Transforming Justice Systems, Together
With CJI as a partner, programs become more effective, measurable, and sustainable.
For more than 25 years across the country, we’ve helped partners design policies, implement effective reforms, and measure results that strengthen safety, fairness, and sustainable system performance. With our extensive experience, we can help you understand eligibility, explore funding options, and maximize chances for successful funding.
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Get Strategic Support for Funding Opportunities
CJI curates and shares relevant funding opportunities to help partners and prospective collaborators access resources that strengthen justice systems. Many grants allow partnerships between government and nonprofit organizations to support a focused and comprehensive proposal. Some opportunities are limited to government applicants only.
Federal grants often have fixed deadlines and are structured as multi-year projects. Private and foundation grants often have rolling deadlines and are frequently shorter-term, lasting 12 months or less.
We’re here to help you understand eligibility, explore partnership options, and maximize your chances for successful funding.
How CJI works with partners
Partners bring us in at whichever stage they’re in. Some come for analysis, some for implementation support, some to measure what an earlier change produced.
- Assess challenges — Use system data and engage community stakeholders to identify root causes, cross-system drivers, and barriers to effective implementation.
- Apply evidence — Translate findings into policy and practical strategies jurisdictions can implement.
- Expand capacity — Work alongside the people doing the work, through training, technical assistance, and implementation support.
- Measure results — Track whether the change held, and what it produced.
Partners come to us working on:
- Diversion and behavioral health programs
- Recidivism reduction
- System efficiency
- Reentry and supervision practices
Reach out to start the conversation today: cjiconnect@cjinstitute.org
Upcoming Funding Deadlines
These close in late September, so reach out today with your interest!
SMART REENTRY DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM
Supports state, local, and tribal governments in implementing comprehensive, collaborative reentry strategies for people returning from adult correctional facilities, and in establishing or expanding an intervention to reduce recidivism.
- Deadline: September 24, 2026 (Grants.gov); October 1 JustGrants
- Funding: Up to $6.8M total; up to 7 awards; up to $1.1M each
- Eligibility: State and Local Governments, Tribal Governments, Other Units of Local Government
- Note: 50% match required; waiver available for documented fiscal hardship
CJI supported these reentry projects. How can CJI support you?
- North Dakota Justice Reinvestment Initiative Reentry Study Work Group— the closest analog to the required task force deliverable
- Innovations Series: Successful Reentry Through Safe Housing Solutions — speaks to the homelessness priority
- Identifying Drivers of Absconding — relevant to the priority on reviewing how jurisdictions adjudicate supervision violations
SECOND CHANCE ACT: IMPROVING REENTRY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES
Two categories fund education and employment programs for adults and youth within two years of release — Category 1 for academic and vocational/trade programming inside facilities, Category 2 for career pathway systems and workforce development networks tied to local labor market demand.
- Deadline: September 24, 2026 (Grants.gov); October 1 JustGrants
- Funding: ~$20M total; 20 awards (10 per category); up to $1M each
- Eligibility: State and Local Governments, Tribal Governments, Educational Organizations, Nonprofits, For-Profits, Faith-Based Organizations
- Note: No match required; nonprofit and noncorrectional government applicants must submit an MOU with a correctional agency partner
CJI supported these reentry projects. How can CJI support you?
- Tennessee Office of Reentry: Creating Pathways to Successful Reentry through Employment — the strongest single match in the catalog; Category 2 is explicitly about career pathway systems
- Promoting Success on Community Supervision — tagged reentry and corrections
PUBLIC SAFETY AND MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE
Supports service networks addressing untreated mental illness and substance use across three core areas: crisis stabilization centers with law enforcement drop-off capacity, treatment services from pre-arrest through reentry, and electronic health record and technology modernization.
- Deadline: September 25, 2026 (Grants.gov); October 2 JustGrants
- Funding: ~$38M total; ~13 awards; up to $3M each
- Eligibility: State and Local Governments, Tribal Governments, Other Units of Local Government; nonprofit or for-profit mental health agencies only if designated by the state mental health authority
- Note: Escalating match — 20% across Years 1–2, 40% in Year 3; at least one justice agency and one mental health agency partner required
- Behavioral Health Crisis Response Landscape Analysis — direct match to the crisis stabilization center core area
- South Dakota’s Virtual Crisis Care Pilot Program — law enforcement crisis response plus telehealth, which the NOFO names under technology modernization
Cross-Cutting Examples
- From Policy to Practice: Ten Years of HB348 in Utah — A long-term analysis showing 10 years of trends in incarceration, supervision, treatment access, and system capacity to understand how outcomes changed after policy passage, and what it took to sustain progress.
- Oklahoma County’s Progress Report — Showing performance measurement against stated targets, this report presents the progress made by Oklahoma County to implement earlier Task Force recommendations to reduce the jail population and promote public safety.
Start the Conversation
Whether you’re deciding which opportunity fits, building a proposal, or planning what comes after the award, CJI can help: cjiconnect@cjinstitute.org
Transforming Justice Systems, Together: