15bcjisol.pdf

OMB No. 1121-0329

U.S. Department of Justice Approval Expires 07/31/2016

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Assistance

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications from eligible entities to plan and implement place-based, community-oriented strategies to address targeted crime issues within a neighborhood as a part of a broader neighborhood revitalization initiative. Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) resources will target hot spots of crime where a significant proportion of crime occurs as compared to the overall jurisdiction. BCJI furthers the Department’s mission by leading efforts to enhance the capacity of local and tribal communities to effectively target and address significant crime issues through collaborative cross-sector approaches that help advance broader neighborhood development goals.

Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program FY 2015 Competitive Grant Announcement

Eligibility Eligible entities to serve as fiscal agent include states, units of local governments, non-profit organizations (including tribal non-profit organizations), and federally recognized Indian tribal governments as determined by the Secretary of the Interior.

For this solicitation, community is defined broadly as a geographic area that has social meaning to residents. In urban areas, the term community may be used interchangeably with neighborhood to describe a specific geographic area that is delineated by major streets or physical topography. In urban areas, a community is typically less than two miles wide, while in rural and tribal areas it is often larger and part of an entire county.

The BCJI application requires a consortium of partners (hereinafter referred to as “cross-sector partnership”) to plan or implement a targeted strategy addressing crime in a specific community.

The cross-sector partnership must designate one eligible entity to serve as the fiscal agent.1 The fiscal agent must ensure that the cross-sector partnership is committed to and can successfully oversee key enforcement, prevention, intervention, and community engagement strategies AND access and analyze key data (crime and other) with regular input from the research and law enforcement agency partners.

The fiscal agent will oversee coordination of the cross-sector partnership and manage any subawards for services. The fiscal agent will be legally responsible for complying with all applicable federal rules and regulations in receiving and expending federal funds. The application must demonstrate that the fiscal agent has the capacity, commitment, and community support to serve as fiscal agent. The fiscal agent must demonstrate such capacity by

1 Throughout this solicitation, “fiscal agent” and “applicant” are used interchangeably.

http://www.justice.gov/ http://www.ojp.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/

BJA-2015-4095

showing experience engaging residents as well as core criminal justice and other partners in the implementation and sustainment of community justice strategies, especially in the targeted area.

Jurisdictions are strongly encouraged to coordinate with and seek the support of their local U.S.

Attorney and local policymakers.

BJA may elect to make awards for applications submitted under this solicitation in future fiscal years, dependent on the merit of the applications and on the availability of appropriations.

For additional eligibility information, see Section C. Eligibility Information.

Deadline Applicants must register with Grants.gov prior to submitting an application. All applications are due to be submitted and in receipt of a successful validation message in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on April 21, 2015.

All applicants are encouraged to read this Important Notice: Applying for Grants in

Grants.gov.

For additional information, see How To Apply in Section D. Application and Submission Information.

Contact Information For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035, or via e-mail to support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline hours of operation are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except federal holidays.

Applicants that experience unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond their control that prevent them from submitting their application by the deadline must e-mail the BJA contact identified below within 24 hours after the application deadline and request approval to submit their application. Additional information on reporting technical issues is found under “Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues” in the How To Apply section.

For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center: toll-free at 1-800-851-3420; via TTY at 301-240-6310 (hearing impaired only); email responsecenter@ncjrs.gov; fax to 301-240-5830;

or web chat at https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp. The NCJRS Response Center hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern time on the solicitation close date.

Grants.gov number assigned to this announcement: BJA-2015-4095

Release date: February 19, 2015 http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp http://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Grants-govInfo.htm http://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Grants-govInfo.htm mailto:support@grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply_for_grants.jsp mailto:responsecenter@ncjrs.gov https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp

Contents A. Program Description

Overview

Program-Specific Information

Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables

Evidence-Based Programs or Practices

B. Federal Award Information

Type of Award

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls

Budget Information

Cost Sharing or Match Requirement

Pre-Agreement Cost Approvals

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver

Prior Approval, Planning, and Reporting of Conference/Meeting/Training Costs

Costs Associated with Language Assistance (if applicable)

C. Eligibility Information

Cost Sharing or Match Requirement

Limit on Number of Application Submissions

D. Application and Submission Information

What an Application Should Include

How To Apply

E. Application Review Information

Selection Criteria

Review Process

F. Federal Award Administration Information

Federal Award Notices

Administrative, National Policy, and other Legal Requirements

General Information about Post-Federal Award Reporting Requirements

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact(s)

