FY 2022 Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Solicitations

Community-Based Violence Intervention & Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) and NIJ Evaluation of CVIPI Projects — Webinar Transcript
DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's webinar, Community-Based Violence Intervention & Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) and NIJ Evaluation of CVIPI Projects, hosted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. At this time, I'd like to introduce Kathy Browning, Senior Policy Advisor with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, for some welcoming remarks and to begin the presentation. Kathy?
KATHARINE BROWNING: Thank you, Daryl, and welcome everybody. My name is Kathy Browning. I'm a Senior Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and I'd like to also welcome you all to this webinar. Today, we'll be talking about the Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, which is led by the Office of the Assistant Attorney General, and represents a partnership between the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the National Institute of Justice. Next slide.
So, as Daryl mentioned, this webinar will provide details and guidance for potential applicants for two solicitations: the FY22 Office of Justice Program Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative solicitation and the partner solicitation, the FY22 National Institute of Justice Evaluation of OJP Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Projects. And just a tip for you all, we will be going over a lot of material that is in this solicitation, so we recommend that if you have a copy of that electronically or on paper, then have that handy to keep track of notes along the way.
Today, you'll be hearing from a team of five of us. We'll be starting with Eddie Bocanegra, Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General. Then there'll be me, Kathy Browning. And then Sharron Fletcher, Lead Victim Justice Specialist at the Office for Victims of Crime, Scott Pestridge, Senior Program Manager, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Jen Grotpeter, Social Science Research Analyst at the National Institute of Justice. At this time, it's my pleasure to turn it over to Eddie Bocanegra. Eddie?
EDUARDO BOCANEGRA: Thank you, Kathy. And so, hello, my name is Eddie Bocanegra, and I serve as a Senior Adviser to the Assistant Attorney General, with the focus on CVI. I can't begin to tell you how much of a huge honor it is for me to be here today and to speak to you all, to which, I actually know many of you on this call, from what I'm seeing in the names popping up, who have assembled here for this webinar.
Many of you on this call, if not all, share a strong interest and commitment and passion for working to prevent or reduce violence. In fact, many of you here today, you must be extremely thankful for your ongoing advocacy that allowed us, at this moment, to have this opportunity in which we're talking about the investment from the current Administration into CVI. Just a little over a year ago, some of you met with various members of the White House and made a strong case as to why this Administration needed to prioritize community violence prevention. That commitment was heard loud and clear, and it helped to inform how local government can also leverage ARP dollars to support CVI. Today is another example of the Administration's ongoing commitment to CVIPI. As part of the commitment, Congress has stepped up to make $50 million available this year for CVIPI. And part of that is a hope to build infrastructure. There are many people who don't see the value of the life of those that we work with every day. Maybe the people that you come across every day some people overlook. However, you believe that this population are worthy of investment and are worth supporting. Across our nation, there are certain communities that experience much higher levels of violence than most. We know that violence has increased in many of these communities recently, but regardless of whether national trends show that crime is decreasing or increasing, we see a constant pattern where these same communities continue to struggle with elevated levels of violence. For this reason, and many more, it is important that we continue to help find ways to elevate the field of practitioners. And one of those core ways is by helping to build the infrastructure, to build a bench of the people who are doing this work. It goes without saying that just as much as we invest in other areas in public safety, we have to continue to also recognize that there are people on the ground doing this work, people such as you. In that sense--next slide please.
In that sense, I also want to acknowledge that here at the Department of Justice, equity and public safety continues to be a priority for us. And the ways that we could do that really has to be inclusive of your voice and your work to build upon the endless work than many of our programs, even here at OJP, had done before. While CVI might be somewhat new to OJP, the work in itself and the various programs within OJP is not, and that means the contributions of research, the ongoing support of law enforcement, and the ongoing support that many of you have contributed to this work. Having said that, I'm glad to be here today. I look forward to our discussion shortly after the presentation of the webinar. And with that, I'll pass it back to my colleague, Kathy.
KATHARINE BROWNING: Thank you, Eddie. So, I'm going to start talking about the first solicitation that we're covering today. This is the Office of Justice Programs' Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative solicitation. The purpose of this solicitation is to provide funding to prevent and reduce crime by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs, based on partnerships among community residents, local government agencies, victim service providers, community-based organizations, law enforcement, hospitals, researchers, and other community stakeholders. The solicitation furthers the department's mission to ensure public safety, and provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, and, as Eddie just outlined, it supports OJP's mission to provide leadership resources and solutions for creating a safe, just, and engaged communities.
So, under the solicitation, OJP is seeking to make investments that advance the following principles. All of these, too, are outlined in your solicitation, but the first is targeted violence intervention and support for the highest need groups. And this is really important. We are looking to focus on strategies that identify and serve individuals in groups with the highest likelihood of being involved in, exposed to, and victims of violence; strategies that reach hard-to-engage populations of any age through trusted, credible messengers, engaging these persons to disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation, including proactive efforts to prevent violence before it occurs whenever possible, and those that connect these high-risk people to services to help them achieve wellness, healing, and long-term success. So, we're also looking at the second principle that this solicitation supports, [which] is community-centered and equity-focused strategies. So focused on communities that experience the high rates of violence and the individuals in the communities most at risk for perpetrating or being victimized by violence. It's important that these strategies engage community residents and stakeholders most affected by the violence to create the solutions and guide program development and implementation and evaluation. This is a partnership with the community. These strategies should position interventions in community-serving locations such as hospitals, public health facilities, and schools, and cultivate key partnerships. Also, this represents an integration of public safety and public health. So, building partnerships for CVI strategies to become durable and essential components of the broader public safety and public health ecosystem. And then, finally, they should be strategic, data-driven, and performance-based to carefully develop CVI strategies should be based on assessment, using data from multiple sources. And the approach should prioritize strategies that contribute to improved opportunities to reduce violence and that can be sustained over the long term. Okay. Next slide.
So, I'm sure you've noticed there are a number of categories in this solicitation. I am going to just give you the brief overview here and then we're going to dive in deeper. But you all notice, we have seven categories. Four of them are site-based and then three of them are more TTA-based. For the first two we've got are geared on a startup program. Categories three and four are geared towards enhancement programs. And then categories five through seven are the TTA. So, one thing I wanted to note here, and again we're going to go much deeper into all of these, is that you will notice we have in here a range of awards. So, for example, in category one, we expect between six and eight awards for up to $1.5 million each. The reason that we have a range there is that we expect that not everybody will need the maximum amount of funding for this category, especially some of these may be from smaller communities or maybe doing smaller enhancements to the program. So, we encourage you to tailor the request for funds based on what you need, as that is something that will be looked at during the budget process. As you can see, in the first two, the startup ones, we'll have a maximum amount of up to $1.5 million, the enhancement categories, up to $2 million per award, and we have the amounts here for the TTA. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, Scott Pestridge.
