Research and Evaluation on School Safety, Fiscal Year 2021 | O NIJ 2021 44008

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2021 44008

The Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on School Safety, Fiscal Year 2021" supports rigorous research and evaluation projects aimed at understanding and preventing school violence. The central goal is to study the root causes of violence in school settings and to generate credible evidence about what improves safety. A key emphasis is evaluating the impact and effectiveness of awards made under the STOP School Violence Act, with NIJ signaling particular interest in approaches that have not been studied enough. Within that broader theme, NIJ highlights two priority areas: anti-violence interventions (programs or strategies intended to prevent or reduce violent behavior) and threat assessment (processes used to identify, assess, and manage risks of targeted violence).

The program is structured as a discretionary federal grant under CFDA 16.560, within the "Science and Technology and other Research and Development" activity category. NIJ expects to make about two awards, with an award ceiling of $1,000,000 per award. The opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2021-44008) was created on December 21, 2020, and had an original closing date of February 22, 2021. Because this is NIJ, the solicitation is oriented toward methodologically strong work, meaning applicants are expected to propose designs that can credibly answer causal or evaluative questions where possible, and that can produce findings useful to practitioners and policymakers working on school safety.

A major part of the solicitation involves expectations around partnerships and data stewardship. Applicants proposing research that involves partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other agencies are expected to include strong letters of support from each partner. These letters need to be signed by an appropriate decision-making authority, not just a project-level staff member, and they should demonstrate real commitment to participation. Importantly, the letters must also acknowledge a specific data requirement: any de-identified data derived from, provided to, or obtained through the project must be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the award. NIJ explicitly encourages applicants and partners to review NACJD policies and protections so that everyone understands how data will be handled, protected, and shared for long-term research value.

If an application is selected for funding, NIJ requires that grantees have a formal agreement in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2022. That agreement must include language ensuring the project can meet the data archiving requirement with NACJD. The solicitation also clarifies how to handle multi-entity collaborations financially: even if multiple agencies will be involved and federal funds will support work across partners, only one entity can apply as the official applicant. Any other participating organizations that will receive federal funds to carry out parts of the project must be listed and managed as subrecipients, rather than as co-applicants.

Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including entities other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities as described in the solicitation's additional eligibility information. Overall, the opportunity is designed to bring together researchers, schools, and public agencies to produce high-quality evidence on why school violence occurs, which prevention strategies work, and how STOP School Violence Act-funded efforts perform in real-world settings, while ensuring that de-identified project data are preserved for future research through NACJD.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on School Safety, Fiscal Year 2021" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 21, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 22, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O NIJ 2021 44008

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