U.S. Department of Justice: National Community Courts Site-based and Training and Technical Assistance Initiative

Deadline: 1 May 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications for funding to establish or enhance community courts and to support community court grantees and practitioners in developing effective responses to low-level, nonviolent offenses. This program furthers the Department’s mission to enhance public safety, prevent crime, and provide resources to jurisdictions to address substance abuse, including opioid abuse.

Community courts enhance public safety by addressing underlying issues that lead to criminal behavior, including substance abuse and behavioral health issues. By engaging communities in planning and operational processes, they provide justice system officials with more effective options in dealing with lower-level offenses, enhance public trust in the conduct of justice, and help to reduce unnecessary incarceration.

Through this opportunity, BJA seeks applications for funding under two categories:

Category 1 provides funding to implement or enhance existing community court programs that address substance abuse and other issues using evidence-based principles and practices;
Category 2 provides funding to a national-scope organization to support community court grantees and practitioners in developing effective responses to low-level, nonviolent offenses that enhance public safety, prevent crime, and address substance abuse, including opioid abuse.

Objectives and Deliverables

Category 1, Implementation or Enhancement
- Objectives and Deliverables:
  - Establish or enhance court-based intervention programs to prioritize and expedite the provision of treatment and recovery services to individuals who are frequent users of justice, health, and other services who commit low-level misdemeanor offenses.
  - Build and maximize the capacity of jurisdictions to ensure that all participants are identified, assessed, and referred to services.
  - Enhance the provision of treatment and recovery support services, including transitional housing assistance, to reduce recidivism and reduce homelessness.
  - Expand the use of community services by defendants in the community court docket.
  - Support case management and service coordination.
  - Support data collection and program evaluation.
Category 2, Training and Technical Assistance
- Objectives and deliverables:
  - Provide targeted technical assistance to the Category 1 recipients. This includes:
    - Hosting webinars about the community court grant program, including (a) orientation webinars to onboard new grantees within first 60 days of their receipt of a grant award, and (b) field-wide webinars to market new funding opportunities.
    - Developing individualized TTA plans for each grantee based on their grant-funded project, state of readiness, and other grantee-specific considerations (e.g., staffing).
    - Reviewing grantees’ progress toward their goals and deliverables in accordance with the project timeline, and improving grantee performance through proactive, culturally competent, comprehensive, user-friendly TTA via teleconferencing, peer-to-peer consultations, onsite assistance, web-based assistance (e.g., webinars), and follow-up TTA as required by phone and/or email.
    - Assisting grantees in disseminating information and updates about their projects within their community throughout the life of the project.
    - Assessing grantee capacity for data collection and performance measure reporting during site visits and phone calls, and making recommendations for improvement. Collect lessons learned and other examples of use to the field at-large from grantees and disseminate via publications, media platforms, and conference presentations.
    - Maintain online resources for jurisdictions interested in establishing a community court which highlights publications, tools, research, and key websites that can be used to ensure their programs draw on evidence-based practices and experiences of other jurisdictions.
    - In close consultation with BJA, propose and develop a minimum of three original publications or white papers to address current or emerging community court topics.
    - Propose and facilitate a presence at national, state, local, tribal, or other conferences and events related to community court activities. This includes planning and convening a national summit for up to 250 participants on community courts and community justice programs.
    - Host 75 criminal justice practitioners for a structured peer-to-peer site visit to established mentor community courts.
    - Routinely update BJA about grantees’ needs, TTA responses, and overall progress.
    - Participate in BJA-led grant performance reviews tracking grantee or program performance along several key indicators.

Priority Areas

In FY 2020, and in addition to executing any OJP policy prioritization that may be applicable, priority consideration will be given to applications as follows:

Category 1 applications that provide support and resources for veterans within community courts, either by establishing a specific track of the community court to serve veterans or providing a specific set of services to address the unique experiences and issues of veterans.

Funding Information

Estimated maximum dollar amount for each award
- Category 1: up to $350,000
- Category 2: up to $500,000
Total amount anticipated to be awarded under this solicitation:$4,000,000
Period of performance duration: 24 months
Period of performance start date: October 1, 2020

Eligibility Criteria

Category 1: Implementation and Enhancement:
- The following entities are eligible to apply on behalf of a single jurisdiction court:
  - States
  - Territories
  - State and local courts
  - Counties
  - Units of local government
  - Federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior)
Category 2: Training and Technical Assistance:
- The following entities are eligible to apply:
  - For-profit organizations
  - Nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit or for-profit organizations)
  - Institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education) that support national initiatives to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system
All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or management fee.