Grant Details

The Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights, increases access to justice, supports crime victims, protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

The Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Response Program is part of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP). It is designated to support law enforcement–behavioral health cross-system collaboration and to improve public safety responses and outcomes for individuals with mental illness (MI) or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse (CMISA) who come into contact with the criminal justice system. BJA is seeking applicants to design or enhance a law enforcement–behavioral health response to people with MI and CMISA who come into contact with law enforcement due to their illness.

OJP will give priority consideration to applicants who propose the following:

• Project(s) that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to accessing services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. To receive this consideration, the applicant must describe how the proposed project(s) will address identified inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. Project activities under this consideration may include but are not limited to the following: improving victim services, justice responses, prevention initiatives, reentry services and other parts of an organization's or community's efforts to advance public safety. Applicants should propose activities that address the cultural (and linguistic, if appropriate) needs of communities, outline how the proposed activities will be informed by these communities, and implement culturally responsive and inclusive outreach and engagement.
• Projects that are implemented by a "population-specific organization" that serves a community that has been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. For purposes of this solicitation, population-specific organizations are either nonprofit, nongovernmental, or Tribal organizations that primarily serve members of a specific underserved population and have demonstrated experience and expertise in providing targeted services to members of that specific underserved population. To receive this additional priority consideration, either the lead applicant or at least one of the proposed subrecipients receiving at least 40% of awarded funds must be the designated population-specific organization. Further, applicants must describe how being a population-specific organization (or funding the population-specific subrecipient organization(s)) will enhance their ability to implement the proposed project(s), and should also specify which historically underserved populations are intended or expected to be served or have their needs addressed under the proposed project(s).

In addition, programmatic prioritiy areas for additional consideration include:

• Promote effective strategies by law enforcement to identify and reduce the risk of harm to individuals with MHDs or co-occurring MHSUDs who encounter law enforcement and improve public safety.
• Promote effective strategies for the identification and treatment of females who have been incarcerated with MHDs or co-occurring MHSUDs.
• Propose interventions that have been shown by empirical evidence to reduce recidivism. When appropriate, use validated assessment tools to target people who have been incarcerated with a moderate or high risk of recidivism and a need for treatment services.