BJA FY 19 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision | BJA 2019 15224

Opportunity Information: Apply for BJA 2019 15224

The BJA FY 19 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision opportunity (often referred to as the SCF Program) is a discretionary Department of Justice grant administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. It was designed to help state and local probation and parole agencies strengthen how they respond to people under community supervision, using an approach centered on three practical principles: swiftness (responding quickly to violations or concerning behavior), certainty (making sure responses are predictable and consistently applied), and fairness (ensuring responses are proportionate, transparent, and applied in an even-handed way). The underlying goal is to reduce recidivism and improve public safety by making supervision more effective and credible, rather than relying on slow, inconsistent, or overly severe reactions that can weaken accountability and outcomes.

This opportunity was structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means the federal awarding agency expects to be more involved than in a standard grant. In practice, that often translates into closer coordination with BJA, participation in required reporting and learning activities, and engagement with training and technical assistance resources tied to the program. The grant emphasized not just funding for local operations, but also access to information, resources, and TTA so agencies could build or refine supervision practices in a way that aligns with the SCF framework and can be implemented with fidelity.

BJA intended to make multiple awards under this solicitation, with an expected total of four awards. The maximum funding amount per award (the award ceiling) was $750,000. The opportunity was posted on April 23, 2019, and the original application closing date was June 25, 2019. The funding opportunity number was BJA-2019-15224, and the associated CFDA number listed for the program was 16.828. The activity category was listed broadly under Employment, Labor and Training, Humanities (as categorized in CFDA), and Law, Justice and Legal Services, reflecting the cross-cutting nature of community supervision work and its ties to justice system operations and community outcomes.

Eligible applicants covered a wide range of government entities, including state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. The program focus, however, was specifically aimed at organizations responsible for parole and probation functions, or entities positioned to lead or support those agencies in developing, implementing, or enhancing an SCF supervision model.

Programmatically, the solicitation aimed to support jurisdictions that wanted to build an SCF model from the ground up, improve an existing model, or expand and strengthen a model already in place. The key theme was improving responses to offender behavior in the community in a way that is timely, consistent, and perceived as legitimate. In many jurisdictions, violations of supervision conditions can be handled slowly, unevenly, or with responses that are either too harsh or too lenient relative to the behavior. The SCF framework is meant to replace that uncertainty with a clearer system where expectations are understood, responses are prompt, and consequences or interventions are calibrated to the behavior, which can increase compliance and reduce the likelihood of new criminal activity.

Overall, this funding opportunity was about helping probation and parole agencies move toward a more structured, behavior-responsive supervision strategy that reduces crime by increasing accountability and improving the effectiveness of community supervision. It combined financial support with an emphasis on guidance and technical assistance, and it targeted practical implementation of an SCF model that jurisdictions could use to improve supervision outcomes and reduce recidivism.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the employment, labor and training, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda), law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 19 Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community: Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision" 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 Apr 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 25, 2019. (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 $750,000.00 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, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized).

Apply for BJA 2019 15224

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: