Federal Law Justice and Legal Services Grants

This competition provides funding to community organizations, governments, and academic institutions to develop innovative solutions that improve access to legal services for rural residents facing significant barriers to justice.

This grant provides funding to nonprofit organizations and individuals to enhance the safety and capacity of journalists in Costa Rica who report on organized crime.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) invites applicants who received an official request from BJA to apply for funding to continue work on a specific prior grant award. This correspondence would have been sent to you with instructions to apply to this solicitation. All programs will follow guidelines detailed in the original solicitation under which funding was provided. The scope, purpose, award amount, and performance period of the new project will be substantially the same as the previous one.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Army Research Lab (ARL) is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI.Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. ARL will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. It is the respondent's responsibility to ensure that the submitted material has been approved for public release by the information owner.The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is the Government obligated to issue a solicitation based on responses received. Neither proprietary nor classified concepts or information should be included in the submittal.The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking information on interdisciplinary theories and models for collective influences on human judgment during information processing tasks and prior to collective decision making. This RFI is issued for planning purposes only, and it does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or suggest the procurement of any material, data sets, etc. The following sections of this announcement contain details on the specific scientific areas of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses.Background and Scope:During information processing tasks, the formation of judgments on the utility of information from a wide variety of sources by analysts (working alone or in teams) is influenced by (a) other people in their networks, (b) the available information they consume, (c) potential interactions with virtual agents, and (d) their own internal predispositions based on background, training, and values. These analysts capabilities and performance on such tasks can be expanded and augmented through intelligent systems or information agents leveraging technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs) or through additional information gained from social media and social networking platforms. However, such human-agent teaming approaches can lead to the emergence of new biases and challenges surrounding the reliability of such judgments made to accept/reject each piece of information being processed. These phenomena reside at the conscious and subconscious levels, further expounding the challenges to understand their impact on judgment formation.This RFI seeks to elicit interdisciplinary perspectives on the judgment formation process in the context of analysts being embedded in larger communities and inundated with algorithmically driven information.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for educational programs aimed at training child protection professionals, including social workers, law enforcement, and healthcare providers, to better identify and address child abuse and trauma.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations working to improve whistleblower protections and reporting mechanisms in North Macedonia to combat corruption and enhance the rule of law.

Nigeria is ranked 8th most impacted country by terrorism globally according to the 2023 Global Terrorism index. Groups like ISIS West Africa (ISIS-WA) and Boko Haram have committed horrendous atrocities like massacres and mass killings, use of sexual violence and enslavement, suicide bombings, abductions, and forced conscription. These atrocities, especially in Nigerias northern region, have caused widespread fear among citizens, worsened a humanitarian crisis, and increased gross violations of human rights. To hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Justice has assigned the prosecution of terrorism and atrocities cases to the ministrys Complex Case Group. Furthermore, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which has jurisdiction over terrorism cases, has assigned a number of judges to adjudicate these cases. Nigerias Legal Aid Council (LACON) also provides defense to the persons charged with committing atrocities. In addition to these, the National Human Rights Commission is tasked with the responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights and the investigation of human rights violations. Thousands of terrorism cases in Nigeria remain backlogged. The backlog results from prosecutors and judges limited knowledge of prosecuting atrocities cases. Existing cases languish because of institutional administrative problems, including Nigerian judges transcribing court proceedings by hand, resulting in delays and errors. Lawyers at the Legal Aid Council also have limited specialized training which contributes to delays in the process and lack of proper defense for suspects. Detainees are kept in government detention facilities located at significant distances from the government officials responsible for the prosecution, defense and judgements, creating significant logistical challenges. Poor case management, disorganized court administration, and a lack of coordination between the Complex Case Group, Federal High Court, and the Joint Investigative Center (the unit responsible for investigating terrorism cases comprised of military, police and state security service investigators) further impede progress on atrocity cases.

This program is intended to serve to sustain the operational capability of the Somalia Police Force (SPF) counterterrorism units that have received training, equipping, and mentoring using CT funds. Program objectives are separated into three parts. 1) Continued training and mentoring to the SPF Forensic Science Lab (FSL). The selected implementer will be asked to deploy certified latent print and digital evidence subject matter experts to continue to work with FSL as it supports evidence-based counterterrorism investigations in Mogadishu. 1) Sustain logistical support to CT-funded SPF units This includes equipment maintenance and vehicle maintenance, consumables (including fuel, lab chemicals, and reagents, computer software licenses and updates, enabler capabilities including electronic countermeasures (ECM) system maintenance and support, and ammunition). This also includes tracking and monitoring Leahy vetting, collating stipend spreadsheets for pay out by a separate implementer, and, 1) Provide continued monitoring, evaluation, and oversight of weapons and ammunition as required by law. This involves monthly or quarterly (to be determined later) equipment verifications and reporting. This also includes managing a secure storage space and logging controlled items checked into and out of implementer custody. (Using the allocated budget, the selected implementer will be expected to maintain this or another storage space build to the same international standards. The estimated cost for this space is $7-10,000/month.

This funding opportunity provides resources to develop a standardized training curriculum for new corrections staff to effectively prevent and respond to sexual abuse and harassment in various confinement facilities across the country.

The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by the nations state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources. The COPS Office is pleased to announce that it is seeking applications for funding for the FY24 CPD Accreditation: Supporting Law Enforcement Agencies in Seeking Accreditation program. Community Policing Development (CPD) funds are used to develop the capacity of law enforcement to implement community policing strategies by providing guidance on promising practices through the development and testing of innovative strategies; building knowledge about effective practices and outcomes; and supporting new, creative approaches to preventing crime and promoting safe communities. FY24 Supporting Law Enforcement Agencies in Seeking Accreditation program will grant CPD funding directly to state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies to support costs related to obtaining law enforcement accreditation from an existing accreditation entity.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to support state, local, and Tribal correctional agencies to adopt and achieve full compliance with the National PREA Standards to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment, to ensure that the state will be able to submit a certification of full compliance in future years (see 34 U.S.C. 30307(e)(2)(B)).

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to provide logistical and administrative support to INL-Belize capacity building programs that provide training and other relevant activities to participants with the goal of enhancing the capacity of governmental institutions and to reduce crime. The logistics and administrative support services required are for programs implemented within the country of Belize only.

This initiative provides funding to Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities to develop comprehensive strategies for addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on their campuses.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations working to strengthen the capabilities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's customs and border officers in combating illicit mineral smuggling and fraud.

With this solicitation, BJA is seeking applications to support DOJs Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) to engage the full range of criminal justice policymakers and practitioners in the development of innovative strategies to improve the justice information and criminal intelligence sharing and technology capabilities of state, local, Tribal, territorial agencies and associated disciplines.

This grant provides funding for a research initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of a decision-making tool in correctional facilities, specifically for organizations already involved in the project.

This initiative provides funding for organizations to deliver training and technical assistance aimed at improving responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, and related issues across the United States.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to various organizations for updating and improving resources that assist communities in developing effective Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs to better serve survivors of sexual assault.

This funding opportunity supports nonprofit organizations and educational institutions in conducting research to improve access to sexual assault medical forensic care and services across the United States.

Agency Name: Bureau of Counterterrorism Description: The Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications for a design-build project for the building of several prefabricated facilities and renovations of others for counterterrorism police assistance in Somalia. Link to Additional Information: Link to Opportunity in MyGrants Grantor Contact Information: If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact: McCabeM@state.gov