BJA FY 18 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision | BJA 2018 13614

Opportunity Information: Apply for BJA 2018 13614

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, offered a discretionary funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 18 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision" (Funding Opportunity Number: BJA 2018 13614). Released on March 30, 2018, with an original closing date of May 14, 2018, this program was structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning awardees should expect an active partnership with BJA that can include ongoing coordination, reporting, and participation in BJA-directed activities as the work progresses.

The central goal of the solicitation was to help jurisdictions design and carry out community supervision strategies built around the "swift, certain, and fair" (SCF) principles. In practice, SCF approaches focus on responding to supervision violations quickly (swift), consistently and predictably (certain), and in ways that are proportionate and procedurally just (fair). BJA emphasized that these strategies should be informed by research and tailored to local conditions, rather than using a one-size-fits-all model. The underlying theory is that when people on probation, parole, or other forms of community supervision face timely, consistent, and reasonable consequences for noncompliance (and potentially timely recognition for compliance), supervision outcomes improve, recidivism declines, and public safety benefits follow.

BJA indicated that applicants would be invited to propose projects in two main categories. The first category supported state and local sites that wanted to develop, implement, and test SCF supervision strategies in their own jurisdictions. These site-based awards were intended to move beyond planning and into real-world execution and evaluation, with the expectation that the resulting lessons could inform broader practice. The second category focused on training and technical assistance (TTA) to support those implementation sites. The intent of the TTA component was to strengthen participating jurisdictions by helping with practical design choices, change management, fidelity to SCF principles, data collection and performance measurement, problem solving during rollout, and sharing effective practices across sites.

Eligibility for the solicitation was broad and included many types of public agencies and partner organizations that typically participate in justice and supervision initiatives. Eligible applicants included state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; federally recognized tribal governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities); and for-profit organizations, including small businesses. The wide eligibility pool reflected the reality that community supervision reform often requires collaboration among probation and parole agencies, courts, prosecutors and defenders, treatment and service providers, research organizations, and technology or administrative partners.

Financially, the opportunity listed an award ceiling of $865,000 and anticipated making about five awards. The funding activity categories associated with the program were Employment, Labor and Training; Law, Justice and Legal Services; and an additional "Other" category as referenced in the original listing. The program was cataloged under CFDA 16.828, which is commonly used for BJA assistance programs.

Overall, this solicitation targeted jurisdictions ready to improve community supervision by adopting SCF principles in a structured, research-informed way, while also building a support system through training and technical assistance so that participating sites could implement with consistency, learn from results, and contribute to broader reductions in reoffending and improvements in community safety.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the employment, labor and training, law, justice and legal services, other (see text field entitled explanation of other category of funding activity for clarification) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 18 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.828.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 30, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 14, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $865,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the 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, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for BJA 2018 13614

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