BJA FY24 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program | O BJA 2024 171978

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2024 171978

The BJA FY24 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), focused on improving how justice systems and behavioral health systems work together when responding to people with mental health disorders (MHDs) and people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (MHSUDs). The core idea is cross-system collaboration: bringing law enforcement, courts, corrections, community supervision, and treatment and service providers into a coordinated approach that improves public safety while also improving individual outcomes. Rather than treating mental health and substance use needs as separate from justice involvement, this program is designed to help communities create practical partnerships and shared strategies that reduce harmful cycles like repeated crisis calls, arrests, bookings, and reentry failures linked to unmet treatment needs.

Funding under this solicitation is intended to support jurisdictions and their partners in building or strengthening comprehensive, collaborative plans and then implementing those plans through projects that target eligible populations. In practical terms, this can include preparing new joint protocols and infrastructure (such as agreements, referral pathways, shared training, and coordinated case planning) and also expanding or enhancing existing initiatives that already connect justice and behavioral health. The program’s emphasis is not just on services in isolation, but on system-level coordination that leads to better decisions at key interception points, such as during crisis response, post-arrest decisions, court processing, incarceration and jail-based care coordination, and reentry planning.

The opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number O-BJA-2024-171978 and CFDA 16.745. It is categorized as a grant (Funding Instrument Type: Grant) and is administered by BJA. The posted award ceiling is $550,000, with an expectation of approximately 25 awards. The solicitation was created on February 14, 2024, and the original closing date was May 9, 2024. While the Funding Activity Category is labeled as “Humanities” in the source data, the program itself is clearly positioned as a justice and behavioral health collaboration initiative intended to improve public safety responses and outcomes for people experiencing mental health and co-occurring disorders.

Eligibility is broad across public-sector entities and certain partners. Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. The listing also includes “Others,” but there is an important condition for agencies that do not have a typical governmental legal status, such as nonprofit or for-profit mental health agencies. Those organizations can apply only if they meet two specific requirements: first, the applicant must be designated by the state mental health authority to provide services as a unit of state or local government; second, the application must include documentation that proves and supports that designation. This requirement is meant to ensure that non-governmental behavioral health organizations applying directly are formally acting in a government-designated capacity, rather than as independent private entities without that official relationship.

Overall, this grant opportunity supports communities that want to strengthen the way justice and behavioral health systems coordinate, with the goal of safer, more effective responses for individuals with MHDs or MHSUDs. It backs both planning and implementation work, encourages collaboration across agencies that often operate separately, and prioritizes approaches that improve outcomes for individuals while also improving system performance and public safety.

• The Bureau of Justice Assistance in the humanities sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY24 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.745.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-09. (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 $550,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Others.

Apply for O BJA 2024 171978

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