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Grants 101

Section 1

Preventing Crime and Empowering Communities To Address Crime

Overview

OJP’s community-based initiatives to prevent and reduce crime support the Obama Administration’s focus on locally driven change. Consistent with this approach, OJP supports community involvement in the choice, design, and implementation of programs, as well as the flexible use of federal funding, to ensure the creative integration of local, state, and federal resources to maximize the return on tax payer dollars while promoting the sustainability of local public safety programs.

CCDO and other OJP components fund crime prevention and community empowerment through several initiatives such as the Weed and Seed Strategy and Project Safe Neighborhoods that address issues such as gangs, guns, and drugs using coordinated efforts and resources. OJP, often in partnership with the local U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, facilitates this coordination.

OJP’s goal is to ensure that communities and their partners have the necessary tools to be successful, including the following:

Information about how federal funding works in their communities.
Access to a full range of technical assistance and training.
Knowledge from other communities about programs that work.
Data, research, and evaluations for use in strategic planning.
Strong public and private institutional partnerships.
Online resources and access to technology.

Discretionary Programs

Program Name Weed and Seed Continuation Grants
Grantee Competitive, only current Weed and Seed grantees may apply.
FY 2010 Funding Up to $150,000 per site
OJP Sponsor CCDO
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo
Program Contact Faith Baker, (202) 305-2586, Faith.Baker@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Weed and Seed is a multi-year, comprehensive, community empowerment and capacity-building public safety strategy that prevents, controls, and reduces violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in designated high crime neighborhoods through-out the country. Federal funding is available for up to 5 years. Continuation funding is only available to grantees that are fiscal agents for previously designated Weed and Seed Communities. Entities eligible for assistance include local governments, nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, and tribal entities.

Each local strategy involves law enforcement agencies and prosecutors (including the U.S. Attorney and local DEA representative) cooperating to "weed out" violent crime; and public agencies and community-based private organizations collaborating to "seed in" prevention, intervention, treatment strategies, and neighborhood restoration programs. A community oriented policing component bridges the weeding and seeding elements. Weed and Seed’s four fundamental principles are collaboration, coordination, community participation, and leveraging of resources.

Training and Technical Assistance

Program Name Training and Technical Assistance for Weed and Seed Communities
Grantee Competitive, only designated Weed and Seed Steering Committees may apply.
OJP Sponsor CCDO
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ccdo
Program Contact Denise Viera, (202) 514-9601, Denise.Viera@usdoj.gov
Program Description
CCDO promotes community engagement in public safety by providing intensive targeted trainings and skill development sessions on a variety of topics, including resident leadership, youth leadership development, ex-offender reentry, domestic violence prevention and intervention, community economic development, drug abuse prevention, gang suppression, tribal economic development, and coordination with public housing partners. These sessions are presented to diverse audiences through workshops, place-based trainings, webinars, and conference calls.

Program Name National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC)
Grantee Any state, tribal, or local agency involved in activities related to fighting crime or ensuring public safety may request training and technical assistance.
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/tta/index.html
Program Contact Elaine Snyder, (202) 514-0929, Elaine.Snyder@usdoj.gov
Program Description
BJA’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) provides support to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to identify problems, resolve issues, and establish or enhance programs or activities for a variety of criminal justice topics, including adjudications, corrections, law enforcement, substance abuse and mental health, crime prevention, and justice information sharing. Agencies may request assistance with strategic planning, program sustainability, evidence-based practices identification, community partnership development, staff development and training, and resource identification.

NTTAC employs various strategies and delivers a host of services to meet the needs of the criminal justice community, including onsite studies, offsite technical assistance via telephone and e-mail; distance learning opportunities; peer to peer information exchange and mentoring by one jurisdiction with another; training scholarships; specialized training courses; curriculum development; provision of faculty for workshops; trainings and/or conferences; and publication development and dissemination. Any state, tribal, or local agency involved in activities related to fighting crime or ensuring public safety may request training and technical assistance from BJA through its National Training and Technical Assistance Center.

Research and Statistical Programs

Program Name NIJ Ph.D. Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $125,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link http://www.nij.gov/nij/funding/fellowships/graduate-research-fellowship/; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000918.pdf
Program Contact Christine Crossland, (202) 616-5166, Christine.Crossland@usdoj.gov; Marie Garcia, (202) 514-7128, Marie.Garcia@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ’s Ph.D. Graduate Research Fellowship program provides awards to accredited universities that support graduate study leading to research-based doctoral degrees. NIJ invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to successfully complete doctoral degree programs in disciplines relevant to NIJ’s mission. Applicants in policy and health sciences or in an education field are eligible to apply only if the doctoral research dissertation is in an NIJ-supported discipline (e.g., social and behavioral sciences, operations technology, information and sensors research and development, and investigative and forensic sciences). This program furthers the department’s mission by sponsoring research to provide objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the state and local levels.

