2025 Access to Justice Prize: Closing the Rural Justice Gap

Link

https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=justice-prize

Deadline

Application Deadline: Mar 31, 2025

Purpose

Offers an award challenge competition to support front line justice organizations and agencies in developing innovative ideas to expand access to justice in rural areas. Invites proposals that aim to improve legal systems, processes, interactions, outcomes, or to better solve justice problems in rural communities.

Examples of strategies to expand access to justice include but are not limited to:

Expanding access to legal representation, legal assistance, or legal information
Breaking down barriers to accessing rural legal systems, such as lack of proximity to a courthouse, ability to travel or access to broadband
Reducing interactions with civil and criminal legal systems or developing alternatives to justice processes
Expanding access for specific rural populations, such as Tribal communities, low-income communities, communities of color, or other historically underserved communities
Establishing innovative cross-sector, cross-agency, or otherwise unique partnerships to expand access to legal systems
Expanding access to services to meet basic and collateral needs for those involved with legal systems, including housing, food, employment, and other supports

Submissions will be judged by the following criteria:

Innovation: Does the submission reflect a creative, new proposed idea for a solution to pressing barriers to equal access to justice that has not been done within the applicant's jurisdiction, even if it has been done in other jurisdictions?
Implementation, Feasibility, and Sustainability: Does the submission include an implementation plan? Does the submission reflect data and/or analysis of potential barriers and strategic efforts to mitigate those barriers? Does the submission address how the solution will be sustained?
Clear Goal and Measures for Success: Does the submission include a clear goal or outcome sought to expand access to justice for rural communities? Would the proposed impact be significant and long-term? Does the submission establish methods to determine impact or success both in the short-term and long-term? How will implementation processes and outcomes be documented?
Engagement: Does the submission reflect engagement with a broad range of stakeholders, including communities or organizations that represent people likely to be impacted by the proposal, or demonstrate a plan to ensure such engagement?

Amount of Funding

Phase 1 of the competition will select up to 5 finalists to receive awards of $5,000.

In Phase 2, 1 finalist will be selected to receive the grand prize of $50,000.

Who Can Apply

Eligible applicants are 501(c)(3) nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and units of local, state, tribal and territorial government, including courts, public defender offices, prosecutorial agencies, and law enforcement entities.

In order to be eligible, organizations must not be:

Federal entities or federal employees acting within the scope of their employment
Employees of the Department of Justice (DOJ) acting in their personal capacity or official capacity
Individuals or organizations that are currently suspended or debarred by the federal government
Parties involved with the design, production, execution, judging, or distribution of the challenge or the immediate family of such a party

Private entities must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the U.S. Complete challenge requirements, rules, terms, and conditions are available on the program website.

Applicants must demonstrate that their proposals will impact rural communities. This opportunity encourages a non-exclusive definition of rural, which may encompass 1 of the following definitions:

1 or more census tracts not designated as urban by the U.S. Census Bureau
Any county not designated as metropolitan by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
1 or more census tracts with Rural Urban Commuting Area codes 4-10, as designated by the USDA Economic Research Service

Geographic Coverage

Nationwide

What This Program Funds

Capacity Building • New Program • Operating Costs and Staffing

Application Process

Applicants must submit proposals through the online submission system on the program website.

The competition will be conducted in 2 phases. In Phase 1, up to 5 finalists will be selected from among all submissions. The Phase 1 deadline is March 31, 2025.

For Phase 2, finalists will further develop their proposals during a 6-month refinement period, with a deadline of October 31, 2025.

Applicant frequently asked questions

Contact

Online contact form

Topics This Program Addresses

Attorneys and Courts • Community Planning and Coalition Building • Housing and Homelessness • Law Enforcement • Social Service Supports • Transportation • Vocational Training, Education, and Employment