SCOTT PESTRIDGE: Thank you, Kathy. Just a couple of quick things. I'm going to focus on the site-based categories one through four. We're going to go through a little bit more detail. As both Eddie and Kathy mentioned, this is really focusing on principled community-based, community-led efforts. And with any community-based or community-led effort, you can have various stages of readiness for implementation. You could be at a planning and implementation stage, or you could be really further along in your approach towards community violence intervention strategy. For this reason, we split the categories on site-based to planning and implementation versus the expansion and enhancement. And so, for categories one and two, planning and implementation categories, they're focused on—category one is community-based or tribal organizations, and category two is for city, county, and tribal governments. And really, the whole point of this category is really helping sites recognize their work through a multidisciplinary team of stakeholders and really pulling them together. Clearly, in a planning and implementation category, you would likely maybe be pulling together a newer group or pulling together an existing group to focus on a community violence intervention for the first time. There's several permutations that could exist for a planning and implementation category. But the point is that you should really be focusing on a planning team structure that needs to be embedded in your response to the solicitation. That's outlined in the solicitation, and it really needs to include a myriad of support, whether it be service providers, leadership within the county, local public sector, CBOs, court personnel, juvenile justice agencies, law enforcement, school-based law enforcement, DAs, public defenders, victim advocates and service providers, child welfare and social services, hospitals, other healthcare providers. I mean, the list, really—mental health providers, researchers, school administrators, faith-based organizations, community residents. And you may have certain assets that are more ready for taking on this planning and implementation approach, and that's really what your application is going to be responsive to, how you envision that community coming together to form and plan for a CVI effort. And so, this really, again, the planning and—category one and two is intended for organizations that are not currently implementing a CVI strategy and is seeking the support to plan and stand up new programs. Okay. We'll go to the next slide.
So, again, we talked about the list of the types of individuals you might have representative of your planning team, but it really is important to come together and produce a violent reduction strategic plan. And so that is part of signing on to this. Applying for this funding means that you're going to have a short-term deliverable if you were a successful applicant to come together and, within 12 months, submit a violent reduction strategic plan that's going to speak to the key elements that you're going to endeavor before implementation of your CVI program. And within six months of your application, it's required that you submit completed documentation, whether it be letters of commitment, memorandum of understanding, that demonstrates the structure and partners to the community collaboration, as well as who will be responsible for implementing the funded approach. We recognize that it can take time to articulate MOUs. So ideally you would have a fully articulated MOU that you would include as part of your application process, and there is some priority consideration given for those that do, but understanding that not all are going to be in a position where you're able to do that. So, this allows for that capacity building through the earlier portion of an award. So, one of the things that I think is really important to note is that the grounding of understanding of what is driving violence in a community and using data and community input to really inform that, what those drivers are, and—as well as feedback from those who have experienced violence or risk for violence. So that planning team, as part of the process, needs to meet regularly, at least monthly is the solicitation guidance, to engage community members and gather feedback and perspectives, particularly those impacted by an at risk for violence. So really utilizing your time to engage in and solidify the CVI partnership structure, I think, well, it's critical to the success of the initiative. And those meetings can be conducted virtually and in-person. Next slide.
So, we do encourage you to collaborate with a research partner to assist with conducting a community violence assessment to determine where and why violence is occurring and assess current gaps and barriers in community services. But it is expected that a research partner will be an active member of the working group and employ an action research method. You should incorporate voices from survivors, you know, survivors of community violence, and you are required, if you were a successful applicant under this category one and two, to work with and receive training and technical assistance from the training and technical assistance support for site-based awards under our category six solicitation that Sharron is going to talk a little bit more about. So, there is going to be an expectation that you interface early and often with the TTA provider because there's going to be a ton of inputs, outputs, information gathering in order to fully equip you and, frankly, allow us to fully support your needs as identified gaps come up that could utilize some TTA support. Okay. So, there is a BJA CVI implementation checklist. It's referenced in the solicitation. That is a good resource to inform planning and implementation. And, as I mentioned, within six months of the award, you would need to demonstrate the structure of and partners to the community collaboration, as well as who will be responsible for implementing the funded approach. Okay. So that's categories one and two.
And I also want to note that one and two is separated by--just like three and four are. You don't have to go back. But just like three and four are, it's separated by looking at community-based organizations versus city and county governments, tribal governments. And the importance there is that we want to make sure that we have representation from both entities, from both community-based organizations, a nice adequate representation, you know, from community-based organizations, as well as from city, county, tribal governments. It's very important because we want to make sure that we can stand up different modalities and pull best practices from various perspectives of asset-based supports that you may identify within your community. So, on categories three and four, let's talk about that. That's looking at expansion and enhancement. Under expansion and enhancement, this is really supporting existing CVI strategies. And under existing CVI strategies, that means clearly that you have a CVI strategy that you're already endeavoring. And this is really looking for enhancing or expanding. It's pretty cut and dried. But we also do encourage you to look at, if you had an initiative that was started under the American Rescue Plan, you could expand or enhance that initiative using funds from this category. So, again, it's very similar. It requires the multidisciplinary team of stakeholders to formalize partnerships. We expect for there to be a various swath of stakeholders across multiple sectors to really address an identified need. And the voices should be incorporated--voices of survivors should be incorporated in this work as well. Very important. Next slide please.
So, in terms of expansion and enhancement for categories three and four, it is important that there be an initial planning phase, even within this expansion and enhancement sites, to look at data collection, working with researchers, and assessing current strategies and how well you've addressed community violence in order to design enhancements to or expansions of their approach. One difference between this expansion and enhancement category as opposed to the planning and implementation category is that since you have gone down the road with a CVI approach or approaches, you have a sense of what may or may not work. And I just want to encourage you, if there's particular approaches that you've endeavored, and there may be lessons learned that maybe you will want to tweak because it's maybe not quite as impactful as you'd like for it to be, I just want to encourage you not to look at that as a weakness. Frankly, I'm kind of reassessing lessons learned around previous implementation strategies, struggles, and tweaks, and, you know, how to move forward. It's frankly a strength and it is indicative of an initiative that wants to kind of pivot and meet the needs of the community in a way that fully supports—maximize outcome. So, I just wanted to share that. Again--so you should have--within categories three and four, you really should have formalized partnerships with that multidisciplinary stakeholder members in place at the time of the application and you should include that attachment labeled CVIPI Team, as part of your submission. Okay. Again, you know, being grounded in an understanding of what driving violence is, I think it's a little easier for categories three and four to be able to articulate that in the sense that you've gone down the road a little bit. But it is important that you continue to articulate it in terms of your submission in response to the solicitation. Next slide please.
