Rural and Small Department Violent Crime Reduction Program – US

BJA seeks to support small and rural agencies in their efforts to combat violent crime through the implementation of a comprehensive violent crime reduction strategy. This program furthers the DOJ’s mission to uphold the rule of law, to keep the country safe, and to protect civil rights.

Goals

The goal of this program is to increase the capacity of police departments or prosecutors’ offices to fully implement programming and activities that reflect critical elements found in the Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide or the Prosecutors’ Guide to Reducing Violence and Building Safer Communities to combat violent crime.

Objectives

Objectives of the FY24 Rural and Small Violent Crime Reduction Program include:

• Strengthen the capacity of a rural or small jurisdiction to combat violent crime through enhanced implementation of critical elements identified in the Violent Crime Reduction Roadmap, the Violent Crime Reductions Operations Guide, or the Prosecutors’ Guide to Reducing Violence and Building Safer Communities.
• Implement programming and activities that reflect an enhanced capacity in the critical elements.
• Deploy agency resources such as personnel, services, or analytical tools that meet the capacity enhancement goal. Regularly engage with the training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to identify and troubleshoot challenges.
• Partner with a researcher or subject matter expert to plan, execute, and monitor the capacity enhancement activities selected to ensure organizational growth within the capacity area and a direct link to the Violent Crime Reduction (VCR) Strategy. Strategies may necessitate the purchase of technology; however, technology purchases may not exceed more than 30 percent of the total budget. Any technology purchases should serve as part of a larger comprehensive plan and should be adequately justified in the implementation stage.
• Track progress and outcomes, adjusting as needed.

Priority Areas

In order to further OJP’s mission, OJP will provide priority consideration when making award decisions to the following:

• 1A. Applications that propose project(s) that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to accessing services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization.
• To receive this consideration, the applicant must describe how the proposed project(s) will address identified inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. Project activities under this consideration may include but are not limited to the following: improving victim services, justice responses, prevention initiatives, reentry services and other parts of an organization’s or community’s efforts to advance public safety. Applicants should propose activities that address the cultural (and linguistic, if appropriate) needs of communities, outline how the proposed activities will be informed by these communities, and implement culturally responsive and inclusive outreach and engagement.

Funding Information

• Anticipated Number of Awards: Up to 15
• Anticipated Maximum Dollar Amount per Award: Up to $300,000
• Period of Performance Start Date: October 1, 2024
• Period of Performance Duration (Months): 36
• Anticipated Total Amount to Be Awarded Under This Solicitation: $6,000,000

Eligibility

• City or township governments
• County governments
• Native American tribal governments (federally recognized)
• This solicitation is limited to rural and small law enforcement agencies, as well as prosecutors offices serving rural communities, or small departments.
• The following entities are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity:
  • A small agency, as defined under this initiative, is any law enforcement agency with 250 or fewer sworn officers.
  • A “rural agency,” as defined under this initiative, is (a) an agency serving any area or community, no part of which is within an area designated as a standard metropolitan statistical area by the Office of Management and Budget or (b) any agency serving one or more rural census tracts.
  • A tribal agency is any federally recognized tribe with a designated law enforcement agency.
• BJA will consider applications under which two or more entities (project partners) would carry out the federal award; however, only one entity may be the applicant for the solicitation.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.