FY24 Community Supervision Strategies Program

JEFF LOCKE: We'd like to officially welcome you to the Fiscal Year 2024 Community Supervision Strategies Program. Thank you for participating this afternoon. We're going to walk through key elements of the solicitation for your purposes. We'd ask that if you have questions that [you] provide those verbally at this point, we're going to ask that you provide those into the function into your Zoom program at Q&A at the bottom, you'll see. As well, we wanted to flag that you can add captioning at the bottom of your screen. Additionally, you can feel free to email me at jeffrey.locke, L-O-C-K-E, @usdoj.gov with any additional questions. And with that, we will turn to the next slide.

I wanted to note that this is a recording and thank you all. We'll make that available for information sharing purposes through our website.

Our presenters today include myself, Jeff Locke. I'm a Senior Policy Advisor with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, with our colleagues, Jonathan Kulick, Senior Research Scholar at NYU's Marron Institute, as well as Peggy Carey at the SCF Resource Center, Swift Certain Fair Resource Center Advisor at NYU. Next slide.

As we get going with the agenda here, I do want to mention just a big thanks to the Marron Institute, to NYU, for their longstanding partnership in training and technical assistance, which we're going to talk more about here in the slides to come with respect to the Swifter Certain Fair Resource Center. If you are awarded a grant with this program, it is not just an award; you are also provided training and technical assistance. We're going to talk more about that over the next hour. Our agenda today is fivefold. We're going to have a brief welcome and introduction to the Office of Justice Programs and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. We'll then discuss the program overview itself, the Community Supervision Strategies Program, formerly named the Swift, Certain, Fair, Program, Eligibility and Application Requirements, Application Resources. And finally, address questions and answers that are relevant for all interested parties. With that, we can turn to the next slide. We'll get going first with welcome and introductions. Next slide, please.

If you're unfamiliar, the Office of Justice Programs is one of three grant making components of the Department of Justice, alongside the Office on Violence Against Women and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. OJP provides an array of services, including but not limited to grant funding alongside. There are six program offices, which includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which is the host for this webinar today, and the solicitation that we're discussing. We are one of six program offices that include our sister agencies, which include the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office for Victims of Crime, OJJDP, dealing with juvenile justice issues, and the SMART Office. Next slide.

Our mission at BJA is to provide leadership in grant administration dealing with criminal justice issues, as well as policy development, work with states, locals, and tribal nations, our partners in the field. We are led by Director Karhlton Moore, who was an appointee by President Biden in 2022. Next slide, please.

We support the field primarily through four different vehicles. We fund, we educate, we equip, and we partner. What do we mean by that? We fund through initiatives such as today's solicitation, efforts to provide the field with needed supports. We educate or hold up what is working through experts and work that is being done in the field nationally. We equip, we provide different tools, such as the SCF Resource Center, providing folks who can do training and technical assistance work with you all in the field to better support your efforts and your goals in the realm of criminal justice. And we partner, that partnership looks a lot of different ways. You may see us at conferences. You may see us at site visits, in the field, hosting different forums such as this one and in other webinars and in-person meetings. We really look to you all, as to what you all need and seek to support everyone in the field through these types of vehicles. With that, I'll turn things over to the next slide here with Jonathan.

JONATHAN KULICK: Great. Thanks, Jeff. Congress passed the bipartisan Second Chance Act in 2008 and we authorized it in 2018 and Second Chance Act, or SCA, authorizes federal investment in strategies to reduce recidivism and increase public safety while reducing corrections costs for state and local governments. And as Jeff mentioned, OJP makes grants to fund initiatives and programs that assist people who are released from prisons and jails in addressing the needs and conditions that pose risk of re-offending, including mental health, substance use, housing, education, employment, and family support. And these grants also support the improvement of corrections and supervision practices that aim to reduce recidivism. Next slide, please.

So, this year, there are eight funding opportunities from BJA under the Second Chance Act, also two from OJJDP, and Community Supervision Strategies is one of them. Now, some project concepts that you might have could align with more than one of these funding opportunities, so we recommend that you read the solicitations carefully to see which is the best fit. Next slide, please.

So, as Jeff mentioned, a grant under the Community Supervision Strategies, comes with Training and Technical Assistance, or TTA, your TA from our group, the Swifter Certain Fair, or SCF Resource Center, at New York University. So the SCF Center is also funded by BJA to help Community Supervision Strategy grantees develop and implement their projects and to inform the field about issues and advances in community supervision. So, in addition to direct TA to CSS grantees, the SCF Center serves as a clearinghouse for resources and tools for community supervision practitioners and offers TA to agencies that don't have a CSS grant. And we also collaborate and coordinate with other BJA funded TA providers under the Second Chance Act. Next slide, please.

So, our TA is customized to each CSS grantee to best suit their project design and their particular circumstances. So, for example, the TA that we would provide to a small county probation department with a specialized caseload under its project would be different from the TA for a parole agency that is implementing statutory changes to supervision conditions statewide. But some elements of the TA will be the same for all grantees. Each grantee will be assigned a TA coach who will hold monthly calls with the grantee and be in regular contact by phone, video, or email whenever needed. Don't have to wait around for scheduled monthly calls. We conduct site visits to train staff, meet with stakeholders, including project clients or participants, and to observe operations. We will guide the grantee through preparation of their required action plan in the first six months of the grant. And throughout the life of the grant, we provide ongoing support in developing, implementing, and assessing their projects. Provide other resources as appropriate, such as sample policy documents. And we engage grantees with peer-to-peer assistants and facilitated visits and bring them into learning communities on matters of shared interests through video conferences and webinars. So the relationship isn't just between the grantee and BJA or the grantee of the SCF Center. We really hope that grantees can share their lessons learned with one another. Next slide, please.

So, now we'll take a closer look at the Community Supervision Strategies Program and this solicitation for grant proposals. Next slide, please.

This year, BJA expects to make up to seven awards under this solicitation. The maximum amount that could be requested is $900,000. But the budget and request should reflect the scope of the project and the proposed activities. The project period would be 36 months to begin this October. Next slide, please.

BJA has two main goals for Community Supervision Strategies Program. The first is do help community supervision agencies improve outcomes for their client. And the second is to have grantees develop and implement supervision strategies and employ the principles of swiftness, certainty, or fairness. These principles together are referred to as SCF, and as Jeff mentioned, this grant program used to be called SCF. Grantees are required to have an independent evaluator to assess how these strategies are implemented and what the outcomes are. Next slide, please.

So, this program supports grantees who have identified a target population that could benefit from resources for supervision, case management, and supportive services to help these clients succeed on supervision. The supervision strategies should incorporate the Swift, Certain, and Fair principles with appropriate responses to both positive and negative behaviors, including sanctions and rewards. Now, these responses should reflect local circumstances, including the resources and constraints, statutes, and community standards. So there's no one strategy that is best for all agencies, jurisdictions, and supervision populations. Solicitation is really looking for your ideas for what would work best in your community that is consistent with the principles of SCF. Next slide, please.

So, as we mentioned, these grants are meant to reduce recidivism, which promotes public safety and benefits participants and to improve client outcomes overall, not simply by completing supervision without re-offending. You'll need an external research partner to evaluate your strategies, implementation, and outcomes. Now, note that in a large agency with a separate researcher evaluation office, that department can be the evaluator if it is independent of the implementing office. So, external really is just with respect to the people who are implementing the project. Next slide, please. 

So, past grantees have applied these SCF principles to a wide variety of target populations, addressing particular local concerns with a corresponding variety of strategies and uses of grant funds. So, a few examples are shown here and they illustrate that one grantee is in a community court, which has a large share of repeat chronic defendants with high needs and housing and behavioral health among others. This grantee is using SCF principles to help its clients find and take advantage of resources that enable them to comply with their conditions of supervision. Other grantees are more focused on clients with substance use disorder using SCF principles to help them maintain participation in treatment and to stay in recovery housing. And another grantees supervises the pretrial population using SCF principles to ensure that the participants report for court appearances and comply with other conditions of pretrial release. And note that these are just three illustrative examples. There is a quite wide universe of possible applications of SCF. Next slide, please.

So, BJA provides priority consideration to applications that propose projects that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to access services and opportunities for communities that have been history underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. Now there's more detail in the solicitation. So note that to receive this consideration, the applicant should show how the proposed projects will address the identified inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities. So activities may include, these are just examples, including victim services, justice responses, prevention initiatives, reentry services, and other parts within organizations or community's efforts to advance public safety. Activities should also address the culture and, if appropriate, linguistic needs of communities. Outline how the proposed activities will be informed by these communities, and implement culturally-responsive and inclusive outreach and engagement. Next slide, please. 

So, we'll now turn to the details of the solicitation and application requirements. And I now leave you with a colleague, Peggy Carey. Peggy?

