oppBJA-2018-13609-cfda16.817-instructions.pdf

OMB No. 1121-0329 Approval Expires 11/30/2020

U.S. Department of Justice 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 for the Innovations in Community-Based Crime Reduction Program (CBCR). This program furthers the Department’s mission by leading efforts to enhance the capacity of local and tribal communities to effectively target and address significant and violent crime issues in distressed, high-crime neighborhoods through collaborative cross-sector approaches that are linked with broader neighborhood development goals. The CBCR program is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Suite of programs, which is focused on reducing violent crime.

Innovations in Community-Based Crime Reduction Program (CBCR)1

FY 2018 Competitive Grant Announcement Applications Due: April 30, 2018

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are limited to states, institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education), units of local government, nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit organizations), and federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior) as fiscal agent.2

CBCR resources are targeted specifically at persistently distressed neighborhoods that face significant violent and serious crime challenges. Applicants should understand that the range of strategies that are a part of the CBCR model may require resources outside the Bureau of Justice Assistance. It is expected that applicants should leverage other resources to support and sustain the effort. This may include federal and local funding for expenses not allowable or within the scope of the CBCR program.3

For this solicitation, community is defined broadly as a geographic area that has social meaning for its 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

1 The CBCR program is a new name for the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program.

2 For this solicitation, the terms “fiscal agent” and “applicant” are used interchangeably.

3 More details on these types of expenses are outlined on pages 16-18.

http://www.usdoj.gov/ http://www.ojp.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/ physical topography. In urban areas, a community is typically fewer than two miles wide, while in rural and tribal areas it is often larger and part of an entire county.4

The CBCR application requires a consortium of criminal justice, community, and/or human service partners (hereinafter referred to as “cross-sector partnership”) to plan and implement a targeted strategy addressing violent and serious crime in a specific community. The cross-sector partnership must designate one eligible entity to serve as the fiscal agent.5 The fiscal agent is an active partner providing grant oversight and accountability and must be able to hire a full-time coordinator; the fiscal agent will ensure that the cross-sector partnership is committed to and can successfully oversee key enforcement, prevention, intervention, research and analysis, and community engagement strategies with regular input from the law enforcement agency partner(s).

Please see page 8 for the specific responsibilities and requirements of the fiscal agent’s role.

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

Attorney and local policymakers and to connect with their other violent crime and community revitalization efforts.

All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or management fee.

BJA may elect to fund applications submitted under this FY 2018 solicitation in future fiscal years, dependent on, among other considerations, the merit of the applications and on the availability of appropriations.

Deadline

Applicants must register with Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html prior to submitting an application. All applications are due by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on April 30, 2018.

To be considered timely, an application must be submitted by the application deadline using Grants.gov, and the applicant must have received a validation message from Grants.gov that indicates successful and timely submission. OJP urges applicants to submit applications at least 72 hours prior to the application due date, to allow time for the applicant to receive validation messages or rejection notifications from Grants.gov, and to correct in a timely fashion any problems that may have caused a rejection notification.

OJP encourages all applicants 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.

4 The CBCR Program understands that there is little research and evaluation of “hot spots” policing theory in rural and tribal areas; through the CBCR Program, BJA seeks to build and contribute to the criminal justice knowledge base on how to employ effective place-based strategies in rural and tribal environments, and encourages these jurisdictions to apply.

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

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https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Grants-govInfo.htm

Contact Information

For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800–518–4726, 606–545–5035, at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html, or at support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays.

An applicant that experiences unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond its control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must email the contact identified below within 24 hours after the application deadline to request approval to submit its application after the deadline. Additional information on reporting technical issues appears under “Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues” in the How To Apply section.

For assistance with any unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond an applicant’s control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline, or any other requirement of this solicitation, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center:

toll-free at 800–851–3420; via TTY at 301–240–6310 (hearing impaired only); email grants@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 solicitation: BJA-2018-13609

Release date: March 13, 2018

BJA-2018-13609

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html mailto:support@grants.gov mailto:grants@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 Information Regarding Potential Evaluation of Programs and Activities……………………….14

B. Federal Award Information

Type of Award

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls

Budget Information

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Pre-agreement Costs (also known as Pre-award Costs)

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 D. Application and Submission Information

What an Application Should Include

How To Apply E. Application Review Information

Review 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

Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552 and 5 U.S.C. 552a)

Provide Feedback to OJP

Appendix: Application Checklist

BJA-2018-13609

Innovations in Community-Based Crime Reduction Program (CBCR)

CFDA # 16.817

A. Program Description

Overview

This program focuses on high crime communities with concentrated distress and hot spots of crime and directly supports the Department’s priorities to reduce violent crime (sometimes associated with gang activity), assist communities struggling with drug abuse, and support law enforcement officers by integrating officers and enforcement strategies into community-based crime reduction efforts.