So, in categories three and four, you're required, in expansion and enhancement categories, to collaborate with a research partner to assist with the implementation of the program and strategies. And so, this is an important piece, because the idea, really, around all of this work is to be able to build up capacity for sustainability beyond any federal funding and be able to have a research partner front and center with an existing strategy that you're enhancing, you know, will enhance the probability that you'll have some great measures and enhance outputs longer term. So that's one thing to note. So, I think that's enough on this. This is all enumerated more clearly in the solicitation, and if we have questions, we can take them as we go down. Next slide please.
So, we are encouraging on categories three and four, strongly encouraging those that are applying under categories three and four to also participate in evaluation—in regards to evaluation of the CVI strategy funded under the NIJ solicitation. And Jen Grotpeter will be talking about that from NIJ towards the end of this session. And it's important to think about that piece for categories three and four because it is going to be a priority consideration if you do submit an application that has a paired proposal in response to the NIJ solicitation as well. It's not a requirement. It's not a basic minimum requirement, but certainly it will be an enhancement that we give priority consideration. So, I think that's sufficient on that piece. Those are the key points. I just want to be mindful of time as we work through here.
So, eligibility. For categories one and three. These are the community-based tribal organizations. It's embedded in the name. You know, it's limited to nonprofits, for-profits, and Native American and Alaskan Native tribal organizations. So, this is an important piece to just make sure you're fully tracking the eligibility because we would hate for you to put a lot of time and effort in and then find that you're ineligible based on the eligibility criteria. I think the criteria, just make sure you're looking at the correct category that you're eligible and move forward with gusto. So next slide.
So, for the planning—for categories two and four, whether it be planning or expansion, again, this is for city, county, tribal governments, and these are limited to the following types of organizations. Fairly typical eligibility criteria, but we wanted to, again, spread the wealth, if you will, across categories to ensure that you do have representation from community-based organizations as well as from governmental organizations that are really endeavoring in CVI. So that's the reasoning behind the separation of eligibility across two categories. Okay. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sharron Fletcher at the Office for Victims of Crime.
SHARRON FLETCHER: Hi. Thanks, Scott. So, I am going to walk us through categories five through seven in the solicitation which, as was noted earlier by Kathy, each of these categories focus on providing training and technical assistance supports for the initiative. So, we will start with category five, which is focused on capacity building in the field. So, we recognize across the organizations participating in the solicitation here that many times community-based organizations are on the ground doing such good work in these community violence initiatives and really innovative work as well. However, many times, they're also very under-resourced and they just face many hurdles in accessing funding that's coming down from the federal and state level. And so, recognizing this challenge and issue in the field, we came up with this category and plan to use it to fund up to five intermediary organizations that will serve as fiscal agents and provide some intensive training and technical assistance, as well as conduct a subaward process to fund those community-based organizations on the ground doing that good work in CVI. So those awards will be granted over the course of the project period. So, we're calling them intermediary organizations, but it's one lead agency that will serve as a fiscal agent for those subawards and conducting a competitive subaward process. So those intermediary organizations may be national, regional, or more local, with established capacity to work with community-based organizations, particularly those that are working in those communities that are most impacted by violence. Of course, we want these organizations that are serving in that intermediary role to have some demonstrated deep knowledge and experience working in CVI, and also knowledge of what evidence-based strategies are out there, and expertise in connecting victims and survivors with supports. The intermediary organizations can be comprised of multiple entities as well because we understand, of course, that partnerships are key in this work at all levels, right? So that said, what we would anticipate, if a collaboration of organizations were applying in this category, is for one organization to serve as a lead applicant and then explain in that application a collaborative process for administering the project, administering those subawards, and providing that training and technical assistance. Next slide please.
So, we are open, of course, to a wide array of applicants in this category that can serve as the intermediary organizations and they may be focused in a particular city, region, or have a more national scope. That subaward process that we are anticipating the intermediary organizations will conduct will be a competitive process, and OJP and BJA will be very much involved in that space. I will stop also and note that all of the awards made for the training and technical assistance categories, and that's categories five through seven, will all be made as cooperative agreements. And so, the difference there is that cooperative agreements will require substantial involvement of the awarding agencies. So BJA will be very much involved with helping to approve that subaward process, as well as approving the final subawards made to the CBOs. Now, it's anticipated that those subawards will be funding specific supports for those organizations that will basically increase their capacity in doing the work. So, we want to make sure that we're building that on-the-ground support and basically trying to drive that innovation, right? We want to make sure that they're able to truly benefit from these funds and grow that wealth of knowledge in the field on how to best serve these communities that are being impacted by violence. So, examples of the types of supports that might be funded through those subawards through CBOs include, of course, salaries for staff. Because we know how important it is to make sure that the people doing the work are paid adequately for the amount of work that they're doing, because these are jobs that often have irregular hours and require a substantial amount of work and involvement all throughout the week and not just your normal 9:00 to 5:00. Funding could also be used to support equipment purchases, materials, trainings, as well as developing curricula to train staff. So, we want to make sure funding is truly going, again, to build that important capacity and knowledge in the field for those CBOs. So that's the ultimate goal of these subawards. Next slide please.
Moving on to category six. That is our training and technical assistance for the site-based awards. So, with this category, we will be funding a provider that will provide some innovative training and technical assistance, or TTA, supports to our programs that are funded in categories one through four. So, we want to make sure that those awards that are funded under categories one through four have the support they need to be successful and the supports to make sure that they are doing the best possible work to implement their projects. So, the TA provider will be working directly with those sites to do some TA needs assessments, then providing a TA plan and building a TA plan-out based on those results from that TA assessment. They'll also do things such as conducting cross-site trainings for those grantees awarded through categories one through four, creating some peer-to-peer exchanges amongst those sites so that they're learning from each other. Because I know myself, I've seen how that really has made an impact and a difference when folks are working directly with each other across programs, across cities and projects, to really build and connect and learn from each other, and that can be very powerful in this work. And this, again, is another area in our TTA. But we understand partnerships are important so, again, we do encourage or will consider applicants that are from organizations that are partnering to provide these TA supports and expertise to our category one through four sites. But, again, one of those organizations will have to be the lead organization in applying under this category and then the other organizations will be perhaps supported in the budget. And then the applications should also explain that management structure and operational structure on how the organization will work together to provide those innovative TA supports for the sites. Of course, all of the applicants and partners involved in this category should have, again, demonstrated deep experience in working with CVI organizations and supporting those organizations, and have knowledge of the wide array of organizations that are doing this work, from faith-based organizations, tribal governments, local governments, hospitals, other healthcare-providing settings, as well as law enforcement. So, we understand there's a wide array of entities and organizations that are on the ground doing work. And the TTA provider, of course, will need to be able to work with all of these types of organizations in supporting the sites and they also need to be able to work with sites at all levels because, of course, as was just explained by Scott, our category one through four sites will be working with—will be sites both who are just getting started with their CVI strategies as well as those who are expanding and enhancing. So, we need to be able—whoever is applying under this, applicants really need to be able to work with sites at all levels of preparedness and readiness to do the work. Next slide please.
And so, then the last category I'll cover under TA is category seven. And in this specific category, OJP is really seeking to have one national training and technical assistance provider to deliver TA to the field in general, and really standing up a resource and field support center that is solely focused on CVIPI strategies. So, in this space, that entity that is selected will really focus on building the capacity and strengthening local networks to facilitate implementation and success of CVI strategies across the country. So, we really want them to kind of be a resource to the field in this space in identifying and highlighting innovative strategies that are working on the ground, in the field, talking about that evidence base and what we are learning from the work that's being done. In a timely fashion too, because we understand that these are issues that we need to address now, right? Everything can't wait forever, so we need to be timely in providing that information and learning and relaying that out to the field. The center, as we are calling it, will partner with subject matter experts who are able to provide a wide array of TA support, such as coaching, targeted training, problem solving, as well as needs assessment and data collection. Because, again, we are always trying to build our evidence base and continue to feed the field with evidence-based strategy and learning based on the research and what's working. And we do want this center to be flexible in their ability to provide ongoing training and support. So, we recognize that sometimes there'll be communities that are really advanced in doing good work, so they might not need as much help. Perhaps it'll be a short stint, a short training, or a short number of interactions. But we do want the center to also be equipped and ready to really engage with those communities that do need a deeper dive in TA and longer-term supports. So, we want this center to really have that flexibility in being able to outreach and contact communities that are doing the work, or maybe reaching out to them in doing the work and really fleshing out where the issues are and being prepared to provide that TA support, even if it takes a little more time that what they might normally be used to. And these applicants that are doing this work, of course, in setting up the center, again cannot stress enough, that we want and really looking for someone with that deep knowledge and direct experience in working with communities that are involved in CVI initiatives, particularly those who have the cultural sensitivity, awareness, and understand the complex needs these communities are having that are being impacted by violence or traditionally unheard and underserved, and really understanding how there's such just some unique needs that they might have and being responsive to helping them successfully implement their CVI strategies. Next slide please.
So now just to go over eligibility for categories five through seven. Again, all of these awards will be made as cooperative agreements but, generally, organizations that are institutions of higher education, be they public, state-controlled, or private, organizations that are nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, as well as for-profit organizations, including small businesses, are all eligible to apply for categories five through seven. I will note that for-profit organizations have to forego any management fees and profits. So that is the one caveat. But otherwise, we have a pretty wide array of eligibility of organizations for these categories for training and TA. Next slide please.
Oh, actually, I think now I will be passing it off to my colleague, Scott.
SCOTT PESTRIDGE: Great. Thanks, Sharron. That was great. And I just want to underscore one thing that Sharron mentioned about the for-profit and the forgoing of profit for purposes of eligibility. That's the case for the project sites as well. That's a standard language across our solicitations. But thanks for underscoring that, Sharron. In terms of priority considerations, we know we've talked through this a little bit, but I just want to make it crystal clear the priority considerations that will be considered for all categories. Primarily, first and foremost, is this advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government. This is EO 13985, through executive order. And it really gives priority consideration to applications that include projects that will promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunities for communities that had been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality when making award decisions. So, you know, I think an important piece to note here is in the solicitation. It clearly states that to receive this consideration, you have to describe how the proposed project or projects will address potential inequities and barriers to equal opportunity and/or contributed to a greater access to services for underserved and historically marginalized populations. I think for many of you on the call today, this will look very different for different reasons in terms of how you might have your project design set up and the particular communities you're serving, but I do think it's important that you do note that this is a priority consideration. Another is for applicants so they can demonstrate their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed projects are enhanced because the applicant or, at least, one of the subrecipients that will receive at least 30% of the requested award funding identifies as a culturally-specific organization. What is culturally-specific organization? In the solicitation, on page 20, that identifies the culturally-specific organization are defined for purpose of the solicitation as private, nonprofit, or travel organizations whose primary purpose as a whole is to provide culturally-specific services to, among others, Black people, Hispanics and Latino people, Native American, and other indigenous peoples of North America, including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Inuit, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and/or Pacific Islanders. That's the language directly from the solicitation. But I do think it's important that you take a look at that executive order, and clearly this language specifically in this solicitation. If you're an applicant that can document high and increasing levels of homicide per capita, that dataset and providing and underscoring that piece will be considered as for priority consideration for your application. Also, if you can demonstrate existing partnerships with multidisciplinary team stakeholder members, certainly that's going to receive priority consideration. You may ask that in categories one and two, you may be, you know, just starting a planning and implementation of a CVI strategy. So, you may not have a CVI strategy that you're implementing but it's very possible that you could have existing partnership across multiple disciplines that you could stand up and support in support of that priority consideration. So, another is looking at this Companion Evaluation Application under NIJ solicitation for categories one through four project sites is a priority consideration as well. But note that addressing these areas is one of many factors that we consider at the Office of Justice Programs in making funding decisions and that receiving priority consideration from one or more priority areas is not a guarantee of an award. But I do think that all of these priority areas are indicative of the principles that Kathy talked about initially and the focus that CVI endeavors. So, I would imagine that many of you will be able to address some of these priority considerations potentially. Next slide.
So, deliverables for the project sites, categories one through four. So, for all these, you need to have a full list of working group members, as well as the letter of commitment and/or MOUs, should be submitted within the first six months of the date of the award. And there needs to be a development or enhancement of a community-specific violence reduction strategic plan that's informed by available data and existing plans that could be used as a guide for the project. And so, for categories one and two, it needs to be submitted within 12 months of the date of the award, and for categories three and four, that existing strategy should be sassed and enhanced within six months of date of the award. And both should be comprehensive and updated annually as a key deliverable. Next slide.
So, one of the deliverables is really participation in efforts to assess, evaluate, and translate learning from the program to the field to advance this knowledge and support peer learning. Examples include participation and a presentation at an actual conference, could be web-based presentations, podcasts, OJP-funded training and technical assistance, partnership engagements. This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you a sense of the types of interfaces that we may ask successful applicants to engage in, as we help promote the strategies and opportunities to address community violence. Documentation of a particular strategy that is data-driven, evidence-informed, community-led, and trauma-informed. It's a mouthful, but it is all four of those things are fundamental to the success or emblematic of a true CVI strategy. And so, a final report summarizing the activities of the program including successes, lessons learned, and future plans, is due within 90 days of the program end date. And if you have a research partner, it's expected that their programmatic process and outcome findings be integrated into that final report. So, with that, I'm going to turn it back over to my fine colleague, Sharron, at OVC.
SHARRON FLETCHER: Thanks, Scott. So, I am now going to walk us through some of the deliverables for our training and TA categories. And for those of you that are following along on the solicitation, these deliverables for categories five through seven are outlined on pages 15 through 19 in the solicitation. So, starting with category five, capacity building, all of the projects, again, for the capacity building applicants, we are asking that these organizations be ready to assess the gaps. And the organizations that they funded through subawards, assess those organizations’ capacity to implement CVI projects to work directly with OJP via solicitation or request of proposals to develop that RFP process or subaward process, and make sure that they are getting final approval, of course, from OJP for that. As we are doing today, we're asking that these intermediary organizations funded, develop and host, of course in collaboration with OJP, a pre-application sub-solicitation webinar for potential applicants. And just as we're doing today, that webinar will go over solicitation requirements and talk about allowable costs, what have you. And then during that subaward process, where we're receiving and reviewing applications, again, those requirements will be that the intermediary organization is working very closely with BJA in making that review of applications to identify who will be the successful applicants. And there's some specific criteria that are outlined in the solicitation for those subawards, such as identifying at least one CVI strategy, clearly identifying the resources needed to support that strategy and build capacity, and also expressing the clear capacity and willingness to work with those intermediary organizations as that TA provider. Next slide please.
Our category five applicants will also be expected to conduct meetings with their subawardees once those awards are made. Then we would want them again to do those needs assessments for those subawards and work with them to really flesh out, like, what are those needs and build out a good TA plan based on the needs and results identified through that needs assessment process. Then again, we want to make sure that the intermediaries are able to provide those innovative TA supports through meetings, topically based that are, of course, covering relevant issues, innovative issues and strategies that are going on in the field, and sharing that across sites. And certainly, making sure that they are informing the OJP family, I'll call us, BJA, OJJDP, and OVC, on the different initiatives and programs in the field and connecting, helping us to make those connections as well. Next slide, please.
Additional deliverables include maintaining online resources for the subgrantees. And then of course, a standard for all of our grantees is submitting a final report. And that final report, of course, will go over lessons learned. We really look for folks to also share with us challenges that were faced, common themes that came out from the subawardees and then working to implement their projects, as well as recommendations for future CVI programs. Next slide, please.
And then moving to deliverables for our category six applicants and successful awardees. And again, this is the organization that will be funded to provide training and technical assistance to our site-based awards that are funded through categories one through four. So, deliverables for this category will of course include providing that site specific TA to those awardees in categories one through four. And making sure that that TA is individualized based on the needs of those sites and consistent with delivery of TA to make sure that those sites are doing well and set up for success in implementing those CVI strategies. Next slide, please.
This TA provider will also have staff that have sufficient expertise. We know that this is a specific area of expertise, so we were looking for TA providers that have excellent staff with the qualities and experience to meet the needs of our category one through four grantees in executing their projects. And we do anticipate that they have access, this TA provider, would have access to national experts and others that are working in the field. And then, of course, by OJP in a wider range of areas, because we understand this is a multidisciplinary effort in many instances as well. So those experts could include practitioners, academics, federal partners, and other experts across the field. And we would look to this TA provider to provide some leadership and guidance around identifying and maintaining a list of subject matter experts to best fit the needs of grantees in a number of areas. And then, we also are anticipating that in maintaining this list of experts that applicants or the successful awardee is doing their best to make sure that these are experts that reflect a mix of experiences and perspectives that are able to meet culturally relevant needs and have a wide variety of sites, because we do anticipate that these sites will have, again, a multitude of partners from various organizations, various walks of life, various cultures, what have you. So, we do expect these experts to, again, reflect those communities that we anticipate being served through these partnerships and programs. Next slide, please.
Our category six TA provider will also, of course, participate in ongoing collaboration and coordination with local jurisdictions. So, we are anticipating they're aware of other key overlapping initiatives, both in the specific jurisdictions that are participating and a part of those category one through four grantees, as well as those on the federal level. So, there are a number of initiatives across DOJ and other parts of the federal government that are working in the CVI space. And we are hoping and expecting that this TA provider would help us maintain that awareness and connections with those initiatives. We are also looking for this TA provider to provide us with some coordination across interest groups, and maintaining some regular meetings by either using or
having quarterly stakeholder meetings. There has to be more meetings, what have you, to make sure that these partners are aware of each other and able to have good communication to maintain awareness of programs, and hopefully create some good opportunities for collaboration and coordination in the future. Next slide, please.
Our category six TA provider will also serve as a thought leader in information clearinghouse for relevant research and best practices. And we were really looking for them to build capacity. Both highlight what's going on and build capacity of the field in this area, particularly among those category one through four grantees, but as well as in the field generally, as they are able. And so we anticipate in doing this part of the work and the deliverables, they would be producing fact sheets, conducting webinars, and disseminating other publications and resources through all of OJP's networks. We also anticipate that they would be convening grantees in learning communities, to talk about their prep programs, to talk about those challenges, and of course, to share best practices. We also anticipate the TA provider will be disseminating, again, best practices and lessons learned by presenting at national conferences, not just ones that they're organizing, but attending others as well, to share information and resources. And then last, we do anticipate this TA provider will of course, maintain a list of grantees and subgrantees, key contacts, what have you, to feed out and build a network in our CVI community. Next slide, please.
Additional deliverables for our category six TA provider include, again, supporting collection and analysis of performance measured data. And that would be aimed at assisting the grantees in collecting the performance measure data that is submitted in JustGrants, and as part of their award and grant administration duties. And then also working with OJP on tailoring TA strategies to meet the needs and trends based on performance reporting and TA needs. So, we don't want to just have them providing TA to provide the reports in PMT and JustGrants. But we also want to be able to build that capacity to review the results of the data to understand trends, to understand where those needs that might be identified through reviewing the data, and help inform OJP on how we can best strategize on ways to either provide better TA supports or other resolutions to the results that we're finding. And then lastly, coordination of course is key, so we do anticipate that the TA provider selected will be coordinating with OJP, providing TA summaries of events in a timely manner, and of course, submitting financial reports and other grants reports as required. Next slide, please.
