BJA: Byrne State Crisis Intervention Training and Technical Assistance Program (US)

Deadline: 12-Mar-25

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is requesting applications for its Byrne State Crisis Intervention Training and Technical Assistance Program to promote civil rights, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

The law created a new state crisis intervention program designed to support programs and initiatives that address risk factors for gun violence. These programs can include efforts to leverage the capacity and expand the scope of existing problem-solving courts such as adult treatment courts, mental health courts, and veterans’ treatment courts to assess the risks and needs of persons with gun offenses and provide research-driven approaches to address their underlying needs to prevent further violence.

Goal

• To deliver a range of effective and relevant Byrne SCIP TTA that empowers and enables the field in their efforts to reduce crime, improve justice outcomes, enhance community safety, and reduce gun violence.

Objectives

• Objective 1: Relevance. Develop and deliver TTA that directly addresses the needs and challenges of the field and its workforce.
• Objective 2: Effectiveness. Measure the effectiveness of TTA to ensure it is achieving the intended outcomes and making a positive impact.
• Objective 3: Engagement. Create engaging and interactive TTA experiences that facilitate learning.
• Objective 4: Accessibility. Ensure all TTA is accessible to audiences of different backgrounds and learning styles.
• Objective 5: Continuous Improvement. Regularly evaluate and refine TTA to ensure relevance, effectiveness, and alignment with the evolving priorities and emerging needs of the field.
• Objective 6: Best Practices. Develop best practices and models for crisis intervention programs.

Categories

• This NOFO contains three categories, each seeking applications for a separate TTA category:
  • Category 1: Developing and Supporting Extreme Risk Protection Order Programs
    • BJA seeks a TTA provider to support Byrne SCIP state grantees and subrecipients in implementing, expanding, or enhancing ERPO programs. To the extent practicable, the TTA provider should develop tools and resources that are also available to non-Byrne SCIP grantees who wish to work in the programmatic areas identified in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The TTA provider must also work with BJA to identify and promote national best practices and model programs.
  • Category 2: Supporting State, Local, and Tribal Courts Implementing Safer Communities
    • In Category 2, BJA seeks a TTA provider to support state, local, and Tribal courts in the examination of current court capacity to screen, assess, and assign to appropriate case processing, which could include assessment for services/programming, for individuals in crisis, as well as the court capacity to meet the needs of those identified as at risk of harm to themselves or others with a firearm, including judicial and other court staff training and safety considerations.
  • Category 3: Implementing Safer Communities Training and Technical Assistance
    • This category aims to seek a TTA provider that will support both Byrne SCIP and JAG grantees in the implementation of the SCIP Advisory Boards, development of program plans, and related training and technical assistance requests. The TTA provider will support the grantees in data collection and assist as needed with state-level evaluation or analysis on the effectiveness of state crisis intervention programs in preventing gun violence and firearm-related suicide. The TTA provider will support NIJ-funded evaluation activities through coordination and dissemination of the findings/outcomes and support the capacity to refer Byrne SCIP and JAG grantees to other BJA programs and resources.

Funding Information

• Anticipated Total Amount: $4,000,000
• Award Ceiling:
  • Category 1: Up to $1,500,000
  • Category 2: Up to $1,500,000
  • Category 3: Up to $1,000,000
• Period of Performance Duration: 48 months

Eligible Activities

• Activities are events, trainings, and support tailored to specific audiences to provide knowledge, skills, or build capacity. An award may support activities (e.g., personnel time for award activities) that are part of recipient performance but are not considered deliverables.
• The following activities are relevant for all categories outlined in this NOFO:
  • Utilize a diverse range of vetted local and national subject matter experts to plan and implement TTA activities.
  • Coordinate all activities and products with BJA’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) and maintain an online project tracking tool.
  • Anticipate, quickly identify, and address challenges that arise during TTA delivery. When challenges arise, the TTA provider should engage in strategies like case conferencing to harness the collective knowledge of subject matter experts.
  • Establish and maintain a process for practitioners to request TTA at no cost and to triage, service, and track those requests for reporting purposes.
  • Support states’ exploration, implementation, or enhancement of other gun violence reduction options that might be relevant to risk assessment or influence the desired gun violence reduction outcomes.
  • Provide onsite assistance when needed.
  • Participate in national- and state-level conferences to educate practitioners on promising practices. This includes state chiefs of police associations as well as national gun violence reduction conferences.
  • Collaborate with existing OJP and BJA TTA providers to leverage existing resources and expertise.