H. Other Information

Provide Feedback to OJP

Application Checklist

Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program

(CFDA #16.817)

A. Program Description

Overview Healthy, vibrant communities are places that provide the opportunities, resources, and an environment that children and adults need to maximize their life outcomes, including high-quality schools and cradle-to-career educational programs; high-quality and affordable housing; thriving commercial establishments; access to quality health care and health services; art and cultural amenities; parks and other recreational spaces; and the safety to take advantage of these opportunities. Unfortunately, millions of Americans live in distressed communities2 where a combination of crime, poverty, unemployment, poor health, struggling schools, inadequate housing, and disinvestment keep many residents from reaching their full potential. Research suggests that crime clustered in small areas, or crime “hot spots,” accounts for a disproportionate amount of crime and disorder in many communities. The complexity of these issues has led to the emergence of comprehensive place-based and community-oriented initiatives that involve service providers from multiple sectors, as well as community representatives from all types of organizations, to work together to reduce and prevent crime and to revitalize communities.

In many ways, community safety and crime prevention are prerequisites to the transformation of distressed communities, including the revitalization of civic engagement. Addressing community safety is the role of criminal justice agencies, the community, and its partners as a whole. To improve and revitalize communities, all relevant stakeholders should be included: law enforcement and criminal justice, education, housing, health and human services, community and faith-based non-profits, local volunteers, residents, and businesses.

Given the significant needs and limited resources of some of these communities, local and tribal leaders need tools and information about crime trends in their jurisdiction and assistance in assessing, planning, and implementing the most effective use of criminal justice resources to address these issues. The criminal justice field has been creating new evidence-informed and evidence-based strategies designed to prevent and deter future crime in hot spots.

This program is funded pursuant to the “Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015” under the Edward Byrne Memorial criminal justice innovation program appropriation (P.L. 113-235).The Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) program was created as part of a larger, interagency effort across multiple federal agencies to assist distressed communities to both build capacity and revitalize neighborhoods. For more details on these interagency programs, see the section titled “How does BCJI fit within larger place-based and neighborhood revitalization efforts across federal agencies?” on page 7.

2 A distressed community or neighborhood is one with hot spots of high crime (overall or types of crime) combined with other key features that may affect a community’s capacity to deter crime including concentrated poverty, high unemployment, low performing schools, and limited infrastructure such as housing, social services, and business.

Program-Specific Information

Why focus on place-based crime strategies?

While overall crime levels are at a 30-year low, some jurisdictions still experience increases in overall crime or specific types of crime. In some urban places, for example, a disproportionate amount of all crime jurisdiction-wide occurs in “microplaces” (a city block or even smaller). In urban, rural, and tribal communities, small geographic areas can drive large proportions of calls for service and crime incidents (in urban areas, as much as 30 to 80 percent). Moreover, crime in these hot spots can be very stable over time, creating an opportunity to prevent crime by focusing on these locations.

While crime hot spots can be disbursed throughout a jurisdiction, they can also be concentrated in communities that are poor, have a limited infrastructure of affordable housing and retail, lack strong schools, and suffer from a shortage of effective community-based organizations to provide needed human services. These communities may also have high numbers of residents on community supervision from the courts or prison, at-risk youth, and people engaged with behavioral health and social services agencies.

Place-based initiatives can strengthen the capacity of residents and organizations so that they are able to implement comprehensive strategies to revitalize an entire neighborhood or community to create lasting change for its residents. In rural and tribal communities as well, place-based work brings critical resources and capacity to places that often lack information and resources to advance their shared priorities. These efforts also create new opportunities for alignment across institutions and governments, including federal and local agencies, tribes, the private sector, philanthropic and non-profit organizations, and across issue areas including crime, housing, health, education, workforce development, transportation, and business.

Why focus on community-oriented crime strategies?

A critical pillar of the BCJI Program is neighborhood empowerment. Community-oriented approaches build trust, facilitate a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources, enhance the community’s perception of the fairness and effectiveness of policies and interventions, and increase the willingness of the community and those in the criminal justice system to comply with the social mores in the community. Implementing these approaches without strong community collaboration will likely be unsuccessful and may overlook a community or neighborhood’s unique needs and challenges as well as the ability to develop and implement sustainable change. Community leaders and residents are often in the best position to motivate, implement, and sustain change over time; therefore, applications should be developed in close collaboration with community members to build community support for community needs as they evolve over time and indicate how community residents will be involved as full partners throughout the project.

How can research and data aid place-based crime strategies?