Unfortunately, many Americans live in high crime, distressed communities6 where a combination of poverty, unemployment, poor health, struggling schools, inadequate housing, and disinvestment keeps many residents from reaching their full potential. Addressing crime and safety is a shared role among criminal justice agencies, their partners as a whole, and the community. To increase public safety and reduce crime, all relevant stakeholders7 should regularly convene to both plan and implement a broad set of crime reduction strategies that are focused on where and why crime is most occurring.

The CBCR Program resources are focused on the who and the why in specific places within these communities; the CBCR model fosters a sustainable model to achieve crime reduction through a broad cross sector partnership approach, linked with local revitalization efforts. While law enforcement’s mission is to protect and serve communities, they cannot do so alone, and the CBCR program acknowledges the necessity of critical partnerships and the expertise that is needed from other partners in the criminal justice system, the community, and service providers to be effective in long-term crime reduction.

The CBCR Program is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Suite of programs, which is focused on reducing violent crime. The PSN Suite comprises PSN, Strategies for Policing Innovation, Innovative Prosecution Solutions, Crime Gun Intelligence Centers, National Public Safety Partnerships, Technology Innovation for Public Safety, Encouraging Innovation: Field Initiated, Innovations in Community-Based Crime Reduction, and Community-Based Violence Prevention Demonstration, and these initiatives will coordinate proactively with the PSN team in the respective district of the United States Attorney Office (USAO) to enhance collaboration and strengthen the commitment to reducing violent crime. Applicants must demonstrate this coordination with their USAO district PSN team in their submission.

6 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 ability to deter crime including concentrated poverty, high unemployment, high levels of residents under criminal supervision, low performing schools, and limited infrastructure such as housing, social services, and business.

7 Stakeholders include: law enforcement and criminal justice practitioners (such as prosecutors, defense, pretrial, corrections and reentry agencies), education, housing, city attorneys, health and human services, community and faith-based nonprofits, local volunteers, residents, and businesses.

Statutory Authority: Any awards under this solicitation would be made under statutory authority provided by a full-year appropriations act for FY 2018. As of the writing of this solicitation, the Department of Justice is operating under a short-term continuing resolution; no full-year appropriation for the Department has been enacted for FY 2018.

Program-Specific Information Research from the last 20 years8 suggests that crime clustered in small areas, or crime “hot spots,” accounts for a disproportionate amount of crime and disorder in many communities. New research on the effectiveness of hot spots policing continues to emerge; specifically how this approach impacts crime reduction as a result of police investigations in “violence-facilitating place networks,"9 as well as research examining the impact of the type of hot spots policing (collaborative problem solving vs. directed patrol vs. standard police practices) on police engagement with community residents.10 Research also reinforces that, in some communities, there is a significant percentage of residents who are under criminal supervision or returning from correctional facilities, creating opportunities for community-based, proactive approaches to prevent recidivism. The complexity of these issues has led to the emergence of comprehensive place-based and community-oriented initiatives, like CBCR, to better support law enforcement, prosecutors, other criminal justice partners, service providers, and community representatives to work together to reduce and prevent crime and to revitalize communities.

Why focus on crime and place?

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 rates in these hot spots, or focus areas, can be very stable over time, creating an opportunity to prevent crime by focusing on these locations. Research on this policing approach in rural and tribal areas is limited and applications that seek to build this knowledge base are encouraged to apply.

Why focus on community-oriented crime strategies?

As previously stated, public safety is a shared responsibility and law enforcement cannot address crime and safety on their own. A critical pillar of the CBCR 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 crime reduction strategies, 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 law enforcement and community collaboration, will likely be unsuccessful and may impact the ability to develop and implement sustainable

8 The first evaluation of the deterrent effects of crime control and hot spots policing was conducted in 1995 by Lawrence Sherman and David Weisburd. See BJA Evaluation scan (2016) for research articles and publications related to the CBCR program model.