PEGGY CAREY: Hi, everybody. How are you today? Go ahead and advance the slide. The eligible applicants, and I know you can read this, but I don't want to miss anybody, so I'm going to read it with you, is state governments, specialized district governments, city or township governments, county governments, Native American tribal governments that are federally recognized. It also says “other”, for the purposes of this solicitation, "other" refers to an organizing body or association of supervision agencies that may submit a single application for a Smart Supervision project engaging more than one supervision office, district, or agency entity, and the application must have capacity to administer the award and include a Memorandum of Understanding, or Letter of Intent from each entities' chief executive. So one of the things I always say at the beginning of looking at what grants are available is make sure you fit one of those eligible applicants before you go ahead and write that solicitation. Advance, please.

Now, Application Requirements. There are certain things. At the bottom of the slide, you see, "See the grant solicitation for more requirements." My recommendation is always print out the grant solicitation, read it, and then read it again, marking the things that are important. These solicitations are very detailed. The solicitation is 26 pages. Don't let that derail you from applying. It gives all kinds of information on what you need to do, how you need to do it. It gives information on help lines that you can call. If you have questions about various different help that you need doing it, it has definitions of each of these things that we're going to go over. It even has links to videos, if there's questions on anything that you need to do. So the solicitation is really your guideline and really assist you in doing this. The absolute requirements, there are many other things that you can include but requirements are Proposal Abstract, the Narrative, a Budget Worksheet and Narrative which is done on the web, and an Application for Federal Assistance. SCF-424. And if you don't know what an SCF-424 is, you can look it up online, it'll explain to you what it is. There's also an SCF-LLL—or an SF, sorry, LLL. I tend to say SCF, sorry. SF-LLL, which is the lobbying form. Let me give you a hint on that. It asks who your lobbyist is. If you do not have a lobbyist, simply put N/A on the form. So those are some of the things that are needed. Advance slide.

The Project Abstract is a summary of what you're going to do. You want to write it in the third person because if you are funded, if your project is funded, will be published on the OJP website. Please include who you are, what your problem is, what you're proposing to do to help resolve that problem. So it's a simple 400-word or less overview of your project. Advance slide.

The Proposal Narrative has several different things. If you have the solicitation, just to let you know, it's pages 13 to 15 on the solicitation. The Project Abstract was page 12. This Proposal Narrative is between pages 13 and 15. It starts with a Statement of the Problem. What is the problem, what evidence is there that there's a problem, what can you support with data, and basically how do you know what that problem is? It then goes on to Project Design and Implementation. You describe the strategy to address the community supervision problem or need and describe the requested priority consideration if you are going to apply for the priority consideration. This project design and application answers the questions what will you do, what are you looking at to do to address the problem, and how will you do it. So those are the things that you cover in that. Again, in the solicitation, there's a long paragraph on, more specifically, other things that you would address in that situation. But that's the basic thing. Next slide.

Capabilities and Competencies. Capabilities and competencies is what resources, skills, and experiences makes your jurisdiction able to do this? So what experience do you have doing this sort of project, managing funding, things like that that lets the OJP and BJA know that you have capabilities and competencies to do this. What is your plan for collecting required data on performance measures? Needs to include who will collect the data. That doesn't need to be a specific name. It can be the position of the person who is going to do that. So who is going to collect the data? How will you collect the data? Are you using a computer-based system? Are you using a spreadsheet? Those kind of things. Just because it does require data, you do not have to answer the questions on the performance measures during the grant application process, but you do have to because there is an evaluation requirement for this grant, have to show what your plan is for collecting that required data. And then what is your timeline for project goals, objectives, and deliverables? And that's on page 15. Who is your target population? What is your design for implementation? What are your supervision strategies? How are you going to reduce recidivism? And how are you going to evaluate the effectiveness of this program? It just shows that you've thought about this is a 36-month program, how are you going to go through that 36 months? What are your goals? What are your objectives? What are your deliverables? And how are you going to go about doing things? Next slide.

And then there are two deliverables in the grant proposal that you will need to provide if you are funded by the project. The first is an action plan that is due within the first six months after you're funded. As Jonathan said earlier, the Swift, Certain, and Fair technical, training assistance office can help you develop that action plan, so that you have a plan to follow while you are implementing the program. And then at the end of the grant period, you need to do a final report that documents the process, the interventions, the outcomes, your evaluation findings, and lessons that you've learned. One other thing is that there are quarterly performance measurement tool that you will complete on a web-based form. That is simply answering some data questions throughout the project period. Next slide. And I will turn it back to Jonathan.

JONATHAN KULICK: All right. Thanks, Peggy. So applications will first be reviewed for basic technical requirements. Is the applicant eligible? Is the proposal responsive to the scope of the solicitation? And is the funding request appropriate? So the applications that meet those basic criteria are then sent to external peer reviewers who will evaluate them on six criteria. And this is largely, I mean, well, have you taken Peggy's advice on preparing your application? So the scoring rubric is there on the slide, and there are six criteria. 

So, the first is a Statement of the Problem. That is, does the applicant understand the program or issue to be addressed? The second is Project Design and Implementation. Are the proposed strategies and activities clearly thought out and explained? And this includes information which is provided in the goals, objectives, timelines, and deliverables web form, which is in JustGrants and was explained in the solicitation. The third criteria is Capabilities and Competencies. Does the applicant have the administrative and technical capacity to successfully accomplish the goals and objectives in the proposal? The fourth is the Plan for Collecting the Data Required for Performance Measures, or does the applicant understand the performance data reporting requirements and have a plan for collecting the required data? Fifth criterion is the Budget. Is it complete? Is it cost effective? And are all the expenses allowable? That is are the expenses reasonable, allocable, and necessary for project activities? And, finally, its Impact and Outcomes, Evaluation, and Sustainability. So does the applicant understand and have a plan to employ data to assist with analyzing the problem, implement effective solutions, and draw conclusions about the project's effectiveness? And now back to Jeff.

JEFF LOCKE: Thank you, Jonathan. Let's now turn to Application Resources. Next slide please. 

Particularly for new applicants, we wanted to raise up the OJP Grant Application Resource Center. This website is available if you search-engine it. But I want to pay particular attention and point out the right side of your screen, which has a load of links that are really worth digging in on, particularly if you're a new applicant. These are key resources to understanding everything that has been discussed thus far: application elements, attachments, financial information, review information, federal award administration information, programmatic information, other information dealing with privacy, et cetera, from kind of a writ large perspective as you move forward with OJP-related grants. Next slide please. 

Additionally, JustGrants is the Department's Grants Management System for several offices, including the Office of Justice Programs. This page, we wanted to raise up and point out because it offers trainings, FAQs, user supports, resources, news, and updates. You can attend different virtual trainings that are forthcoming. And we wanted to kind of flag this as another piece as you're considering what does the grant management side look like, application side look like? What are the payment management issues? And this is a resource that's available to the field. Next slide please. 

We recognize that these are considerable applications that require a lot of work. We want to make sure that we provide you with assistance on technical-related questions through two different vehicles. So Grants.gov, Peggy earlier was talking about SF-424s and SF-LLLs. They are available through a Customer Support Hotline with different numbers there on the slide, as well as an email address that is monitored. We encourage any questions on those issues to go through to Grants.gov. Additionally, JustGrants has its own technical assistance supports. We recognize that you're going to be dealing with a different tech system that maybe you're used to dealing with. We have a customer support hotline with ours on the slide made available, as well as a monitored email address there at the bottom of the slide for you all as well. Next slide please. 

We encourage you to subscribe for updates on Office of Justice-related programs activities to receive different newsletters and emails on forthcoming opportunities. You can also text OJP your email address to the number provided here to subscribe. There within are some of the documents that you'll get access to that are on a certain frequency and routine basis that are sent out by the department, as well as OJP. Next slide please. 

You can also follow us on various social media, Facebook, X, YouTube. You can take a picture of—or use the QR code, rather—on this slide to automatically subscribe to updates as well. Our website, www.bja.ojp.gov, obviously, has access to the solicitation and can connect you to other resources there. Next slide please. 

Additional questions that you may have. We also have an OJP Response Center. This response center is available through this email address here on the slide. Toll-free numbers, TTY numbers made available here with operating hours. Now, we flagged three different vehicles to assist with applications. So I want to ask that we move to the next slide. 

We're going to revisit these assistance points of entry in just a moment. But I do want to underscore that there are two steps to this process requiring two different deadlines. When you review the application, please note these two deadlines. For step one, submitting an SF-424 and an SF-LLL at Grants.gov, that has an associated deadline with the application. Step two, the full application with attachments through JustGrants, through this process, JusticeGrants.us doj.gov. Please know that that also has a specific deadline as well. We urge you to read the solicitation carefully for further guidance on when those deadlines are as we must honor those. Next slide. 