Research has shown that the development of researcher-practitioner partnerships is an effective evidence-based practice for providing practitioners with the skills and tools to create proven, yet practical solutions to their criminal justice problems (Latessa, 2004; Gerardi and Wolff, 2008; Bradley and Nixon, 2009). In BJA's Strategic Plan (2013-2016), there is a clear focus to support the integration of evidence-based, research-driven strategies into the day-to-day operations of and in the programs BJA supports. In recent years, BJA has developed a "Smart Suite” of programs that promote and require a strategic partnerships between criminal justice practitioners and local research partners to identify and select the most effective strategies to reduce and prevent crime. This model is evident in the following BJA supported programs: Project Safe Neighborhoods, Smart Policing, Smart Prosecution, Smart Pretrial, Smart Supervision, and BCJI.

The last two decades have seen the development of new evidence-based, place-based strategies that target crime hot spots through enhanced law enforcement strategies and complementary approaches designed to address a community’s capacity to prevent and deter crime.3 At the same time, community-oriented approaches such as Weed and Seed, community policing, and community prosecution have made collaboration with community residents and leaders a priority, building trust and information sharing, enhancing the perception of the community about the fairness and effectiveness of the interventions, and increasing the willingness of community residents to comply with informal social controls in the community.

The criminal justice field has led efforts to create and test new community-based collaborations that address criminogenic risk factors4 through problem-solving courts like community courts, community corrections and diversion programs, and community-based offender reentry strategies. Making it physically more difficult for crime to occur by addressing physical conditions that increase risk can be very effective, using crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED5), related civil legal strategies such as code enforcement and civil nuisance laws to prevent or reduce crime or problems that impact quality of life,6 and community revitalization. See page 10 for a list of resources for finding evidence-based strategies for crime reduction.

What is capacity and how does it fit within the BCJI approach?

The BCJI approach assumes that responsibility for community safety and revitalization belongs to all stakeholders, including community members, service agencies, and government.

Therefore, the overall strategy should include all key stakeholders in the problem-solving process and there must be basic capacity to engage community-based partners, community leaders, and residents to collaborate in addressing the priority crime issue identified.

Community capacity is the ability to mobilize collective action toward defined community goals.

This capacity can be developed through the cultivation of relationships among residents, community organizations, and institutions. The capacity of organizations and cross-sector partnerships is defined as the ability to bring stakeholders together to exchange ideas, jointly plan, and collaborate in actions intended to increase safety and strengthen the community.

3 Law enforcement strategies such as Hot Spots Policing, CeaseFire, Project Safe Neighborhoods, Drug Market

Intervention, and Problem Oriented Policing have built on data-driven problem-solving combined with tactical enforcement to address high-risk offenders and crime. Some of these strategies have also employed community engagement efforts.

4 Criminogenic risk factors are 1) anti-social personality, 2) anti-social attitudes and values, 3) anti-social associates,

4) family dysfunction, 5) poor self-control, 6) poor problem-solving skills, 7) substance abuse, and 8) lack of employment and/or employment skills.

5 CPTED emphasizes the proper design and effective use of a created environment to reduce crime and enhance the quality of life.

6 Related civil legal remedies might include enforcement of nuisance and drug abatement laws to address problem properties using creative strategies like eviction, land/property use laws, improvements, and tenant screening by the neighborhood association; use of restraining orders to combat batterers, gangs, or delinquent youth; enforcing local ordinances through injunctions against loitering and gang member congregations; and banning of drug paraphernalia, billboards, and spray paint. The use of planning principles including CPTED in connection with these legal tools and technology can provide powerful ways to discourage a range of criminal activity from assaults to drug dealing. Joint community-criminal justice problem solving and communication of community expectations can result in improvement to health and safety violations, enforced clean-up and upkeep of blighted properties, eviction of problem tenants, and improved property management, with a resulting efficiency in crime abatement.

Communities without the capacity to cultivate cross-sector partnerships, engage community residents, and/or identify a public safety related problem within that community should consider applying for other grant programs and/or accessing training and technical resources, including the Building Neighborhood Capacity Resource Center.

How does BCJI fit within larger place-based and neighborhood revitalization efforts across federal agencies?

The federal government funds numerous crime, affordable housing, health, cradle-to-career education, and community and economic development initiatives through an array of programs.

Through coordinated federal support, there are growing interagency efforts to align a comprehensive range of federal programs across several agencies, including Departments of Education (ED), Justice, Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Agriculture (USDA), Interior, and Treasury to both build capacity and revitalize the nation’s most distressed communities.