Expected Deliverables

• TTA Programs across all categories will:
  • Support and maintain a dedicated website to house BJA’s products, resources, and tools for grantees and the field.
  • Submit monthly TTA status update reports.
  • Submit a monthly report (or equivalent mechanism for relaying information in real time) of the TTA requests received from the field and/or grantees that includes the request method (phone call, email, website, response to community outreach, etc.), requesting agency characteristics (geographic, agency type, community type, etc.), topic area, and response (TTA, coaching, email response, call, referral, etc.).
• Category Specific Deliverables:
  • Category 1: Developing and Supporting Extreme Risk Protection Order Programs
    • Enhance and expand the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center website which houses resources to support effective and equitable implementation of ERPO programs for states with existing ERPO laws.
    • Develop and disseminate trainings for ERPO implementers, to include petitioners, judges, court personnel, defense attorneys, law enforcement, behavioral health, victim services, social service partners, and respondents. The trainings should be a combination of in-person, virtual, and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and they should address emerging topics, trends, and challenges as related to ERPO implementation in Byrne SCIP sites.
    • Identify model learning sites who have robust ERPO programs and support peer-to-peer engagements with those sites and Byrne SCIP grantees. These engagements should result in reports that highlight lessons learned and promising practices extracted from these activities.
    • Identify and contract with subject matter experts who can provide site assessments, presentations, and webinars that will advance grantee knowledge in key areas related to gun violence reduction and ERPO implementation.
    • Develop implementer-specific toolkits and resources that include promising practices related to ERPO implementation.
  • Category 2: Supporting State, Local, and Tribal Courts Implementing Safer Communities
    • Support a TTA center to assist courts in assessing and responding to court-involved individuals who may pose a risk of harm to themselves or others.
    • Maintain and assist courts in administering a self-assessment tool to help courts examine existing processes to identify which court-involved individuals may pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, what court options are available to reduce this risk, and what additional capacity is needed within the court to fully meet the level of need.
    • Maintain a compendium of resources for courts to build their capacity to meet the needs of these individuals, including, but not limited to, problem-solving courts.
    • Deliver scalable hybrid training modules for judges and court staff that includes broad training related to persons in crisis, as well as how to effectively use the assessment tool and address the findings of the assessment results.
  • Category 3: Implementing Safer Communities Training and Technical Assistance
    • Provide direct assistance to SAAs in the planning and creation of state Byrne SCIP advisory boards.
    • Develop assessment for Byrne SCIP grantees and applicable JAG grantees to determine gaps and needs based on their program plans, and develop recommendations for addressing them.
    • Maintain and update the national trends document on implementation of Byrne State Crisis Intervention programs. This document should include detailed analyses of the programs’ outcomes, insights into current challenges, and the identification of best practices to enhance crisis intervention strategies across states.
    • Develop individualized TTA work plans responsive to the needs identified in the site assessments. Work plans should be presented to the site, revised as needed, and agreed to by the site. Work plans are a living document and should be revised as needed. Work plans should include checklists to help sites execute key tasks. The work plans should be presented to BJA staff and include tools such as spreadsheets or dashboards to track the execution of key tasks. Please note that BJA may require the selected provider to submit for review and approval the proposed TTA plans, protocols, or strategies in advance of dissemination to and implementation with grantees.
    • Assist grantees in developing their capacity to provide data for evaluation and assess the data quality related to key strategies and outcomes.
    • In collaboration with other Byrne SCIP TTA providers, support and maintain the dedicated Byrne SCIP TTA website to house products, resources, and tools for grantees and the field, including regular curation and revision of the core topics libraries.
    • Develop other Byrne SCIP materials for states, as needed.

Eligibility Criteria

• The types of entities that are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity are:
  • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), other than institutions of higher education
    • Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
  • Other
    • Institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education) that have expertise and experience in managing training and technical assistance (TTA) for evidence-based criminal justice programs.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.