BJA FY 23 Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision Program: Applying the Principles Behind Project HOPE | O BJA 2023 171621

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2023 171621

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), within the U.S. Department of Justice, offered the FY 2023 Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision Program: Applying the Principles Behind Project HOPE as a discretionary grant opportunity aimed at improving community supervision practices. The solicitation reflects the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) priorities around advancing civil rights and racial equity, expanding access to justice, supporting crime victims and people impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, responding to evolving public safety threats, and building trust between justice agencies and the communities they serve. At its core, the program is designed to help supervision agencies rethink how they respond to client behavior, using approaches that are grounded in research and data and that emphasize consistent, timely, and proportionate responses.

This opportunity focuses on translating the principles associated with Project HOPE into broader supervision settings by promoting strategies that are "swift, certain, and fair." In practice, that means jurisdictions are encouraged to create or refine policies where responses to violations or noncompliance happen quickly (swiftness), reliably and predictably (certainty), and in a way that is transparent, proportional, and procedurally just (fairness). Rather than relying on long delays, inconsistent sanctioning, or overly severe responses that can destabilize individuals and families, the SCF approach generally emphasizes clear expectations, consistent follow-through, and measured consequences paired with supports when appropriate. The intention is to improve supervision outcomes, lower recidivism, and reduce crime and incarceration while promoting the fair administration of justice.

BJA structured the solicitation to provide supervision agencies with information, resources, and training and technical assistance (TTA). A key theme is collaborative problem solving with local stakeholders, which often includes probation and parole, courts, prosecutors, defense and legal aid, law enforcement, treatment and service providers, and community representatives. The expectation is that agencies will use data to assess current supervision conditions and outcomes, identify where responses to behavior are not working or are producing inequitable impacts, and then implement research-informed improvements. This emphasis on data and stakeholder collaboration is meant to help jurisdictions move beyond one-off program changes and toward system-level practices that can be sustained and evaluated.

In terms of funding and scale, the grant listed an award ceiling of $800,000, with an anticipated five awards. The funding instrument type was a grant, and the opportunity fell under CFDA 16.828. The solicitation was created on February 23, 2023, with an original closing date of April 18, 2023. While the listing categorizes the funding activity under "Humanities (see Cultural Affairs in CFDA)," the substance of the program is clearly rooted in criminal justice supervision reform and public safety outcomes, particularly around improving responses to supervision behavior in ways that are effective and equitable.

Eligibility was broad and included state governments, county governments, city or township governments, and special district governments, as well as federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations. The solicitation also noted "Others" as potentially eligible, with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement. Overall, the program was positioned for agencies responsible for community supervision that are ready to implement structured, evidence-informed practices and use targeted TTA to support planning, implementation, and improvement.

For jurisdictions looking for concrete models and examples, BJA pointed applicants to a library of prior BJA-funded SCF projects hosted by the SCF Resource Center. Those examples can help applicants see how other sites have designed sanctioning matrices, improved violation response timelines, strengthened procedural fairness, integrated treatment and support services, and built data dashboards or performance measures to track results over time. The solicitation as a whole frames SCF not as a single rigid program, but as a set of principles and implementation supports intended to help local systems reduce reoffending and incarceration while improving legitimacy, fairness, and public trust.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 23 Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision Program: Applying the Principles Behind Project HOPE" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.828.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 23, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 18, 2023. (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 $800,000.00 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, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O BJA 2023 171621

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