And so, then the last category of deliverables we'll go over is for our category seven award. And that will go again to support and stand up a resource and field support center. So, this awardee will be asked and expected to, again, maintain a cadre of subject matter experts that have sufficient expertise in CVI, and have just a deeper understanding of what is going on in CVI across the country. So, to this end, we are asking that, again, the TA provider maintain a large cadre of vetted subject matter experts that will be available to provide training and TA supports to the field as well as if OJP has needs and is looking for experts in various areas. We would look for this TA provider to help us identify subject matter experts in those areas that we saw emerging even in the field as it relates to CVIPI initiatives. And these experts would be used to, of course, respond to request for TA that come in from the field. Next slide, please.
So, the TA provider that would be selected to stand up our center will, again, set up a website for the center to provide online tools and have a strong online presence with resources for the field. They would be developing additional resources for the field at large, that are data-driven and needs-driven, and to respond to CVI initiatives and issues that are ongoing and developing on the ground. And then, lastly, again to the coordination piece, we do expect this TA provider to coordinate with local jurisdictions as well as the other TA providers funded in categories five and six. Next slide, please.
And then, the last deliverable that I'll mention here is that a big piece that we anticipate this TA provider will be focused on is really building capacity and strengthening those local networks to help implement in successful CVI strategies. And so, the TA provider in this space will be for those organizations and jurisdictions that are working in CVI that might not be receiving direct funding. So, we want them to serve this provider to be very ready to those requests, and able to report that back out to OJP. So, with that, I will turn it back to Scott.
SCOTT PESTRIDGE: Great, I'm just going to spend 30 seconds, thank you, Sharron, on some additional resources that I've seen. In the chat several people have asked questions about where to find resources around evidence-based practices that we talked about the microsite. The Community Violence Intervention microsite has the checklist included. CrimeSolutions.gov, which is a tremendous resource. The Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program has some great resources. Next slide.
If we look at the youth.gov, it also highlights the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention is an excellent resource. Next slide.
And then the OJJDP Model Programs Guide is really evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. It's great, it's got a great bibliography and just a lot of great resources there. It's part of crime solutions, really, but if you go through this link, our Model Programs Guide is embedded here, I think you'll find some great resources. The National Gang Center and implementation of the Comprehensive Gang Model is also another resource that you can look at that's evidence-based. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Kathy.
KATHARINE BROWNING: Thank you, Scott. So, I'm just going to go briefly through some of the nuts and bolts of your application. And so, I'll start with what an application should include. You should include an abstract, and this is a summary of your project, but has a lot of the key activities, the products and deliverables, the service area, who will benefit from the proposed project. And this will be completed in the JustGrants web-based form. Your project narrative should include a description of the issues, the project design and implementation capabilities, competencies, plan for collecting data, and sustainability. These are the elements that your application will be reviewed on, as well as a lot of the supporting attachments that you will include. And all of this is detailed in the solicitation about which one, the weight of the different categories for the different—I mean, of the section for different categories. You should obviously include the budget worksheet, and narrative, there's a web-based form in JustGrants for this. Next slide.
Next slide.
I'm just pulling out a few things to just make sure that you're paying attention. There's a lot of requirements for these and I understand that it can be confusing, so just make sure you're looking at the checklist that is provided in the solicitation. But some of the key things I want to make sure that you've got are the timeline and proposed recipients and subrecipients, any staff resumes and position descriptions here. As we've mentioned in this webinar, we need information about the CVIPI team and memorandums of understanding and letters of support and for those applying for a TTA, you know, documentation of past TTA delivery experiences. So, this is all kind of summary because we’ve got so many categories and it varies. So, my advice is to read closely for each for whatever category you are submitting for. Next slide.
Few other things, the Tribal Authorization Resolution that, if applicable, the Research and Evaluation Independence and Integrity, and then there's a list of disclosures and assurances that you're required to fulfill. So, we have what's known as BMR, so basic minimum requirements, and these are elements of your application that must be included in order for your application to advance to peer review and receive consideration for funding. So those are the proposal abstracts, the proposal narrative, the budget worksheet and budget narrative, the web-based form there, and the timeline. If you do not include, if you are missing one of those elements, your application will be kicked out early during the BMR process and will not be considered because we need these in order to move these into peer review for them to start looking at it. That doesn't mean that these other elements that we've talked about, the MOUs and all are not—those are important and should be included, because you're going to want those considered as part of peer review. But if you are missing one of these, it will not move forward to peer review. So, for this reason, I think it’s a good time to remind people that please do not wait until the last minute to submit your application, there are technical challenges that people have. So, I would hate for you to not get one of these in and not be able to be peer reviewed. Next slide.
I just want to briefly tell you the process that we go through. So, as I just said, they need to have a BMR process. For those that meet the BMR standards, go to peer review, all of our applications are reviewed by a panel of three external subject matter expert reviewers. They provide scores, and they will score them on these different elements. These scores are sent back to BJA. And oftentimes these are put into tiers, if we've got a lot of solicitations, these are tiered. And then we use those scoring results to make the funding recommendation to the BJA director. These are considered along with those priority considerations. And a range of things to make that recommendation. And then the BJA director makes the final decision and submits the recommendations to the AAG. Next.
There are two deadlines you should pay attention to. One is the Grants.gov deadline. So, you need to have the SF-424 and the SF-LLL submitted by June 21st. And you need to have the BJA JustGrants deadline, which is with all of the material is June 27th. Again, do not wait until the last minute. Next.
For those of you who are applying for the first time, I would encourage you, for federal funding or particularly from OJP agencies, I would encourage you to check out these webinars that talk about some of the nuts and bolts of what I've just sort of reviewed and some of the challenges and might cover some questions that you have about submitting an application. Next slide.
And the next couple of slides here are just some resources for you if you have questions and technical assistance issues. And these are also in the solicitation to get the Grants.gov resources.
Next slide is the JustGrants resources.
And then finally the OJP Response Center, the one thing that I will say here is that this is where you should ask questions if, after this webinar, there are questions that we haven't answered, you can ask these questions through our response center. One thing that I will note here just before I turn this over to my colleague is that we will not have time to answer many of your questions today. You're asking a lot of great questions. We are putting together a Frequently Asked Questions page that will address a lot of issues that you have raised here and things that we will not be able to get to today. And it will also include some of the questions we're getting into the response center. So, we will look to be putting that on the website and be getting information out to all of you very soon after this webinar. And I don't think we need to go over that. So, at this point, I am going to turn it over to my colleague, Jen Grotpeter.
