Research and Evaluation on Policing Strategies for Civil Disturbances, Fiscal Year 2021 | O NIJ 2021 60005

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2021 60005

The Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released the Fiscal Year 2021 grant opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on Policing Strategies for Civil Disturbances" (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2021-60005) to fund rigorous research and evaluation that can improve understanding of why some protests and demonstrations remain peaceful while others escalate into violent disorder or criminal conduct. The program is framed around generating evidence that can help law enforcement maintain public order effectively while supporting broader public safety goals aligned with DOJ Strategic Objective 3.1, which focuses on combating violent crime, promoting safe communities, and upholding victims' rights. This is a discretionary grant program in the science, technology, and other research and development category (CFDA 16.560), with an application window that opened January 12, 2021 and originally closed March 29, 2021.

NIJ is specifically seeking proposals in two distinct topic areas, and applicants must clearly state which topic their proposal addresses. The first topic focuses on police strategies and tactics used to respond to violence and maintain order during civil disturbances, which can include evaluating operational approaches, deployment decisions, and other policing methods intended to prevent escalation and protect public safety. The second topic examines the role of extremists in fomenting violence at protests and demonstrations, aiming to better understand how extremist actors may influence crowd dynamics, trigger violence, or contribute to criminal activity, and what indicators or contextual factors may be associated with those outcomes. In both areas, the expectation is that proposed projects will be methodologically rigorous and designed to produce findings that are useful for practitioners and policymakers, not just descriptive accounts.

A major emphasis of the solicitation is on research partnerships with criminal justice or other relevant agencies, since access to operational data, incident reports, and on-the-ground insights is often essential for credible evaluation. When a proposal involves such partnerships, the application is expected to include strong letters of support signed by appropriate decision-making authorities from each partnering agency. These letters are not treated as simple endorsements; they must confirm the agency's willingness to participate and explicitly acknowledge that de-identified data generated from, provided to, or obtained through the project will be archived with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the award. NIJ encourages applicants and partners to review NACJD policies and protections in advance to ensure they can meet the data-sharing and privacy requirements.

For awardees, NIJ sets a clear timeline and compliance expectation: if selected, grantees are expected to have formal agreements in place with all partnering agencies by January 1, 2022. Those agreements must include provisions that ensure the required data archiving with NACJD can be completed. The solicitation also clarifies how multi-agency collaborations should be structured financially and administratively. Even if multiple agencies will participate and federal funds will support work across organizations, only one entity can submit the application as the primary applicant; any additional funded partners must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants.

In terms of funding scale, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $2,000,000 and anticipates making about four awards. Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and certain tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and other entities as allowed under the program's eligibility guidance. Overall, the solicitation is designed to build a stronger evidence base on policing responses to civil disturbances and the conditions under which protests may become violent, while ensuring that resulting datasets are responsibly preserved and shared through NACJD for future research and transparency.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on Policing Strategies for Civil Disturbances, Fiscal Year 2021" 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 Jan 12, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 29, 2021. (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 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), 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, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O NIJ 2021 60005

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