9 Police Chief: Research in Brief: Place Based Investigations to Disrupt Crime Place Networks (Tamara Madensen, Maris Herold, Matthew G. Hammer, Blake R. Christenson) http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/research-brief-place-based-investigations/ 10 Journal of Experience Criminology (2017) 13:143-170. Tammy Rinehart Kochel, David Weisburd.

“Assessing community consequences of implementing hot spots policing in residential areas: findings from a randomized field trial.”

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https://www.bja.gov/Funding/BJA-Evaluation-Scan-Initiative_FINAL_2016-Update.pdf http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/research-brief-place-based-investigations/ http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/research-brief-place-based-investigations/ change. Community leaders and residents, alongside the criminal justice system partners, 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 support for community strategies 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?

BJA encourages the development of practitioner-researcher partnerships that use data, evidence, and innovation to create strategies that are effective and economical. This data-driven approach enables jurisdictions to understand the full nature and extent of the crime challenges they are facing and to direct resources to the highest priorities. CBCR represents a strategic approach that leverages innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices with the goal of improving performance and making America safer.

The 2016 BJA Research Scan (CBCR pages 11-16) compiles research and articles on police-research partnerships, effects of hot spots policing on violent crime and crime reduction, the impact of collective efficacy as crime reduction strategy, and more.

What are some of the themes present and common strategies implemented across of CBCR communities as part of a multi-faceted approach?

While each CBCR community is different in its approach, there are common themes faced and similar approaches used to address crime and safety issues. These issues include: addressing violent and gun crime, as well as gang and drug activity; implementing strategies to engage youth (both prevention and education); examining physical conditions that contribute to crime, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) assessments, and review of land use, code enforcement, and nuisance laws; coordinating with development partners and businesses on redevelopment, jobs for residents, and coordination with public housing management;

incorporating community supervision and offender reentry strategies, including individual and family support; building social cohesion and improving collective efficacy among neighborhood partners and residents; and building partnerships not only related to law enforcement and community but prosecutors, defense counsel, city attorneys, and city auditors.

How does CBCR fit within larger place-based efforts across federal agencies?

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 CBCR with other existing community and regional revitalization efforts that may be located in their community—such as ED’s Promise Neighborhoods,11 HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods,12 USDA’s Stronger Economies Together (SET) regions, HHS’s Community Health Center13 grants, and/or Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) 14 funds,—whenever these resources are directed to locations proposed to be targeted with a grant under this solicitation.

Applicants are also encouraged to go to the BJA website or the OJP Diagnostic Center for potential resources to support community safety goals, including grants and training and technical assistance (TTA).

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

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

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

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

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https://www.bja.gov/Funding/BJA-Evaluation-Scan-Initiative_FINAL_2016-Update.pdf https://www.bja.gov/ https://www.ojpdiagnosticcenter.org/ 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/

The Public Safety Partnership clearinghouse offers a broad range of tools, resources, and publications to practitioners seeking effective public safety solutions. It may be helpful to neighborhoods and practitioners engaged in addressing violent crime and for those involved in a capacity building or community change effort specific to public safety and other neighborhood issues. Additionally, the Building Neighborhood Capacity (BNCP) Resource Center provides tools and templates designed to support community capacity building.

In addition to peer review ratings, BJA considerations for award recommendations and decisions may include, but are not limited to: the stated capacity of the fiscal agent to hire a full-time site coordinator and effectively lead CBCR goals and objectives;15 types of crime addressed; geographic diversity; sustainability; past performance; and available funding.

In FY 2018, the CBCR program may give priority consideration to rural jurisdictions facing increases or high sustained levels of Part 1 violent crimes overall or specific crime types such as gang-related criminal activity.

To achieve CBCR Program goals and objectives (described in the next section), the fiscal agent must be an active and engaged leader, playing a critical role in the successful management of a CBCR grant award.

The fiscal agent as a core partner must demonstrate the ability and commitment to accomplishing the following:

• Focus efforts in a neighborhood with a concentration of chronic hot spots of violent and serious crime and/or opioid-related crime.

