Apply Now! Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Grants

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications for funding for the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. This program furthers the Department’s mission by increasing public safety through innovative cross-system collaboration for individuals with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Learn more here.

Eligibility Eligible applicants are limited to states, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribes (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior), and tribal organizations. BJA will only accept applications that demonstrate that the proposed project will be administered jointly by an agency with responsibility for criminal or juvenile justice activities and a mental health agency. Only one agency is responsible for the submission of the application in Grants.gov. This lead agency must be a state agency, unit of local government, federally recognized Indian tribe, or tribal organization.

Per Pub. L. 108-414, a “criminal or juvenile justice agency” is an agency of state or local government or its contracted agency that is responsible for detection, arrest, enforcement, prosecution, defense, adjudication, incarceration, probation, or parole relating to the violation of the criminal laws of that state or local government (sec. 2991(a)(3)). A “mental health agency” is an agency of state or local government or its contracted agency that is responsible for mental health services or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse services (sec. 2991(a)(5)). A substance abuse agency is considered an eligible applicant if that agency provides services to individuals suffering from co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders.

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

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 May 17, 2016.

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.

For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035, or via email 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 email 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 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 announcement: BJA-2016-9205

Release date: March 22, 2016