NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation of Services for Victims of Crime | O NIJ 2022 171206

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2022 171206

The NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation of Services for Victims of Crime opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2022-171206; CFDA 16.560) is a discretionary grant program from the National Institute of Justice, developed in collaboration with the Office for Victims of Crime. It is designed to fund rigorous research and evaluation that strengthens the field of victim services and aligns with broader Department of Justice priorities such as advancing civil rights and racial equity, improving access to justice, supporting people harmed by crime and those impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, and increasing trust between law enforcement and communities. The core expectation is that applicants propose strong, methodologically sound studies that can produce credible evidence, actionable findings, and practical guidance for policy and practice.

Projects must fit clearly within one of three topic areas. The first area focuses on evaluating programs that provide services for victims of crime, which typically means assessing whether victim service interventions work, for whom they work, and under what conditions, including outcomes related to safety, wellbeing, stability, and access to supports. The second area targets research on supporting victims of community violence, emphasizing the needs and service responses for people harmed by violence in community settings and the systems that interact with them. The third area concerns the financial costs of crime victimization, supporting research that documents and analyzes the economic burden of victimization, which can include direct and indirect costs to victims, families, communities, service systems, and institutions. NIJ is looking for proposals that are not just descriptive, but analytically strong and capable of producing evidence that can improve services, inform resource decisions, and guide future investments.

Because many of these studies require real-world data and cooperation from agencies, the solicitation places heavy emphasis on partnerships and documentation of partner commitment. If the proposed research involves collaboration with criminal justice agencies or other organizations, the application is expected to include a strong letter of support from each partnering agency, signed by an appropriate decision-making authority. A key requirement is that these letters explicitly acknowledge that any de-identified data generated from, provided to, or obtained through the project will be archived with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the award. Applicants and partners are encouraged to review NACJD policies and protections in advance so there are no surprises later about data handling, confidentiality, and archiving expectations.

If an award is made, recipients are expected to have a formal agreement in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2023. That agreement must include provisions that ensure the project can meet the required data archiving obligations. The solicitation also clarifies how to structure multi-organization projects financially: only one entity can submit as the applicant, and any other participating organizations that will use federal funds to conduct parts of the work must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants. This is important for budgeting, compliance, and clear assignment of responsibility for performance and reporting.

Eligibility is broad across public, nonprofit, academic, and private-sector entities in the United States, including state, county, and city 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 small businesses); and other eligible entities. Federal agencies may apply as well, but if funded, the award would be issued as an inter-agency reimbursable agreement. Foreign governments, foreign organizations, and foreign colleges and universities are not eligible to apply. The solicitation notes that for the purposes of this funding, the term "state" includes U.S. states and several U.S. territories and jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The opportunity also incorporates a DOJ-wide condition tied to Executive Order 13929, Safe Policing for Safe Communities. To be eligible for FY 2022 DOJ discretionary funding, state, local, and university or college law enforcement agencies must either be certified by an approved independent credentialing body or have begun the certification process. To qualify, an agency must meet mandatory conditions related to use-of-force policies, including compliance with applicable laws and a prohibition on chokeholds except where deadly force is legally authorized. This requirement applies not only to direct recipients but also to law enforcement agencies receiving funds through subawards, so applicants proposing partnerships that involve law enforcement should plan early to confirm certification status and avoid eligibility or implementation problems.

In terms of funding parameters, the posted award ceiling is $3,000,000, and the original closing date for applications was May 6, 2022, with the opportunity created on March 18, 2022. Finally, the solicitation makes clear that all recipients and subrecipients, including for-profit organizations, must forgo any profit or management fee, reinforcing that the federal funds are intended to directly support the proposed research and evaluation work rather than generate profit.

• 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 of Services for Victims of Crime" 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 2022-03-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-05-06. (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 171206

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