JENNIFER GROTPETER: Hi, thank you Kathy. As Kathy just said, my name is Jen Grotpeter, and I am a Social Science Research Analyst within the Office of Research, Evaluation and Technology at the National Institute of Justice. I'm here today to talk about NIJ's companion solicitation. So, the OJP solicitation just described. This is the NIJ Fiscal Year 2022 Evaluation of OJP Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Projects. I'm a member of the NIJ team that is managing this solicitation. So, today's webinar, my portion of it, will proceed as follows. I'll first provide some information about NIJ and then offer some highlights about our NIJ's evaluation of the OJP's CVIPI Intervention Projects. And also, I will talk about what you need to know if you intend to apply, and I'll end with some important application considerations.
So, with the previous solicitation presentation, just like that, please use the Q&A box to ask your questions. So since not everyone here may be familiar with NIJ and its mission, we thought it would be useful to just briefly introduce NIJ. The National Institute of Justice is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Our mission is improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science. So, in short, our goal is to strengthen science in order to advance justice.
So, this solicitation seeks applications for independent rigorous evaluations of projects funded under the OJP solicitation that has been described earlier in this webinar. So more specifically, NIJ seeks to fund outcome and impact evaluations of expansion and enhancement projects as defined under categories three and four of the FY 2022 OJP Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Solicitation. Hereafter, I will just refer to that solicitation as the OJP solicitation. So, such outcome and impact evaluations are also expected to examine questions regarding program implementation. For example, process evaluation. To be considered under this solicitation, evaluation applicants must collaborate with an entity applying to the OJP solicitation and clearly document that collaboration with a signed memorandum of understanding or letter of support. NIJ will only consider applications that are addressing categories three and four of the OJP solicitation. Essentially, it's intended that the knowledge gained through the conduct of these evaluations will build evidence as to the implementation and effectiveness of strategies designed to reduce crime using violence prevention—sorry [INDISTINCT] interventions.
And so now before we get too deep into the details of what we're looking at for an application, I'll give you an overview of the funding details. NIJ expects to make awards under the solicitation as grants. And the approximate number of awards NIJ expects to make is two to three awards. The total amount anticipated to be awarded under the solicitation is up to $1.9 million. That is $1,900,000 total across the anticipated two to three projects. The period of performance start date is October 1, 2022. And the period of performance duration is up to 60 months.
So, moving along, NIJ encourages applicants to propose evaluations that address the complexities of CVIPI projects, which engage stakeholders across systems such as public safety, public health, education, social services, economic development, housing, and other relevant community sectors. Applicants should propose the most rigorous appropriate designs, incorporating community stakeholder and resident involvement as a focus in the design and conduct of the evaluation. This may include a focus on participatory or action research. NIJ strives to support evaluations of CVIPI projects that are evaluable and already well-positioned for the conduct of in-depth investigations of outcome and impact, and that also examine questions regarding program implementation, such as process evaluation.
So here are some specific things that applicant should do in their proposal and include in their proposals. Applicants are expected to demonstrate how their study would build on existing research. The application should include a clear description of the approaches to be evaluated, including the purpose, key components, and intended short-, intermediate-, and long-term outcomes. In preparing your application, applicants should work with the OJP applicant organization to develop a conceptual logic model for the CVIPI project to be evaluated. And that should be included in the application. If relevant, applications should include and append supplementary materials to describe the program, practice, or policy as your study, and to demonstrate that needed data will be available for the study.
Additional considerations. NIJ wants to build an understanding not only of whether an overall program is effective, but also what elements within or external to the program design or implementation contribute to its success or failure. So, for example, applicants may investigate the impact of a particular program services or individuals who provide the services in producing safer communities, as well as how to best engage the community in violence prevention and intervention. The proposed evaluation should help inform the development or refinement of community intervention and/or prevention programs, policies and/or practices to reduce community violence. So, the idea is that we're trying to inform the development of future projects as well. Applicants should clearly describe the external validity of the product of the proposed evaluation approach with an emphasis on how the findings may be generalizable to additional populations or jurisdictions.
So now I'll discuss two related priority areas for the solicitation, which are the same—they're also in the OJP solicitations. Overall, the Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals that are impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and developing threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. Pages seven and eight of the solicitation describe the priority considerations in detail. And you should look at those there. And it will note, as my colleague Scott did a little bit ago, addressing these priority areas is one of many factors that the NIJ director will consider in making funding decisions. Receiving priority consideration for one or more priority areas is not a guarantee of an award.
Next, I'll briefly mention expected deliverables. It's the last slide in this section. What are we expecting in terms of deliverables if your application is awarded funding? Besides the standard grant reporting requirements, like semi-annual research progress reports and quarterly financial reports, there are three key deliverables under this solicitation, and they include a final research report. Any recipient of an award under this solicitation is expected to submit a final research report. Additional information on that reporting requirement for the solicitation is posted on NIJ's web page. Also required are datasets and associated files and documentation. Any recipient of an award under the solicitation will be expected to submit to the National Archives of Criminal Justice Data, NACJD, all datasets that result in whole or in part from the work funded by the award, along with all associated files and documentation necessary for future efforts by others to reproduce the project findings and/or to extend the scientific value of that dataset through conducting secondary analysis. Also required are deliverables and dissemination for practitioners and policymakers. NIJ also expects that award recipients will make a substantial effort to make the research findings accessible to practitioner and policymaker audiences. This may include producing clear language articles for practitioner and professional organization journals or presenting key implications for policy and practice at professional organization conferences. Successful applicants will identify professional journals, conferences, and/or other mechanisms that it intends to use or target. And this effort will also include producing a report that summarizes the final research report using language suitable for practitioner and policymaker audiences that NIJ can use this for some dissemination activities. In addition to those key deliverables, as required reports and data on performance measures, NIJ expects scholarly products will result from each award under the solicitation taking the form of one or more peer reviewed, scientific journal articles and/or if appropriate, well, review journal articles, book chapters, books and academic press, and other similar scientific products.
And moving on, I'm going to move on now to the application submission process. Just like with the OJP solicitation, there are certain elements of the application that have to be received in order for your application to be considered. If even one of these is missing, your application will not move on to the review process. You can read about these basic minimum requirements starting on page ten of the solicitation, but I will name them here. The following application elements must be included for an application to meet the basic minimum requirements, BMR, again to advance to peer review. That's a proposal narrative, a budget detail worksheet and budget narrative, these are web-based forms. Read the solicitation carefully to know what can be funded and what will not be funded. Also required are curriculum vitae or resume for key personnel. Key personnel meaning the principal investigator and any or all co-principal investigators and key project staff. Additionally, every applicant is required to fill in SF-424 and SF-LLL lobbying form, without which, the application cannot be completed.