Due to similarities in geographic targets and the inextricable link between housing, education, health, economic development, and public safety, applicants should develop a plan to coordinate BCJI with other existing community and regional revitalization efforts—such as ED’s Promise Neighborhoods,7 HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods,8 USDA’s Stronger Economies Together (SET) regions, and/or HHS’s Community Health Center9 grants, or Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI)10 funds, or a Promise Zone’s11 designation—whenever these resources are directed to locations proposed to be targeted with a grant under this solicitation.

For current and future Promise Zones designees and partner organizations, please reference the “What an Application Should Include section” item #7 Additional Attachments for further guidance on certification forms.

Applicants are also encouraged to go to the BJA web site for potential resources to support community safety goals, including grants and training and technical assistance (TTA).

Consistent with this approach, wherever possible and appropriate, applicants should partner (by braiding funding streams, contributing to policy development, etc.) with organizations engaged in revitalization of other community assets. These coordinated efforts should result in the strategic investment of resources into the following key assets:

a. Developmental assets that allow residents to attain the skills needed to be successful in all aspects of life (e.g., educational institutions, early learning centers, and health resources);

b. Commercial assets associated with production, employment, transactions, and sales

(e.g., labor force and retail establishments);

7 For more information, go to www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/index.html.

8 For more information, go to portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/cn.

9 For more information, go to www.bphc.hrsa.gov/about/index.html.

10 For more information, go to www.cdfifund.gov.

11 For more information, go to www.hudexchange.info/promise-zones/ http://www.buildingcommunitycapacity.org/ https://www.bja.gov/ http://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/index.html http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/cn http://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/index.html http://www.cdfifund.gov/ https://www.hudexchange.info/promise-zones/

c. Recreational assets that create value in a neighborhood beyond work and education (e.g., parks, open space, arts organizations, restaurants, movie theatres, and athletic facilities);

d. Physical assets associated with the built environment and physical infrastructure (e.g., housing, commercial buildings, roads, sidewalks, and bike paths); and

e. Social assets that establish well-functioning social interactions (e.g., criminal justice, juvenile justice, and community engagement).

Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables The goal of BCJI is to reduce crime and improve community safety as part of a comprehensive strategy to advance neighborhood revitalization. Through a broad cross-sector partnership team, including neighborhood residents, BCJI grantees target neighborhoods with hot spots of violent and serious crime and employ data-driven, cross-sector strategies to reduce crime and violence.

Since its launch in FY 2012, the BCJI program—and the TTA to support the model—has been developed around four core objectives:

1. Place-based strategy: To better integrate crime control efforts with revitalization strategies Efforts to reduce crime are rooted in broader revitalization activities in recognition of the inextricable link between housing, education, health, economic development, and public safety. BCJI sites target a specific geographic area within a community with high levels of crime or types of crime in order to most effectively direct resources and to positively influence multiple social disorganization factors such as concentration of high-risk residents, limited infrastructure, and collective efficacy of community and physical conditions.

2. Data-driven: To improve the use of data and research to problem solve and guide program strategy Every BCJI site is working with a local researcher or research team to conduct a broad examination of the drivers of crime around hot spots, and then to consider appropriate evidence based or innovative strategies to address these drivers.

Local researcher-practitioner partnerships can help a community assess program implementation and intended program impacts as well as assess gaps in services, strategies, and partners.

NOTE: To continue to add to the knowledge base about what works in crime prevention and reduction, contingent upon the availability of funding, BJA plans to evaluate a small number of the grantee sites to enhance knowledge about program effectiveness. Applicants should be prepared to cooperate in an evaluation of their BCJI project efforts if selected.

3. Community-Oriented: To increase community and resident engagement in shaping crime prevention and revitalization efforts BCJI champions the role that residents and neighbors play in keeping communities safe, and highlights the importance of building collective efficacy and trust of law enforcement to enhance community safety in the long term. To catalyze and sustain change, there must be active involvement and leadership of neighborhood residents throughout the revitalization process. Understanding residents’ views of neighborhood change is critical. Engaging in community-oriented strategies should be driven by local data and needs, and address critical issues comprehensively.

4. Partnerships and Capacity Building: To promote sustainable collaboration with cross-sector partners to tackle problems from multiple angles

Partners including individual leaders, organizations and agencies from criminal justice, social service and community development arenas are working together in BCJI to investigate crime drivers, select appropriate strategies, and implement responses.