Program Name Crime and Justice Research and Evaluation: Investigator-Initiated
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,500,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000899.pdf
Program Contact Karen Bachar, (202) 514-4403, Karen.Bachar@usdoj.gov; Marilyn Moses, (202) 514-6205, Marilyn.Moses@usdoj.gov; Louis Tuthill, (202) 307-1015, Louis.Tuthill@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The Crime and Justice Research and Evaluation solicitation is NIJ's solicitation for investigator-initiated social and behavioral research and evaluation on topics relevant to state, local, tribal, or federal criminal and juvenile justice policy and practice. Most crime and justice topics that are relevant to policymakers and practitioners are eligible for consideration. Applications submitted under the Crime and Justice Research and Evaluation solicitation that appear responsive to other targeted NIJ solicitations may be transferred to those solicitations at the discretion of NIJ.

Program Name NIJ Visiting Fellowship Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $525,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000888.pdf
Program Contact Christine Crossland, (202) 616-5166, Christine.Crossland@usdoj.gov; Ron Wilson, (202) 307-2093, Ronald.Wilson@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ’s Visiting Fellowship Program supports research and development on high priority topics that enhance the capabilities of criminal justice systems to combat crime, violence, and substance abuse. The overarching goal of the Visiting Fellowship program is to enhance NIJ’s efforts to facilitate the development or enhancement of new and innovative programs. A secondary goal is to foster the professional development of researchers by providing them an opportunity to work closely with career and political federal staff, contractors, grantees, and a myriad of public and private organizations in Washington, D.C. The Visiting Fellowship program offers criminal justice researchers an opportunity to work full time on research addressing criminal justice issues relevant to NIJ and public policy. Through the program, fellows will investigate new approaches for resolving operational problems and become involved in NIJ’s criminal justice research programs.

Program Name Building and Enhancing Criminal Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000886.pdf
Program Contact Bethany Backes, (202) 305-4419, Bethany.Backes@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ is interested in funding projects in support of criminal justice researcher-practitioner partnerships, as well as capturing, in detail, relevant accounts of these collaborations. Such partnerships have frequently been encouraged in solicitations for research. However, this solicitation specifically aims to support activities that capture and build on these efforts and that provide opportunities for creating, enhancing, and sustaining criminal justice researcher-practitioner partnerships that will lead to better criminal justice policy, practice, and research.

Program Name W.E.B. DuBois Fellowship 2010
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $100,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000935.pdf
Program Contact Marilyn Moses, (202) 514-6205, Marilyn.Moses@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The DuBois Fellowship complements NIJ’s other fellowship programs and provides talented researchers with an opportunity early in their professional careers to elevate independently generated research and ideas to the level of national discussion. DuBois fellows will contribute to NIJ’s national criminal justice research program by studying topics of mutual interest to the fellow and NIJ. Researchers from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply. Due to the nature of this fellowship, NIJ strongly encourages applicants with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Fellowship grants are typically 12 months in duration. Fellows may propose to serve a period of the fellowship in residence at NIJ.

Program Name BJS Visiting Fellows
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $600,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Program Contact Gerard Ramker, (202) 307-0765, Gerard.Ramker@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Under BJS sponsorship, selected fellows travel to Washington, D.C. to conduct studies on topics of their own choosing. While in Washington, fellows are given BJS office space and access to the agency’s rich array of datasets and software. They interact with BJS staff and gain first-hand knowledge of some of the most recent developments in the field of criminal justice research. In addition to carrying out their research, fellows also have opportunities to contribute in other significant ways. For example, recent fellows have briefed the Attorney General on latest trends in youth violence, helped design a BJS survey on police use of force, explored new methods for visualizing BJS data, compared crime rates between the U.S. and England, and examined the methodological history of the NCVS. This program is open to senior level social science researchers whose work on crime-related subjects has been extensively published. Some fellows remain onsite at BJS for the entire duration of their project. Others make only occasional visits to accommodate their schedules. At the close of their visit, fellows prepare a research report summarizing results and policy implications of their project.

Program Name American Statistical Association (ASA) Investigator Initiated Projects
Grantee Competitive through ASA
FY 2010 Funding $200,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Program Contact Gerard Ramker, (202) 307-0765, Gerard.Ramker@usdoj.gov
Program Description
On behalf of BJS, the American Statistical Association’s Committee on Law and Justice Statistics will solicit project proposals for limited studies utilizing and extending BJS research and statistics.

Program Name Research on Foreclosures and Crime
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/funding/welcome.htm; http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000894.pdf
Program Contact Ronald Wilson, (202) 305-8711, Ronald.Wilson@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ seeks to fund research proposals that explore and explain the links between place and crime in the specific context of the recent wave of residential property foreclosures. In this context, proposals may address either short-term or long-term patterns linking place and crime. Applications proposing research should explain how the proposed project will fill a critical gap in the field's knowledge and practice, as well as identify policy implications related to criminal justice.