Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation, Fiscal Year 2020 | NIJ 2020 17329

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2020 17329

The Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation, Fiscal Year 2020 (Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2020 17329) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ). It was released on February 4, 2020, with an application deadline of May 4, 2020. The program sits at the intersection of law and justice, science and technology, and broader research and development, and it is cataloged under CFDA 16.560.

The core purpose of this solicitation is to fund planning grants, meaning the money is intended to help applicants design and prepare new research or evaluation projects rather than to immediately carry out large-scale, long-term studies. NIJ is looking for proposals that focus specifically on the realities of Indian country and Alaska Native Villages, where public safety and justice challenges can differ from those in other jurisdictions because of factors like geography, resource constraints, jurisdictional complexity, and community-specific historical and cultural contexts. The emphasis is on developing new and innovative research or evaluation ideas that can ultimately help communities prevent and respond to crime and strengthen justice systems in these settings.

A major goal of the program is capacity building: increasing the ability of tribes and their partners to conduct rigorous research and evaluation that is credible, useful, and methodologically sound. NIJ is explicitly trying to foster new tribal-researcher partnerships, then support those partnerships as they develop shared research agendas, define questions that matter locally, and create plans for generating actionable evidence. The expectation is that these planning efforts will lead to stronger future projects and produce new knowledge, strategies, and tools tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of Indian country and Alaska Native Villages.

Eligibility is broad and includes federally recognized Native American tribal governments, public and private institutions of higher education, state and local governments (including counties, cities or townships, and special districts), nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status), and for-profit organizations other than small businesses. The listing also notes an “Others” category with additional eligibility details referenced in the full solicitation. This wide eligibility reflects the program’s partnership-driven approach, where tribal governments, researchers, and other justice or service stakeholders may come together in different configurations to plan high-quality research or evaluation work.

From a funding standpoint, the maximum award amount is $500,000 per grant, and NIJ anticipated making about five awards. Overall, the solicitation is designed to strengthen the pipeline of well-designed, community-relevant research and evaluation projects in tribal settings by investing early in partnership formation, project design, and planning work that can support effective, evidence-based approaches to public safety and justice in Indian country and Alaska Native Villages.

• 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 "Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation, 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 04, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 04, 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 $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 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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