BJA FY 22 Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcomes | O BJA 2022 171284

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2022 171284

The BJA FY 22 Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcomes grant is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). It sits within the FY 2022 Second Chance Act (SCA) suite of reentry-related solicitations, which collectively focus on helping people transition successfully from incarceration back into the community. In plain terms, this program targets one of the most persistent drivers of reentry failure: limited access to education and stable employment. The core aim is to strengthen or expand correctional education and employment efforts that begin during incarceration and continue through the reentry period, with the broader public-safety goal of reducing unemployment-related recidivism and improving long-term community stability.

The solicitation reflects OJP priorities around civil rights and racial equity, access to justice, support for victims and justice-involved individuals, community safety, and trust-building between law enforcement and communities. Within that framing, the grant emphasizes improving the quality and effectiveness of educational and workforce programming for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated adults. The program encourages applicants to use evidence-based practices and data-informed decision-making, meaning proposals should draw on approaches that have demonstrated results (or have a strong rationale supported by research) and should rely on measurable data to guide program design, delivery, and improvement over time. The expected outcome is that participants leave custody with stronger foundational skills, recognized credentials, and clearer pathways to employment, and then receive continued support after release to help them secure and retain jobs.

Funding is provided through a grant instrument under CFDA number 16.812. The opportunity number is O-BJA-2022-171284. The maximum award amount (ceiling) is $900,000, and BJA anticipated making approximately 24 awards under this solicitation. The opportunity opened on April 20, 2022, and the original application closing date was June 7, 2022. Because this is a competitive, discretionary program, applicants generally need to make a strong case that their proposed activities are feasible, grounded in evidence, and structured to produce measurable improvements in education and employment outcomes for the target population.

Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education). The listing also includes an "Others" category with additional eligibility details referenced in the full solicitation, which typically means there may be additional conditions or allowable applicant types depending on specific program rules. The solicitation also notes that not every entity is eligible for every program across the broader Second Chance Act suite, so applicants were encouraged to closely review each related solicitation to confirm eligibility and ensure alignment between their proposed project and the particular grant’s goals.

Programmatically, the focus is on improving "correctional educational and employment programs" that operate both inside facilities and during reentry. That can reasonably include strengthening career and technical education, adult basic education, literacy and numeracy supports, high school equivalency preparation, employability skills, job readiness training, sector-based training aligned with local labor market demand, credential attainment, and connections to employers willing to hire returning citizens. The solicitation’s language about interrupting the cycle of unemployment signals a strong emphasis on practical pathways to work, not only training for training’s sake. It also implies coordination between corrections, community supervision, workforce systems, community-based service providers, and employers so that progress made during incarceration is not lost at the point of release.

Finally, this opportunity is presented as one piece of a broader FY 2022 Second Chance Act lineup that also included related competitions such as community-based reentry, reentry substance use disorder treatment outcomes, Pay for Success initiatives, swift/certain/fair supervision and the HOPE model, smart reentry and smart supervision with technical assistance, and new tools to facilitate change. BJA’s overall message is that applicants should choose the specific SCA solicitation that best fits their target population, organizational role, and proposed intervention strategy, and should anchor proposals in data, demonstrated need, and clear outcome measures tied to reentry success.

• 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 22 Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcomes" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.812.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 20, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 07, 2022. (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 $900,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 24 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O BJA 2022 171284

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