• Address crime issue(s) that represent a significant proportion of crime or type of crime within the larger community or jurisdiction.

• Demonstrate ability to hire and support a full-time skilled lead site coordinator who will oversee and facilitate coordination and collaboration among criminal justice and service providers. Applicants should consider the time frame needed and ability of the fiscal agent to hire and onboard the site coordinator, as this is a crucial function to facilitate and maintain the CBCR project tasks and timeline. For additional consideration, please view the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’ publication, The CBCR Fiscal Agent.

• Convene, lead, and meaningfully engage a broad cross-sector partnership team that must include law enforcement, other criminal justice partners, neighborhood residents, and relevant community stakeholders. The cross-sector partnership team should have the capacity to conduct the necessary research activities described throughout this grant announcement.

• Demonstrate commitment, and a clear history of partners, to support data collection and analysis throughout the life of the grant.16

• Facilitate, as appropriate, collaboration with relevant local, state, or federal initiatives and resources (e.g., PSN Suite of Programs, Choice Neighborhoods, Promise Neighborhoods, anti-gun and gang programs) located in, adjacent to, or overlapping the jurisdiction that addresses issues that relate to the crime issues identified.

• Employ a range of data-driven, cross-sector strategies (enforcement, prevention, and intervention) connected with revitalization efforts to reduce crime and violence and improve community trust.

15 See list of requirements for fiscal agent on page 12.

16 Please see page 32 for a description of the necessary research activities.

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https://www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org/Clearinghouse https://www.cssp.org/community/neighborhood-investment/place-based-initiatives/building-neighborhood-capacity http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/db/2d/db2dc758-0b68-4835-ad56-12e6c8e7789c/bcji-fiscal_agent_selection_tip_sheet_andtool.pdf

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

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

The CBCR Program approach, and the TTA to support the model, are focused on 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. CBCR 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, collective efficacy, and neighborhood physical conditions. A CBCR publication highlights the connection between crime reduction and revitalization efforts in four previous CBCR communities – Milwaukee, WI; Dayton, OH; Evansville, IL;

and Philadelphia, PA.

2. Community Oriented: To increase community and resident engagement in shaping and sustaining crime prevention and revitalization efforts In CBCR, residents and neighbors are key to keeping communities safe. Increasing community engagement impacts the building of collective efficacy among neighbors and fosters mutual trust between residents and the criminal justice system 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. Community-oriented strategies should be driven by local data and needs, and should address critical issues comprehensively. The fiscal agent should have established relationships in the community, demonstrate a daily presence in the community, and lead the community and resident engagement efforts.

3. Data driven: To improve the use of data and research to problem solve and guide program strategy CBCR sites are strongly encouraged to work with a local researcher or research team to conduct a broad examination of crime drivers in hot spots and then 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.

As discussed throughout this solicitation, BJA believes several core elements must be present for a successful CBCR initiative. BJA expects a commitment by the cross-sector partnership to make organizational or operational changes necessary to sustain the http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/b4/84/b48481ef-5c3f-4597-a757-32f87d442f43/bcji-connecting_crime_reduction_and_neighborhood_revitalization.pdf strategies that are found to be successful in improving community safety, building mutual trust, and revitalizing the neighborhood. Community residents should be engaged actively on the partnership team in using the data to set context and inform priority setting.

4. Partnerships and Capacity Building: To promote sustainable collaboration with cross-sector partners to tackle problems from multiple angles Developing the capabilities of a cross-sector partnership, as well as the community, should be a key strategy of organizations pursuing comprehensive revitalization.17 Applicants should have a demonstrated commitment and capacity to form partnerships and work collaboratively, and should 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.

Applicants will develop and complete a 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 CBCR Planning and Implementation Guide for more specific guidance on suggested project milestones and timelines to assist grantees with conducting planning activities and preparing their implementation plans.

Applicants will use Planning and Implementation funds to:

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

• Pursue community partnerships and leadership that ensures the community is active in the process. To have a fully functioning community partnership, time is needed to engage all residents and community partners, build trust, and seek data and input in the planning phase. Applicants should focus on building strong community engagement strategies and innovative approaches to collecting resident input and context during the planning phase.

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

• Work with cross-sector team and law enforcement partners to develop a multi-faceted strategy, drawing on a continuum of approaches to address crime drivers.

• Complete an early action project in consultation with BJA and the CBCR TTA provider.

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

• Develop a comprehensive implementation plan to reduce crime that includes the analysis, methodology findings, and a plan that articulates the range of strategies that the CBCR cross-sector partners plan to pursue. Please note: strategies included in the CBCR implementation plan may require other resources for expenses that fall outside of the scope of BJA’s mission and goals.

17 As stated on pages 6-7, community capacity is defined as the knowledge, skills, relationships, processes, and resources that neighborhood residents, partner organizations, and city-level stakeholders need to work together to achieve better results in public safety, education, housing, employment, and other key areas with 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/media/filer_public/01/37/01379b58-2441-44ca-bc64-45e71260680c/080817_guide_to_the_bcji_model_final.pdf

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

• Convene regular, ongoing meetings with cross-sector partners and the management team.

• Share regular input/discussions with the research partner and assess program implementation.

• Build the capacity of residents and the cross-sector management team to continue to coordinate research and maintain program assessment.

• Implement, modify, and evaluate strategies, as appropriate. Redirect program activities when ongoing analysis indicates program goals are not being met.

• Identify and develop a sustainability strategy for longer-term implementation of

CBCR Program core principles, including the active role of neighborhood residents.

Planning and Implementation Deliverables:

• Completion of 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 CBCR process and that illustrates the kind of neighborhood or community improvements that could be achieved through the CBCR process and beyond. CBCR sites will coordinate their early action projects with BJA and the CBCR TTA provider to ensure activities align with CBCR program goals and that expenses are allowable. A summary of the early action project will be submitted to BJA and the CBCR TTA provider to document completion of the project.

• If applicable, submission of final signed research partner (or team) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). If the applicant proposes to partner with a researcher and receives a grant award, the fiscal agent must submit to BJA an MOA that outlines specific roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the research partner/team. The MOA must be submitted to BJA no later than 90 days after the initial grant budget has been approved.

• Submission of comprehensive implementation plan to BJA TTA provider and BJA.

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

The implementation plan package (plan narrative, budget, timeline, and early action project summary) are critical documents for BJA, the CBCR TTA provider, and CBCR sites; the plan is the roadmap for implementing strategies and provides the necessary analysis to clearly describe: the specific hot spots and crime drivers; use of various data sources to understand and prioritize crime hot spots; and a direct link between the strategies proposed and the crime drivers analyzed. The plan also demonstrates the criminal justice nexus for the strategies that are linked with revitalization and justifies innovative strategies or strategies based upon the site’s theory of change and/or logic model.

BJA, the CBCR TTA provider, and the cross-sector team will use the implementation plan to guide and track site progress toward project goals and objectives.

• Produce a final written summary report that outlines the collaborative process undertaken and describes results and lessons learned. Separate from the implementation plan, grantees must produce a final written summary report outlining the http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/01/37/01379b58-2441-44ca-bc64-45e71260680c/080817_guide_to_the_bcji_model_final.pdf project’s goals, challenges, outcomes, and achievements. The purpose of this report is to share findings and lessons learned with the broader criminal justice and community development fields. While there may be limited support from the BJA TTA provider to assist sites with the completion of these reports, applicants should describe how they plan to prepare and produce this report regardless of TTA support.

A draft of the summary report will be due to BJA 60 days prior to the grant end date.

However, the final report will be submitted as a part of the grant closeout package, no later than 90 days after the project period end date.

Special Withholding Conditions for Planning and Implementation Awards During the planning phase, Planning and Implementation grantees will only have access to funds of up to $150,000 of the total award for planning activities.

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 access18 to the remainder of grant funds (please see pages 16-18 for a description of costs or expenses that may be unallowable or require pre-approval.) 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 it is possible that, 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 CBCR are in place; they have collected appropriate data; and there is a strong research or evidence base for proposed place-based programs or interventions.

National Institute of Justice Program Assessment In partnership with BJA, in FY 2016, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded a cooperative agreement to conduct an initial assessment of the overall CBCR Program and select CBCR sites (from a pool of all active CBCR grantees in past fiscal years). This assessment will include no fewer than 15 funded sites (from FY 2012 to FY 2018), with a combination of sites in various stages of implementation. Sites are selected in collaboration with the evaluator, NIJ, and BJA.