Developing these capabilities of a cross-sector partnership as well as the community should be a key strategy of organizations pursuing comprehensive revitalization.12 Applicants should have a demonstrated commitment and capacity to form partnerships and work collaboratively, and ensure community members have the right knowledge and skills to contribute meaningfully, even if they face ongoing challenges in their attempts to identify crime issues and develop a targeted strategy to address those issues.

To ensure effectiveness in achieving program goals and objectives, current and future BCJI grantees work closely with BJA and BJA’s competitively selected TTA partner (currently the Local Initiatives Support Corporation) to participate in information sharing sessions, facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges of information, and administer subject matter expertise that is relevant to BCJI neighborhood efforts.

The BCJI TTA coordinator provides various templates and guidance to assist BCJI sites with achieving grant planning and implementation efforts. Specific guidance on project deliverables, implementation plans, suggested project milestones, and sample work plans are available at:

www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_planning_an d_implementation_guide.php.

For more information on LISC and current BCJI grantees, a map of site locations, resources, and tools, visit: www.lisc.org/BCJI.

Specific information about expected deliverables are outlined in the “Federal Award Administration Information” section below, outlined by category of funding.

Evidence-Based Programs or Practices OJP strongly emphasizes the use of data and evidence in policy making and program development in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. OJP is committed to:

Improving the quantity and quality of evidence OJP generates

Integrating evidence into program, practice, and policy decisions within OJP and the field

Improving the translation of evidence into practice

OJP considers programs and practices to be evidence-based when their effectiveness has been demonstrated by causal evidence, generally obtained through one or more outcome

12 As stated on page 6, community capacity is the ability to mobilize collective action toward defined community goals. The capacity of organizations and cross-sector partnerships is the ability to bring residents and stakeholders together to exchange ideas, jointly plan, and collaborate in actions intended to increase safety and strengthen the community.

http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_planning_and_implementation_guide.php http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_planning_and_implementation_guide.php http://www.lisc.org/BCJI evaluations. Causal evidence documents a relationship between an activity or intervention (including technology) and its intended outcome, including measuring the direction and size of a change, and the extent to which a change may be attributed to the activity or intervention. Causal evidence depends on the use of scientific methods to rule out, to the extent possible, alternative explanations for the documented change. The strength of causal evidence, based on the factors described above, will influence the degree to which OJP considers a program or practice to be evidence-based. The OJP CrimeSolutions.gov web site is one resource that applicants may use to find information about evidence-based programs in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services.

Helpful Resources: Finding Evidence-Based Strategies for Crime Reduction, Including Examples of Successful Research-Practitioner Collaborations in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Communities Resources about evidence-based practices include OJP’s CrimeSolutions.gov web site in addition to several other web sites that offer examples of research-based practices and programs, and training to support local researcher-practitioner partnerships.

Bureau of Justice Assistance

Research Reviews: www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=70

Smart Policing Initiative web site: www.smartpolicinginitiative.com/

Police Quarterly, Special Issue: Smart Policing http://pqx.sagepub.com/content/16/3.toc

What Works in Reentry Clearinghouse: http://whatworks.csgjusticecenter.org/

Promise Zones

Resources for Rural and Tribal Communities: www.hudexchange.info/promise-zones/rural-tribal

Tribal Resources

Office of Tribal Justice, DOJ: www.justice.gov/otj

Center for Court Innovation Tribal Justice: www.courtinnovation.org/topic/tribal-justice

National Institute of Justice

Findings from a Researcher‐Practitioner Partnerships Study www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/243911.pdf

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office:

Center for Problem Oriented Policing (POP), POP Guides: www.popcenter.org/guides/

George Mason University, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy http://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/

Michigan State University

Project Safe Neighborhoods www.psnmsu.com/psn-resources/ o Research Partner Orientation Course Resource List o Identifying and Working with a Research Partner Q & A

The Police Foundation www.policefoundation.org/

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) http://www.crimesolutions.gov/ http://www.crimesolutions.gov/ http://www.bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_ID=70 http://www.smartpolicinginitiative.com/ http://pqx.sagepub.com/content/16/3.toc http://whatworks.csgjusticecenter.org/ https://www.hudexchange.info/promise-zones/rural-tribal https://www.hudexchange.info/promise-zones/rural-tribal http://www.justice.gov/otj http://www.courtinnovation.org/topic/tribal-justice http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/243911.pdf http://www.popcenter.org/guides/ http://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/ http://www.psnmsu.com/psn-resources/ http://www.policefoundation.org/ www.samhsa.gov/ebpwebguide/

B. Federal Award Information

BJA solicits applications in two categories: 1) Planning, and 2) Implementation. Under Category 1, BJA estimates that it will make up to 15 awards of up to $175,000 each for up to an 18-month project period, beginning on October 1, 2015. Under Category 2, BJA estimates that it will make up to 3 awards of up $1,000,000 for up to a 36-month project period, beginning on October 1, 2015.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and to any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Please note: At this time, there are no exclusions or specific eligibility requirements for either of these two categories. As the Planning category was new in FY 2014, BJA is still growing the pool of BCJI Planning only grantees.