So this is the slide that I think if you want to take a picture of anything in particular today, I would recommend this slide, which is we've consolidated the various reference guides that we've broken apart here in the run-up. These are your important contacts as you triage different questions with respect to technical questions with the application. We'll pause a moment here so that if you do want to take a photo or write some of this down, that you'll have access to this. Certainly, we'll make this recording available through the website as well.

PEGGY CAREY: I'd like to add, don't wait until the last day to call these hotline numbers because the wait time will be very long with other people who have waited until the last day. So read the solicitation, get started, and as you need help, call the hotlines as quickly as you can.

JONATHAN KULICK: That is the voice of experience.

PEGGY CAREY: That is the voice of experience who once spent a very long time on a hotline because I waited, and I learned not to wait.

JEFF LOCKE: Thank you for that sage wisdom, Peggy. Next slide please. 

Well, we have had questions come in throughout this presentation that we've provided answers to. We want to thank you all for the questions that have been provided both in advance but also today. I'm not seeing any additional ones here.

JONATHAN KULICK: Jeff. Jeff, we have a couple questions that weren't answered in the text. I'll just note the ones that have already been answered. Someone asked if the presentation could be emailed to them. The presentation and the webinar recording will be posted to the webinar webpage in a couple of days. Another question was, "Can applicants select their own research partner or does BJA select the researcher?" And as noted in the solicitation, applicants may select their own or they can work with the SCF center to find one. And there was a question about eligibility, and it's in the solicitation. Any agency that does probation, parole, or pretrial supervision, or related supervision in the community, such as prosecutor-led diversion. And, Jeff, there are a few questions, I think, that are better suited for you. The first is, "Does this funding opportunity provide coverage for staff training and would it provide coverage for food and beverages at trainings?"

JEFF LOCKE: Yeah, thanks, Jonathan. I got these here at the ready. Yeah, staff trainings are allowable activities under this grant, provided they are germane to the focal point of this exercise. There's a question around delineating subrecipients and subgrantees. We would note that if you are planning to partner as part of your exercise, that you extolled what you're attempting to do with such partnership. And finally, "Do juvenile services fall into potential funding services?" Again, the Second Chance Act funds a number of different activities. This program—and, Jonathan, you may want to provide more context here historically under SCF—but it's one that's focused on adults. But, Jonathan, let me turn to you for additional historical perspectives.

JONATHAN KULICK: Right. So juvenile services can be a little fuzzy depending on the state and their definition of juveniles and where the transition from the juvenile to the adult criminal justice system is. So there can be a bit of a gray area there if you have somebody who was adjudicated as a juvenile but then ages out and is under adult supervision. But the short answer is no. This is not intended for a juvenile justice system. OJJDP has related funding opportunities. But if it's in a gray area, that could be a question to address to one of those contacts that Jeff noted.

PEGGY CAREY: I'd also like to note, as part of the training question, no, food and drinks cannot be purchased with BJA funding, so, anyway, for clients, for staff. No food and drinks can be purchased with that funding.

JONATHAN KULICK: Right. Just as a technical matter, if you are traveling under this grant, then there is a meals and incidental expense per diem reimbursement, but there is no direct reimbursement for food purchases. There's a long story there. And, Jeff, I see there's another question that just came in at the bottom. Do you about eligibility?

JEFF LOCKE: Yeah. Again, there's a question on eligibility with respect to nonprofit organizations providing supervision services. Again, I would emphasize to read the solicitation, the solicitation lays out eligible entities. All to say partnerships through this program have been a key historically through the Swift, Certain, and Fair effort. Certainly under its renamed Community Supervision Strategies, that remains a key element, collaboration across agencies and entities. So without knowing further about that, we would just say please revisit the eligibility requirements and would encourage you to review the solicitation. But I do think that may wrap us up here.

JONATHAN KULICK: No. We have one more, but I will field it. It says, "Will the training and technical assistance and the resource center be in-person, virtual, or a combination of both?" It is a full spectrum training and technical assistance. So we are available by any communications medium. We do in-person training and site visits. Really, whatever is most helpful to the grantee. So short answer is both.

JEFF LOCKE: Great. With that, we want to thank everyone for your participation this afternoon. Moreover, we want to thank you for what you're doing in the field of criminal justice that brought you to today's discussion. We want to thank our partners at NYU for their partnership in TTA services as part of the resource center. Again, many thanks for your interest in participating in this afternoon. Thank you for the questions. And we look forward to working with many of you here through this program and others moving forward. Thanks again.