The objectives of the assessment include:

1. Studying the overall CBCR Program goals, objectives, design, operation, and history.

2. Observing the program in action to assess operations and model fidelity.

3. Determining the program’s current efforts and capacity for data collection, data management, and analysis.

4. Identifying key indicators of outcomes that go beyond crime reduction and community safety.

5. Assessing the likelihood that CBCR sites are achieving stated goals and objectives.

18 Funds are held via a special condition in the award. Once BJA approves the implementation plan, in writing, a Grant Adjustment Notice (GAN) will be processed in GMS to formally release the grant funds.

http://nij.gov/funding/Documents/solicitations/NIJ-2016-9326.pdf

By participating in this preliminary evaluation, local sites and partners have an opportunity to participate in an effort to build new evidence in a critical area and to show the effectiveness of local strategies and the CBCR Program.

Applicants to the FY18 CBCR Solicitation should anticipate requirements to participate in any future national evaluation efforts as a recipient of this grant program. To ensure effectiveness in achieving program goals and objectives, CBCR applicants must agree to 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 CBCR neighborhood efforts. These activities will guide each grantee in developing a set of comprehensive strategies that incorporate resident input and evidence-based or data-driven programs, policies, and practices. BJA anticipates that CBCR sites will be able to leverage TTA resources from other BJA TTA providers such as Project Safe Neighborhoods and other Innovations Suite programs.

The CBCR TTA partner provides various templates and guidance to assist CBCR sites with achieving grant planning and implementation efforts and creating sustainability plans. Specific guidance on project deliverables, implementation plans, suggested project milestones, and sample work plans is available here.

To view and read more examples of CBCR site results, current planning and implementation activities, and other examples of promising and evidence-driven strategies of the CBCR community, please visit the CBCR website: http://www.lisc.org/CBCR. Further, the Resources section includes several tools and templates, videos, webinars, publications, briefs, and articles that demonstrate CBCR program impact and provides examples of strategy implementation in local jurisdictions around the country.

For additional documents highlighting the CBCR Program:

CBCR Fact Sheet CBCR Spring 2015 Update (highlighting FY 2012 grantees) CBCR Summer 2016 Update (September 2016)

The Goals, Objectives and Deliverables are directly related to the performance measures that demonstrate the results of the work completed, as discussed in Section D. Application and Submission Information, under Program Narrative.

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 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

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http://www.lisc.org./our-initiatives/safe-neighborhoods/bcji/ http://www.lisc.org./our-initiatives/safe-neighborhoods/bcji/ http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/01/37/01379b58-2441-44ca-bc64-45e71260680c/080817_guide_to_the_bcji_model_final.pdf http://www.lisc.org/bcji http://www.lisc.org/our-initiatives/safe-neighborhoods/cbcr/resources/ http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/f8/80/f8806adb-b0cc-482e-a769-96f83ed6d1f6/cbcr_overview_d6.pdf https://www.bja.gov/Publications/BCJI_Spring-2015-Update.pdf http://www.lisc.org/media/filer_public/15/ff/15ffde5d-0f38-40f9-87d7-138340a42d9f/bcji_summer_2016_update.pdf 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 website at https://www.crimesolutions.gov is one resource that applicants may use to find information about evidence-based programs in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services.

Information Regarding Potential Evaluation of Programs and Activities The Department of Justice has prioritized the use of evidence-based programming and deems it critical to continue to build and expand the evidence informing criminal and juvenile justice programs to reach the highest level of rigor possible. Therefore, applicants should note that the Office of Justice Programs may conduct or support an evaluation of the programs and activities funded under this solicitation. Recipients and sub-recipients will be expected to cooperate with program-related assessments or evaluation efforts, including through the collection and provision of information or data requested by OJP (or its designee) for the assessment or evaluation of any activities and/or outcomes of those activities funded under this solicitation.

The information or data requested may be in addition to any other financial or performance data already required under this program.

B. Federal Award Information

BJA expects to make up to 10 Planning and Implementation awards of up to $1,000,000 each with an estimated total amount awarded of up to $10,000,000. BJA expects to make awards for a 36 month period of performance, to begin on October 1, 2018.