In future years, depending upon the availability of funding, BJA may include specific eligibility requirements for different categories. For example, if funding is available, a future solicitation may include an Implementation category to which eligible applicants may only be previous recipients of a BCJI Planning grant. For the FY 2015 solicitation, the decision to apply to either category is a local decision but the below clarifications are meant to assist jurisdictions in making that decision.

The purpose of the Planning category is to provide critical resources to communities who need assistance in pursuing, building, and convening appropriate stakeholders, along with community residents, and a research partner or team, to collect and analyze data to design and complete a strategic, collaborative, and community-oriented plan to reduce crime in a target neighborhood or community.

The purpose of the Implementation category is to provide critical resources to communities that have well established, cross sector partnerships in place, have begun or been engaged in strategic planning for improving community safety within a neighborhood or community, and have access to a range of data to understand crime drivers within the specific target area.

In addition to peer review ratings, considerations for award recommendations and decisions may include, but are not limited to, types of crime addressed, underserved populations, geographic diversity, strategic priorities including Promise Zones designations, NRI13 (Promise, Choice, Community Health Centers), sustainability, past performance, and available funding.

Under BOTH categories, with a broad cross-sector partnership team, including residents, BCJI applicants will target communities with a concentration of chronic hot spots of violent and serious crime and employ data-driven, cross-sector strategies (enforcement, prevention, and intervention) to reduce crime and violence. Spearheaded by the fiscal agent, the cross-sector partnership team must include law enforcement, neighborhood residents, a local

13 See page 7 for a discussion of these programs and links to federal program web sites.

http://www.samhsa.gov/ebpwebguide/ research partner or research team14, and relevant community stakeholders. The crime issue(s) must represent a significant proportion of crime or type of crime within the larger community or jurisdiction.

In addition to the above, to achieve BCJI program goals and objectives, successful applications must commit to accomplishing the following:

1) Work closely with the BCJI TTA provider to plan and/or implement (dependent upon category of funding) a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to address issues that relate to the crime issues identified, including neighborhood revitalization.

2) Ensure that community residents are full partners in the process and offer ongoing community engagement and leadership building support.

3) Collaborate with local law enforcement and a research partner/team to conduct an analysis of crime drivers and an assessment of needs and available resources.15

4) Establish effective partnerships both to provide solutions and commit resources to sustain what works.

To achieve BCJI program goals and objectives, the fiscal agent must commit to accomplishing the following:

1) Ensure meaningful engagement of residents and other partners, including coordination in the development or implementation of a comprehensive and coordinated strategic plan.

2) Demonstrate commitment of the partners, including the local law enforcement agency and a research partner or team, to support the data collection and analysis throughout the life of the grant.16

3) Demonstrate ability to coordinate and collaborate among service providers (e.g., by the formation of a diverse advisory board or cross-sector partnership team to address an identified problem).

4) Facilitate, as appropriate, collaboration with relevant local, state, or federal initiatives (e.g., National Youth Forum, Project Safe Neighborhoods, Promise Zones, anti-gang programs, or other neighborhood revitalization programs) located in, adjacent, or overlapping the jurisdiction that addresses issues that relate to the crime issues identified.

5) Support the planning and sustainment of the program through proactive program management tied to rigorous research and data analysis, program assessment, and leverage other funding and resources.

Category 1: Planning Grant. Competition ID: BJA-2015-4096 BJA estimates that it will make up to 15 awards of up to $175,000 each for up to an 18-month project period, beginning on October 1, 2015.

14 Both BJA and the BCJI TTA partner will provide existing and new BCJI grantees with tools, trainings, and resources that define researcher roles and responsibilities and demonstrate the value of these partnerships. See page10 for some examples of the current resources.

15 Both BJA and the BCJI TTA partner will provide existing and new BCJI grantees with tools, trainings, and resources that define researcher roles and responsibilities and demonstrate the value of these partnerships. See page 10 for some examples of the current resources.

