Field Initiated: Encouraging Innovation

Link

https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/o-bja-2025-172330

Additional Links

Notice of Funding Opportunity (Grants.gov)

Deadline

Application Deadline: Apr 10, 2025

Purpose

Offers funding to develop and implement innovative strategies to address emerging or persistent challenges affecting criminal justice systems. Promotes collaboration between criminal justice practitioners and researchers, with the goal of filling knowledge gaps, building capacity, and enhancing or translating research to reduce crime and improve community safety and justice system outcomes.

There are 2 funding categories for this opportunity:

Category 1: For proposals that test a strategy or theory of change at the state, local, or tribal level working with a research partner to document the implementation and develop tools to support national replication, which may include program manuals, program assessments/evaluations, training curricula, policy-relevant documents, implementation guides, and toolkits.
Category 2: For proposals that to develop targeted national or regional strategies to advance or translate knowledge that will make an impact in addressing a critical need or gap in the field. Includes developing tools and knowledge transfer to support further implementation, such as training and technical assistance projects.

Applicants should propose innovative or unique solutions, strategies, and/or responses to address critical and emerging public safety issues, chronic crime problems, and justice system challenges identified by law enforcement, prosecutors, and other criminal justice practitioners working in the field. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Develop innovative and fair responses to combat, address, or respond to extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime, such as homicides, assaults, and hate crimes
Address and support law enforcement, prosecutors, defense, courts, corrections and other criminal justice agencies and the judiciary in building trust and legitimacy with the communities they serve, including issues related to recruitment, retention, and wellness of workforce
Build new or alternative strategies and systems such as restorative justice programs, community responder models, diversion programs, and strategies to prevent unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system and enhance outcomes
Create approaches and tools that build capacity to gather and analyze data and information to understand key decision/change points, such as through effective pretrial processes and sentencing practices that prevent overincarceration and collateral consequences
Enhance efforts to ensure effective right to counsel and access to justice, addressing the unique challenges faced by rural communities, ensuring system integrity including preventing future errors, addressing legal deserts, and building alternative approaches to address safety concerns
Explore innovative approaches that use technology and artificial intelligence to both enhance practices in investigations and prosecutions while safeguarding privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties
Develop and/or explore effective strategies to reduce the number of youth within the criminal justice system and decrease recidivism rate, including include diversion programs as alternatives to incarceration, redirecting youth away from the system and into supportive environments, and incorporating trauma-informed care and life skills training

Additional information about program activities, objectives, and deliverables can be found in the program guidance.

Amount of Funding

Award ceiling: $1,000,000
Project period: 3 years
Estimated total program funding: $10,000,000

Estimated number of awards:

6 awards for Category 1
4 awards for Category 2

Who Can Apply

Eligible Category 1 applicants include:

States and territories
City, township, county, or special district governments
Other units of local government, such as towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or general purpose political subdivisions of a state
Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
Public, private, and state-controlled institutions of higher education
Public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities
Nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status
For-profit organizations and small businesses

Category 1 applicants are required to formally partner with a research organization for project development, assessment, or evaluation activities, as well as the development of tools to support replication.

Eligible Category 2 applicants include:

Public, private, and state-controlled institutions of higher education
Public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities
Nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status
For-profit organizations and small businesses

Geographic Coverage

Nationwide

What This Program Funds

Capacity Building • New Program • Operating Costs and Staffing

Application Process

Application instructions, requirements, and other information about the online application process can be found in the funding announcement.

Applications must be submitted electronically through a 2-step process:

Step 1: Applicants will submit an SF-424 and an SF-LLL in grants.gov by the April 10, 2025 deadline.
Step 2: Applicants will submit the full application, including attachments, in the JustGrants grants management system by the April 17, 2025 deadline.

Contact

For questions on submitting in grants.gov:
800-518-4726
support@grants.gov

For questions on submitting in JustGrants:
833-872-5175
JustGrants.Support@usdoj.gov

For programmatic and technical questions:
Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Response Center
800-851-3420
TTY at 301-240-6310
grants@ncjrs.gov

Topics This Program Addresses

Attorneys and Courts • Jails and Prisons • Juvenile Justice • Law Enforcement • Re-entry and Community Supervision • Teleservices and Technology