BJA may, in certain cases, provide additional funding in future years to awards made under this solicitation, through continuation awards. In making decisions regarding continuation awards, OJP will consider, among other factors, the availability of appropriations, when the program or project was last competed, OJP’s strategic priorities, and OJP’s assessment of both the management of the award (for example, timeliness and quality of progress reports), and the progress of the work funded under the award.

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

Type of Award BJA expects to make any award under this solicitation in the form of a grant. See Administrative, National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements, under Section F. Federal Award Administration Information, for a brief discussion of important statutes, regulations, and award conditions that apply to many (or in some cases, all) OJP grants.

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Award recipients and subrecipients (including recipients or subrecipients that are pass-through https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ entities19) must, as described in the Part 200 Uniform Requirements20 as set out at 2 C.F.R.

200.303.

(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that [the recipient (and any subrecipient)] 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).

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

(c) Evaluate and monitor [the recipient’s (and any subrecipient’s)] compliance with statutes, 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 recipient (or any subrecipient)] considers sensitive consistent with applicable Federal, state, local, and tribal laws regarding privacy and obligations of confidentiality.

To help ensure that applicants understand the applicable administrative requirements and cost principles, OJP encourages prospective applicants to enroll, at no charge, in the DOJ Grants Financial Management Online Training, available at https://ojpfgm.webfirst.com/. (This training is required for all OJP award recipients.)

Also, applicants should be aware that OJP collects information from applicants on their financial management and systems of internal controls (among other information) which is used to make award decisions. Under Section D. Application and Submission Information, applicants may access and review a questionnaire—the OJP Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire—that OJP requires all applicants (other than an individual applying in his/her personal capacity) to download, complete, and submit as part of the application.

Budget Information CBCR resources are targeted specifically at persistently distressed neighborhoods that face significant violent and serious crime challenges. Applicants should understand that the range of strategies that are a part of the CBCR model may require resources outside the Bureau of

19 For purposes of this solicitation, the phrase “pass-through entity” includes any recipient or subrecipient that provides a subaward ("subgrant”) to a subrecipient (subgrantee) to carry out part of the funded award or program.

Additional information on proposed subawards is listed under What an Application Should Include, Section 4c of this solicitation.

20 The "Part 200 Uniform Requirements” means the DOJ regulation at 2 C.F.R Part 2800, which adopts (with certain modifications) the provisions of 2 C.F.R. Part 200.

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Justice Assistance. It is expected that applicants should leverage other resources to support and sustain their effort. This may include federal and local funding for expenses not allowable or within the scope of the CBCR program. The cross sector partnership should leverage its resources, state and local funds, and expertise from other funding sources to fund non-core public safety strategies.

A sample of organizations and agencies to consider to leverage funding include:

For land use strategies:

• Department of Housing and Urban Development (resources and technical assistance)

• Center for Community Progress (resources and technical assistance)

For youth crime or alternatives for youth:

• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

• Department of Education, Promise Neighborhoods Program

• Corporation for National and Community Service (VISTAs)

For rural and tribal resources:

• Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development

For police staffing and community policing resources:

• Community Policing: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

• BJA’s Innovation Suite (Project Safe Neighborhoods, Strategies in Policing Innovations, etc.)

CBCR Program Costs that require prior approval or are unallowable Applicants should be aware that all proposed costs contained within budget documents submitted by CBCR applicants and awardees will be reviewed for reasonableness, necessity, and compliance with relevant federal statutes, regulations, policies, and guidelines as outlined in the Department of Justice Financial Guide. CBCR supports broad based planning and support for implementation in distressed, high crime communities. While CBCR focuses on community safety and encourages a broad approach, some costs will not be allowable under the CBCR program and/or may require prior approval.

Some specific expenses that are unallowable under CBCR include the use of grant funds to establish and maintain a land bank, land acquisition and construction/major renovations of real property. Further, applicants should be aware that some costs related to certain physical improvements of the neighborhood or costs related to Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) require specific approval from BJA and may require the site to obtain a National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) assessment prior to spending grant funds.

CPTED research principles reinforce the need to consider the physical environment when developing strategies to prevent and reduce crime. Therefore, CBCR will support the development of strategies to address these needs, subject to the NEPA and other grant requirements noted above and in the award. While the implementation plan may include strategies focused on crime risks related to conditions in the target area, not all strategies should or will be funded with the CBCR implementation funds.