16 Documentation should include signed agreements or memoranda of understanding, detailing roles and responsibilities for these partners.

Applicants will design and complete a strategic, collaborative, and community-oriented plan to reduce crime in a target neighborhood or community. Applicants will use planning funds to:

Identify, verify, and prioritize crime hot spots within identified neighborhood Work with cross-sector partners/management team to develop a strategy, drawing on a continuum of approaches to address crime drivers.

Pursue community partnerships and leadership, building support to ensure the community and residents are active in the process.

Collaborate regularly with local law enforcement, a research partner or research team, and the community to conduct analysis of crime drivers and an assessment of needs and available resources.

Support planning and proactive outreach to garner new and/or leverage resources or funding, necessary to implement strategies identified in the strategic plan.

Category 1 deliverables:

Develop a comprehensive strategic plan to reduce crime in the identified neighborhood or community. The strategic plan is a narrative report that includes the analysis and methodology findings, in addition to a plan articulating a range of strategies that the BCJI cross sector partners plan to pursue.

Identify and complete an early action project. An early action project can be any activity that helps to build confidence among community members and other partners in the BCJI process and that illustrates the kind of neighborhood or community improvements that could be achieved through the BCJI process and beyond.

Examples of early action projects may include, but are not limited to: community clean-ups, block parties or a community festival, an art/mural project, creating a place for community interaction and youth engagement, or improving lighting around a hot spot.

Other examples that might be effective in Indian Country would include consultation with tribal elders in the development of the plan or incorporating tribal culture or traditional art methods in an art or mural project. More examples of similar type of smaller action or learn while doing projects can be found on the LISC BCJI web site or in the Building Neighborhood Capacity program resource center.

To assist with completion of Category 1 Planning deliverables, grantees will receive intensive technical assistance from the BCJI TTA provider and will be required to complete and participate in any needs assessment processes and development of logic models or work plans and/or planning tools, provided by the BJA TTA provider. These activities will guide each grantee in developing a strategic plan that incorporates resident input and evidence-based or data driven programs, policies, and practices. Please view the LISC Planning and Implementation Guide to read about suggested project milestones and timelines to assist grantees with conducting planning activities and preparing their strategic plans.

Funds awarded under Category 1 in this solicitation are for planning purposes only, and may not be used for implementation (with the exception of the early action projects, since they are designed to support the community engagement and planning strategies). Category 1 grantees will receive intensive technical assistance from BJA’s selected TTA provider to support their planning efforts and completion of grant deliverables.

http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/where_is_it_happening/index.php http://www.buildingcommunitycapacity.org/tools http://www.buildingcommunitycapacity.org/tools http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_planning_and_implementation_guide.php http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_planning_and_implementation_guide.php

Category 2: Implementation Grant (with Required Planning Phase). Competition ID: BJA- 2015-4097 BJA estimates that it will make up to 3 awards of up $1,000,000 for up to a 36-month project period, beginning on October 1, 2015.

Applicants will complete a new strategic, collaborative, and community-oriented plan to reduce crime in a target neighborhood and then begin implementation of the plan during the project period. Applicants should view the BCJI Planning and Implementation Guide for more specific and detailed guidance on suggested project milestones and timelines to assist grantees with conducting planning activities and preparing their implementation plans.

Applicants will use Implementation funds to:

1. Engage in a required 9 to 12 month planning phase to:

Identify, verify, and prioritize crime hot spots within the identified neighborhood.

Work with cross-sector partners and management team to develop a strategy, drawing on a continuum of approaches to address crime drivers.

Pursue community partnerships and leadership, building support to ensure the community is active in the process.

Collaborate regularly with local law enforcement, a research partner, and the community to conduct analysis of crime drivers and an assessment of needs and available resources.

Develop a comprehensive implementation plan to reduce crime in the identified neighborhood or community that includes the analysis and methodology findings and a plan that articulates the range of strategies that the BCJI cross sector partners plan to pursue.

2. Upon completion of the planning phase, engage in an implementation phase to:

Convene regular, ongoing meetings with cross-sector partners and management team;

Share regular input/discussions with research partner and assess program implementation;

Modify strategies, as appropriate;

Identify and develop a sustainability strategy for longer term implementation of BCJI program core principles;

Build capacity of cross-sector management team to continue to coordinate research.

Category 2 Implementation deliverables

Completion and submission of Implementation plan to BJA TTA provider and BJA.

