the office shall distribute grants as provided in this section. The office shall award at least two hundred thousand dollars but not more than one million dollars to an individual grantee over the course of the three-year grant program.

5. (5)

   1. (a) A grantee shall use a grant award to deliver deflection program services in areas of high need. A grantee shall provide deflection services that are evidence-based, research-supported, or grounded in practice-based evidence; trauma-informed; culturally relevant; gender-responsive; and developmentally appropriate.

   2. (b) A grantee shall deliver one or more of the following deflection program services:

      1. (I) Educational services, including remedial and college preparatory academic services;
      2. (II) Career development services, including employment preparation, vocational training, internships, and apprenticeships;
      3. (III) Restorative justice services, including culturally rooted programming;
      4. (IV) Mentoring services, including services that rely on credible messengers whose lived experience is similar to the experience of the youth being served;
      5. (V) Mental health services, including culturally rooted healing practices;
      6. (VI) Behavioral health services, including substance use education and treatment;
      7. (VII) Housing services, including permanent, short-term, and emergency housing services;
      8. (VIII) Personal development and leadership training services; or
      9. (IX) Prosocial activities, including cultural enrichment programs and services.

Source: L. 2025: Entire part added, (HB 25-1146), ch. 358, p. 1940, § 8, effective July 1.