Next, we'll look at additional application requirements. There are plenty of other requirements that need to accompany your application for full consideration. While these aren't critical elements that would keep your applications from going to the review process, failure to include these items and others as they're applicable to your application may result in a less favorable review or a delay in releasing funds if awarded. Pages 11 through 17 of the solicitation describe all elements of an application. But among these other elements, these include a title page. And I'm mentioning that here because in addition to standard information such as the title, submission date, and principal investigator, the solicitation also requires the name of the collaborating organization applying for funding under the OJP solicitation and the title and location of the CVIPI application to be evaluated. So that needs to go on the title page. Additional application requirements also include a project abstract, goals, objectives, deliverables, and timeline. That's also a web-based form. [coughing] Excuse me. And strong letters of support from the entity applying to the OJP solicitations. And you would also need strong letters of cooperation or support or administrative agreement from organizations collaborating in the project, such as law enforcement or correctional agencies, if applicable. For example, if they're providing you with access to data or access to participants, these letters will require that those organizations will agree to the same data archiving requirements that you're asked to agree to as well. And you will also need to provide a complete list of all individuals in the application.
There are still other requirements that need to accompany application specifically for NIJ research proposal to receive full consideration. And again, pages 11 through 17 of the solicitation describe all elements of an application. And you can go and look there on that. A lot of these are very similar to what OJP was just describing as well. But including human subjects, protection, privacy certificates, a data archiving plan, those are critical, as well as Research and Evaluation Independence and Integrity statements. Sorry for confusion with slides. I went backwards.
So now I'll move on to the review process. So how will the applications be evaluated? There are six application evaluation criteria that we use. The first is the Statement of the Problem and the Research Questions. That's with 15%. Project Design, Implementation, that's 50%. Capabilities and Competencies is 20%. And Potential Impact is 15%. The dissemination plan and the budget are not given numeric scores, but they are considered. And I think my numbers were different from on the slide [INDISTINCT] and I double checked that information is in the solicitation.
As mentioned earlier, once the solicitation is closed, and it's gone through BMR, and met all those requirements, it moves on to external peer review. External peer reviewers use those previously described criteria to assess each application. Our external peer review is conducted by technical reviewers, so maybe academics or other researchers, and then also practitioner reviewers. NIJ's research is intended to be applied to criminal and juvenile justice and victim services. That's why we include practitioners on our peer review panels to help us determine if the research is feasible and if it's relevant. They also use the application evaluation criteria described on the previous slide. NIJ then uses the scores and comments and also conducts its own internal review of the applications. The internal review is completed by a team of science staff and leadership at NIJ, in addition to any other relevant experts that may include our colleagues across the Department of Justice or subject matter experts in the area. And they may review applications as relevant. After reviewing the applications themselves and then taking into consideration the scores and comments provided by external peer review panels as well as the budget, NIJ scientists then make funding recommendations to present to the NIJ director. I'll note that only projects that are selected for funding under the NIJ solicitation will ultimately be considered for funding of the evaluation proposal. And the NIJ director then decides which applications will be awarded funding. And it should be noted that all final funding decisions, again, are made at the discretion of the NIJ director.
There are other considerations that I have on a couple of slides here for you. They're basically just best practices in applying for funding. So just please read the solicitation carefully and supporting materials linked within it, and then read it again. So just that's what I included here, qualities of successful proposals include a rigorous research design, provide relevant literature, define important terms, clearly articulate research questions, and incorporate hypotheses as appropriate. Also, qualities of successful proposals describe data that will be used for the research, clearly show which data will be used for which measure, explain how measures will answer proposed questions, discuss the relevance of the study, and are free from typographical and grammatical errors. Please respond to every element in the solicitation and all required documents, attach them all and make sure they are complete. That is really, really important. Give yourself plenty of time to proofread and to make sure that absolutely everything that you mean to include is really included.
Just like with BJA, our application process has dual deadlines. We, last year, transitioned to a new grants management application submission system, JustGrants. So, the first one, step one, you need to submit an SF-424 and SF-LLL in Grants.gov. And the deadline to submit these two forms is June 7th, 2022, at 11:59 p.m., eastern. If you don't submit your forms in Grants.gov by these deadlines, the rest of your application in JustGrants will not be accepted. Next, you'll have to send a full application including all application attachments in JustGrants by June 21st, 2022, at 8:59 p.m., eastern. Note for those who've applied to NIJ frequently in the past, not 11:59, 8:59. So again, two deadlines. Please read the solicitation document carefully for further guidance, and read it again. I note that JustGrants is not an easy system to use, nor is it intuitive, so I do highly recommend you begin the process as soon as possible, if you haven't done so already. Late applications will not be accepted. Also, please register with both systems early. It can take a couple of weeks sometimes with delays when you're registering, so register early please.
And finally, to make sure that to make things easier for processing, please make sure to label your documents and attachments appropriately. If you're submitting a program narrative, please try to make sure the words “program narrative” are in your document title. And carefully read “How to Apply” section of the OJP grant application resource guide that's referenced in the solicitation. And for additional information, we provide these websites, one for the CVIPI solicitation, NIJ's funding website, JustGrants, and Grants.gov.
And I have other slides too that include important contact information for technical assistance in submitting the forms to Grants.gov and to JustGrants and for the OJP Response Center at NCJRS.
So, with that, I believe--oh, I wanted to mention there's a related funding opportunity. Applicants who are considering research and evaluation addressing community violence, other than evaluation of the outcome and impact of projects funded under the OJP solicitation may want to consider the following NIJ funding opportunity that seeks applications for research and evaluation projects, examining community and firearm violence prevention and intervention programs policies and legislation. NIJ's FY22 Research and Evaluation on Violent Crime and Firearm Violence in the Community solicitation seeks to fund research and evaluation that relates to community and firearm violence prevention and intervention programs, policies, and legislation. And the solicitation closes on May 20th in Grants.gov and June 3rd in JustGrants for the full application. And with that I will hand this back over, I believe to Leidos or Kathy, I'm not sure who is going next. I apologize. But thank you all.
DARYL FOX: Yes. Thanks, Jennifer. Thanks for that information. And thanks to all the panelists today that provided that informative information on the solicitation. So, I know we're at time today. So just wanted to reiterate, once again, if you do have questions, we're not going to actually be able to get to any today. But if you have questions regarding Grants.gov, JustGrants, or with the solicitation itself, eligibility, and such, then contact the OJP Response Center. We're going to leave this slide up for just a moment, as we close things out today. Also, a reminder that the recording, the PowerPoint, and the transcript for today's webinar will be posted to the BJA website. And also, as mentioned earlier, FAQ from the questions that will be cultivated from today's session will be posted to that site as well. So, everybody that registered today will be getting an email when those deliverables are posted to the site. So, keep a lookout for that in your email. So, with that, on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, our panelists, National Institute of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and OJP, we want to thank you for joining today's webinar. This will end today's presentation.