U.S. Department of Justice: Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program

The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) seeks to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse treatment systems to increase access to mental health and other treatment services for individuals with mental illness (MI) or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse (CMISA). The program promotes officer and public safety through the coordination of system resources for people who are accessing multiple services including hospital emergency departments, jails, and mental health crisis services. JMHCP promotes cross-discipline training for justice and treatment professionals; and facilitates communication, collaboration, and the delivery of support services among justice professionals, and treatment and related service providers.

JMHCP will accept applications in three categories (defined below). For each category, applications must include how the proposed program will address opioid abuse reduction. Where opioid abuse is not a current issue for jurisdictions, applications should provide how such a problem might be addressed in the future.

Category 1: Collaborative county approaches to reducing the prevalence of individuals with serious mental illness in jails. The objective of this category is to increase and maintain jail capacity for violent offenders and develop a systemwide coordinated approach to safely reduce the prevalence of low risk individuals with MI and CMISA in local jails. Upon receiving a grant award and within eight months of receiving final approval of the project’s budget, spend up to $100,000 to support Phase 1 planning activities, receive intensive technical assistance from BJA’s national training and technical assistance provider, and follow and document the steps laid out in the Category 1 Planning and Implementation Guide (https://csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/technical-assistance/). During Phase 2, after approval of the Planning and Implementation Guide, recipients will spend the remaining grant funds on directly related implementation activities.

Category 2: Strategic planning for police and mental health collaboration competition. The objective of this category is to free up law enforcement time to focus on responding to violent crime and to improve officer and citizen safety during calls for service involving people with MI and CMISA. Upon receiving a grant award, and with intensive technical assistance provided by BJA’s national training and technical assistance provider, recipients will develop and document a Police Mental Health Collaboration (https://pmhctoolkit.bja.gov/) using the Category 2 Strategic Planning Guide (https://csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/technical-assistance/).

Category 3: Implementation and expansion competition. The objective of this category is to increase public safety and reduce recidivism among high risk people with MI and CMISA. Category 3 grants can support law enforcement, prosecution, court-based, corrections, parole and probation initiatives. The category consists of two phases: 1) Phase 1: Upon receiving a grant award, and within six months of receiving final approval of the project’s budget, spend up to $150,000 in support of the below activities, receive technical assistance from BJA’s national training and technical assistance provider, and follow and document the steps laid out in the Category 3 Planning and Implementation Guide (https://csgjusticecenter.org/mental-health/technical-assistance/); 2) Phase 2: After completion and approval of the Planning and Implementation Guide, remaining grant funds may be used to support the following allowable activities:

• Training for criminal justice, mental health, and substance abuse treatment personnel
• Screening, assessment, and information sharing processes to identify individuals with MI or CMISA
• Specialized caseloads
• Case management and service coordination
• Information sharing

Amount: A total of $23,750,000 is available to make up to 58 awards, as follows:

• Category 1: Up to 10 awards will be made that range up to $300,000 for jurisdictions with populations fewer than 100,000; up to $400,000 for jurisdictions with populations between 100,000-499,999, and up to $500,000 for jurisdictions with populations of 500,000 or more. The project period is 24 months.
• Category 2: Up to 25 awards will be made that range up to $100,000. The project period is 12 months.
• Category 3: Up to 23 awards will be made that range up to $750,000. The project period is 36 months.

Federal funds awarded under this solicitation may not cover more than 80 percent of the total costs of the project. An applicant must identify the source of the 20 percent non-federal portion of the total project costs and how it will use match funds.

Eligibility: States, units of local government, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments. Applications will only be accepted that demonstrate that the proposed project will be administered jointly by an agency with responsibility for criminal or juvenile justice activities and a mental health agency.

Note: A “criminal or juvenile justice agency” is defined as an agency of state or local government or its contracted agency that is responsible for detection, arrest, enforcement, prosecution, defense, adjudication, incarceration, probation, or parole relating to the violation of the criminal laws of that state or local government. A “mental health agency” is defined as an agency of state or local government or its contracted agency that is responsible for mental health services or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse services. A substance abuse agency is considered an eligible applicant if that agency provides services to individuals with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=304380

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