CVIPI Capacity Building for Community-Based Organizations

The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) seeks to serve as an intermediary organization under Category 4 of BJA’s FY 2023 Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative. NICJR’s primary proposed activities include managing a competitive, national request for proposals (RFP) process to select up to five grassroots community-based organizations (CBOs) that will receive funding and TTA to carry out community violence intervention (CVI) strategies; developing a custom TTA plan for and with each subrecipient based on assessment of their current state, needs, and goals; providing virtual and in-person TTA in accordance with the TTA plans; fostering the development of peer relationships among subrecipients and the wider CVI field through regular subrecipient cohort meetings and inclusion of subrecipients in a national CVI convening; continuously improving TTA services provided to subrecipients through ongoing evaluation of NICJR grant activities; and enhancing the CVI field through wide dissemination of findings and resources resulting from grant activities.
NICJR will draw upon lessons learned and protocols established through extensive relevant experience as a grant maker, TTA provider, and federal grantee when implementing the RFP process, the delivery of TTA, and the administration of grant and subgrant funds. Further, NICJR’s proposed team—which includes staff with expertise in violence reduction, nonprofit fund development and operations, and data and research—brings a strategic blend of expertise and lived experience that will allow the organization to establish strong working relationships with the communities and practitioners engaged through this grant. Notably, the team includes individuals who are system impacted or have been system involved and primarily consists of people of color.
This project will promote equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunity by making federal funding available to grassroots CBOs that typically do not have the capacity or skills to win and manage complex and highly competitive federal grants.