As previously described, at the completion of the planning phase, Category 2 grantees must submit an Implementation for approval to BJA. The process for submitting this plan is described below and through guidance from the BJA TTA provider here.

Produce a final written summary report that outlines the collaborative process undertaken and describes results and lessons learned.

Separate from the Implementation plan which is submitted to BJA, Category 2 grantees must produce a final written summary report outlining the project’s goals, challenges, and achievements so as to share findings and lessons learned with the broader criminal justice and community development fields. While there may be some support from the http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_solicitation_guidance.php http://www.lisc.org/csi/byrne_criminal_justice_innovation_(bcji)/bcji_news_&_events/bcji_solicitation_guidance.php

BJA TTA provider to assist sites with completion of these reports, applicants should describe how they plan to prepare and produce this report regardless of TTA support.

To assist with completion of the Category 2 Implementation deliverable, grantees will receive intensive technical assistance from the BCJI TTA provider and will be required to complete and participate in any needs assessment processes, development of logic models or work plans, and/or planning tools, provided by the BJA TTA provider. These activities will guide each grantee in developing an implementation plan that incorporates resident input and evidence-based or data driven programs, policies, and practices.

Special Withholding Condition for Category 2 Implementation Awards ONLY During the planning phase, Implementation grantees will only have access to funds of up to $150,000 of the total award for planning activities.

Category 2 Implementation Timeline for Project Activities Allotting time to convene all cross sector partners, collect and analyze a broad range of data, and obtain resident input is critical to the BCJI program. Therefore, the planning phase must last a minimum of 9 to 12 months.

Implementation plans must be approved by BJA in writing (in consultation with the TTA provider), in order for the grantees to begin their implementation phase and gain access to the remainder of grant funds. Grantees will have the opportunity to provide additional feedback, clarification, and data regarding their implementation plans, if requested by BJA and/or the TTA provider. However, applicants should be aware that if, after a reasonable exchange of information and feedback occurs, an implementation plan may not receive BJA approval, and grantees therefore may not receive access to the remaining grant funds for implementation or an extension of their grant award.

During review of the Implementation plan, grantees will have an opportunity to address any issues or concerns in the revised implementation strategy. In this strategy, grantees must ensure that the core elements of BCJI are in place; that they have collected appropriate data;

and that there is a strong research or evidence base for proposed place-based programs or interventions.

Type of Award17 BJA expects that it will make any award from this solicitation in the form of a grant.

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls If selected for funding, the award recipient must:

(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the federal award in compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

17 See generally 31 U.S.C. §§ 6301-6305 (defines and describes various forms of federal assistance relationships, including grants and cooperative agreements (a type of grant)).

(b) Comply with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the federal awards.

(c) Evaluate and monitor the non-federal entity's compliance with statute, regulations and the terms and conditions of federal awards.

(d) Take prompt action when instances of noncompliance are identified including noncompliance identified in audit findings.

(e) Take reasonable measures to safeguard protected personally identifiable information and other information the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity designates as sensitive or the non-federal entity considers sensitive consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding privacy and obligations of confidentiality.

In order to better understand administrative requirements and cost principles, award applicants are encouraged to enroll, at no charge, in the Department of Justice Grants Financial Management Online Training available here.

Budget Information

Cost Sharing or Match Requirement This solicitation does not require a match. However, if a successful application proposes a voluntary match amount, and OJP approves the budget, the total match amount incorporated into the approved budget becomes mandatory and subject to audit.

Pre-Agreement Cost Approvals OJP does not typically approve pre-agreement costs; an applicant must request and obtain the prior written approval of OJP for all such costs. If approved, pre-agreement costs could be paid from grant funds consistent with a grantee’s approved budget, and under applicable cost standards. However, all such costs prior to award and prior to approval of the costs are incurred at the sole risk of an applicant. Generally, no applicant should incur project costs before submitting an application requesting federal funding for those costs. Should there be extenuating circumstances that appear to be appropriate for OJP’s consideration as pre-agreement costs, the applicant should contact the point of contact listed on the title page of this announcement for details on the requirements for submitting a written request for approval. See the section on Costs Requiring Prior Approval in the Financial Guide, for more information.

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver With respect to any award of more than $250,000 made under this solicitation, recipients may not use federal funds to pay total cash compensation (salary plus cash bonuses) to any employee of the award recipient at a rate that exceeds 110 percent of the maximum annual salary payable to a member of the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service (SES) at an agency with a Certified SES Performance Appraisal System for that year.18 The 2015 salary table for SES employees is available on the Office of Personnel Management web site.