BJA: Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Site-based Program (US)

Deadline: 21-Mar-23

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks applications for funding to develop, implement, or expand comprehensive programs in response to the overdose crisis and the impacts of use and misuse of opioids, stimulants, or other substances.

This program furthers the DOJ’s mission by providing resources to support state, local, tribal, and territorial efforts to respond to illicit substance use and misuse; reduce overdose deaths; promote public safety; and support access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services in the community and justice system.

COSSUP furthers the Biden–Harris Administration’s drug policy priorities, listed as follows, to support communities across the Nation:

• Expanding access to evidence-based substance use disorder treatment such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), which is the use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies.
• Advancing racial equity.
• Enhancing evidence-based harm reduction efforts.
• Supporting evidence-based prevention efforts to reduce youth substance use.
• Expanding the behavioral health workforce.
• Expanding access to recovery support services.

Goals: COSSUP’s goals are to reduce the impact of the use and misuse of opioids, stimulants, and other substances on individuals and communities, including a reduction in the number of overdose fatalities, as well as to mitigate the impacts on crime victims by supporting comprehensive, collaborative initiatives.

Categories

• Category 1: Local jurisdictions
• Category 2: State Applications.

Objectives

• The objectives of Category 1 are to:
  • Encourage and support the development of comprehensive, locally, or tribally driven responses to the use and misuse of opioids, stimulants, and other substances that expand access to treatment and recovery support services across the criminal justice system.
  • Support law enforcement and first responder deflection as well as pretrial prosecutor and court diversion programs for persons with substance use disorders.
  • Promote education and prevention activities.
  • Address the needs of children impacted by substance use.

Priority Areas

• The Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, 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.
• Priority Considerations Supporting Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
• In support of this Executive Order, OJP will provide priority consideration when making award decisions to the following:
  • Applications that propose project(s) that are designed to promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunity for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality.
  • To receive this consideration, the applicant must describe how the proposed project(s) will address potential racial inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality, and identify how the project design and implementation will specifically incorporate the input or participation of those communities and populations disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and the criminal justice system overall.
  • Applicants that demonstrate that their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed project(s) are enhanced because they (or at least one proposed subrecipient that will receive at least 40% of the requested award funding, as demonstrated in the Budget Web-Based Form) identify as a culturally specific organization.
  • To receive this additional priority consideration, applicants must describe how being a culturally specific organization (or funding the culturally specific subrecipient organization(s)) will enhance their ability to implement the proposed project(s) and should also specify which populations are intended or expected to be served or to have their needs addressed under the proposed project(s).
  • Culturally specific organizations are defined for the purposes of this solicitation as private nonprofit or tribal organizations whose primary purpose as a whole is to provide culturally specific services to racial and ethnic groups, including, among others, Black people, Hispanic and Latino people, Native American and other Indigenous peoples of North America (including Alaska Native, Eskimo, and Aleut), Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and/or Pacific Islanders.

Funding Information

• Award Ceiling: $7,000,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• County governments
• City or township governments
• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
• State governments
• Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
• Additional Information on Eligibility:   
  • Category 1: Local Applications City or township governments County governments Other: City, township, or county governments in rural areas (as defined under Eligibility Information) Native American tribal governments (federally recognized)
  • Category 2: State Applications Units of state governments.

Capabilities and Competencies

• Describe the management structure and staffing, specifically identifying the key person (or people) responsible for carrying out program or project activities. Demonstrate the capability to implement the project successfully.
• Identify each partner agency that has demonstrated commitment to this effort. Discuss any previous collaboration that occurred that will help to achieve the objectives and describe any existing partnership agreements. Attach a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and/or letter of support from each key team member, outlining their commitments to the project.
• Describe how effective communication and coordination among the team members will be implemented throughout the program period
• For applications involving a research component, describe the qualifications of the research partner and their prior experience with action research, including prior work with drug monitoring and treatment agencies and other partners. Describe the roles and responsibilities of the research partner and how the applicant will ensure that the research partner will have access to relevant agency data, personnel for interviews, and the ability to monitor operations that are relevant to the evaluation of the initiative. Discuss what data sources will be used and any legal, policy, or other barriers to gaining access to the data and how those barriers will be addressed.
• Note: Researchers should be experienced in several different data collection methodologies and in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. It is preferable that they have several years of evaluation research experience and have experience with oral and written presentations of research results. Research partners should be able to conduct scientifically rigorous evaluations and be well versed in evaluation methods.
• Describe who will serve as the project coordinator, the project coordinator’s project-related duties, the amount of time this position will dedicate to the project per week, and which agency will house the project coordinator. If the project coordinator will be hired after the award is made, please provide a job description.
• Indicate a willingness to work closely with a BJA-identified evaluator who may conduct a site-specific or crosssite evaluation in future years, and identify who would serve as a liaison with this person.
• If the applicant is seeking priority consideration under Priority 1(B), it should describe within this section how being a culturally specific organization (or funding a culturally specific subrecipient organization at a minimum of 40% of the project budget) will enhance its ability to implement the proposed project(s), should also specify which populations are intended or expected to be served or have their needs addressed under the proposed project(s), and should include the website address (if applicable) and formal or informal mission statement or principles of the culturally specific organization.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.