Research on the Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Elderly Individuals, Fiscal Year 2020 | NIJ 2020 17328

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2020 17328

The Department of Justice, through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), offered this Fiscal Year 2020 discretionary grant opportunity to support research and evaluation projects focused on the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly individuals. The main purpose is to strengthen what is known about elder abuse in its different forms and to build credible evidence on which prevention strategies actually work. In other words, NIJ is looking for studies that deepen understanding of how elder abuse happens, why it happens, who is most at risk, and what interventions, policies, or practices reduce harm and prevent future victimization.

The opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2020 17328) falls under research and development as well as law, justice, and legal services. It supports projects that can generate actionable findings for practitioners and policymakers, not just theoretical insights. The solicitation emphasizes both research (to better understand the problem) and evaluation (to test the effectiveness of responses). While the text does not list specific required topics in the excerpt provided, the framing makes clear that competitive proposals would likely address issues such as identifying patterns and contexts of abuse, measuring prevalence or underreporting, understanding offender and victim dynamics, and assessing the real-world impact of prevention and intervention efforts.

NIJ anticipated that at least $2 million would be available for this solicitation, with the possibility of additional support coming from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division. The expected number of awards was three, suggesting a relatively competitive process with an emphasis on funding a small set of higher-impact projects. The maximum award amount (ceiling) was $2,000,000 per award, indicating NIJ was open to substantial, multi-year or multi-site research designs when well-justified by scope and potential impact.

Eligibility was broad and included a wide range of public, private, academic, and nonprofit entities. Eligible applicants included state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories as stated); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and other eligible entities as further clarified in the solicitation. This broad eligibility signals that NIJ intended to encourage partnerships across universities, research organizations, service providers, and justice system agencies, which is often important for accessing data, implementing evaluations, and ensuring findings translate into practice.

Key administrative details include a creation date of February 20, 2020, and an original application deadline of April 20, 2020. The program is associated with CFDA number 16.560 (National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants). Overall, the grant opportunity is best understood as an investment in rigorous evidence-building around elder abuse, with the practical goal of improving prevention strategies and strengthening justice and victim-service responses through research-informed decision-making.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research on the Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Elderly Individuals, Fiscal Year 2020" 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 Feb 20, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 20, 2020. (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 $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 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), 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, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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