BJA FY 20 National Community Courts Site-based and Training and Technical Assistance Initiative | BJA 2020 17249

Opportunity Information: Apply for BJA 2020 17249

The BJA FY 20 National Community Courts Site-based and Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Initiative is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), designed to help jurisdictions start, strengthen, or expand community courts. The central idea behind the program is that many lower-level offenses are tied to underlying needs and conditions such as substance use disorders, behavioral health challenges, housing instability, and other community-level drivers of recurring justice involvement. Community courts aim to improve public safety by responding to these issues directly, rather than relying primarily on traditional case processing or incarceration. The initiative also emphasizes community engagement, with the expectation that residents and local stakeholders play a meaningful role in planning and operations so that the court model reflects local priorities and builds trust in the justice system.

This opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number BJA-2020-17249; CFDA 16.585) uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, which typically means the federal agency expects to have substantial involvement in the funded work beyond a standard grant. Awards are capped at $500,000, and BJA anticipated making about 11 awards under this solicitation. The original solicitation timeline lists a creation date of March 2, 2020, with an original closing date of May 1, 2020.

Eligible applicants are broad and include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, and special district governments, as well as federally recognized Native American tribal governments. Eligibility also extends to Native American tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments), nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education), and for-profit organizations, including small businesses. The wide eligibility reflects the two-part nature of the initiative: it supports both site-based efforts (local implementation and enhancement of community courts) and training and technical assistance that can be delivered by specialized providers to help jurisdictions plan, launch, and improve these court models.

Programmatically, the initiative is focused on improving how justice systems handle lower-level offenses by offering more effective, problem-solving options. Community courts generally seek to reduce unnecessary incarceration and the downstream harms that can come with it, while still holding people accountable in ways that are connected to service linkages, supervision strategies, and community-centered solutions. By integrating local voices into design and operations, the model also aims to increase public confidence in fairness and effectiveness, especially in communities that may feel underserved or disproportionately impacted by traditional approaches. Overall, the opportunity is positioned as a public safety strategy that combines justice system innovation with practical support and capacity-building through training and technical assistance.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the employment, labor and training, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda), information and statistics, law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 20 National Community Courts Site-based and Training and Technical Assistance Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.585.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 02, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 01, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 11 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for BJA 2020 17249

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