NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on Hate Crimes | O NIJ 2022 171191

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2022 171191

The NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on Hate Crimes solicitation is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). It is designed to fund rigorous research and evaluation that can strengthen the field's ability to prevent and respond to hate crimes and to lessen their harms. The broader policy frame emphasized in the announcement is OJP's commitment to civil rights and racial equity, improved access to justice, stronger support for victims and justice-involved individuals, safer communities, and greater trust between law enforcement and the public. Within that context, NIJ is looking for studies that produce credible, actionable evidence that practitioners and policymakers can use.

NIJ signals three priority research directions, while still allowing applicants to propose other relevant hate-crime topics. First, the agency is particularly interested in work that helps explain hate crime offending and reoffending, including the drivers, contexts, pathways, and potential points of intervention that could reduce future incidents. Second, NIJ wants research that identifies strategies to improve how hate crimes are reported, investigated, and prosecuted, which can include system-level barriers to reporting, investigative practices, data quality issues, victim and witness interactions, decision-making at key points in the case process, and promising approaches that increase accountability and case outcomes. Third, NIJ highlights the need to better address the needs of hate crime victims and their communities, which can cover victim services, trauma and recovery, community-level impacts, culturally responsive supports, and approaches that reduce fear and retaliation while improving access to help.

A major operational requirement in the solicitation involves partnerships and data stewardship. Projects that involve partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other agencies are expected to include strong letters of support from each partnering organization, signed by an appropriate decision-making authority. These letters are not meant to be generic; they should explicitly acknowledge that de-identified data connected to the project (data generated by the study, provided to the study, or obtained through the study) will be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the award. Applicants are encouraged to review NACJD policies and protections ahead of time so that the research design, data management plans, consent and privacy protections, and agency agreements align with the archiving requirement. If an award is made, the grantee is expected to have a formal agreement in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2023, and that agreement must include language ensuring the project can meet the NACJD data archiving obligations.

The solicitation also clarifies how to structure multi-organization projects. Only one entity can be the applicant for an NIJ award. If multiple agencies will use federal funds to carry out the work, the other participating entities must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants. This matters for budgeting, accountability, and compliance, because the primary recipient carries responsibility for award conditions, reporting, and the required data archiving.

Eligibility is broad across public, nonprofit, and private sectors, reflecting NIJ's research mission. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including entities other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other eligible entities as defined in the solicitation. Federal agencies are also eligible, but any award to a federal agency would be made through an inter-agency reimbursable agreement rather than a standard grant. Foreign governments, foreign organizations, and foreign colleges and universities are not eligible to apply.

A notable compliance condition tied to DOJ policy is the Safe Policing for Safe Communities certification requirement implementing Executive Order 13929. For FY 2022 DOJ discretionary grants, state, local, and campus law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body, or must have started the certification process, to be eligible. The certification hinges on two mandatory conditions: the agency's use-of-force policies must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and those policies must prohibit chokeholds except where deadly force is legally permitted. Importantly, this requirement also applies when law enforcement agencies receive DOJ discretionary funds through a subaward, so project teams that include law enforcement partners as subrecipients need to account for this early in planning.

On funding basics, the opportunity is a grant in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category (CFDA 16.560). The opportunity number is O-NIJ-2022-171191, it was created March 8, 2022, and the original closing date listed is April 25, 2022. The listed award ceiling is $3,000,000. Finally, the solicitation includes a restriction that all recipients and subrecipients, including for-profit organizations, must forgo any profit or management fee, meaning funds must be used for allowable project costs rather than profit-taking.

• The National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on Hate Crimes" 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 2022-03-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-04-25. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

Apply for O NIJ 2022 171191

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