Research and Evaluation on Promising Reentry Initiatives, FY 2019 | NIJ 2019 15563

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2019 15563

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), within the U.S. Department of Justice, released the FY 2019 grant opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on Promising Reentry Initiatives" (Funding Opportunity Number: NIJ 2019 15563) to strengthen the evidence base on what actually works in offender reentry. The main purpose is to fund rigorous research and evaluation studies that can identify best practices, improve program design, and help justice agencies and community partners make better decisions about reentry strategies. NIJ is specifically looking for studies that go beyond basic descriptions and instead produce credible findings about effectiveness, implementation, and outcomes.

At the center of this solicitation is the evaluation of reentry initiatives that use promising practices, strategies, or programs, especially those that are innovative or emerging rather than already well-established. NIJ signals a clear interest in initiatives serving three key populations: juveniles, young adults ages 18 to 24, and adults assessed as moderate-to-high risk for reoffending. While general recidivism outcomes matter, NIJ explicitly encourages applicants to focus on violent reoffending risk when relevant, meaning proposals that examine impacts on violent crime outcomes or that target individuals at higher risk of violent behavior are particularly aligned with the solicitation's priorities.

The solicitation is broad about where and how these reentry initiatives operate, which opens the door to evaluations across multiple justice settings. Proposed studies may involve juvenile residential facilities, institutional corrections (such as prisons or jails), and community corrections (such as probation, parole, transitional supervision, and community-based reentry supports). This flexibility suggests NIJ is interested in understanding reentry as a continuum that may start during confinement and extend into the community, including how program components connect across settings and how system coordination affects outcomes.

This is a discretionary grant program, meaning awards are made competitively based on merit review and alignment with NIJ priorities rather than by formula. The funding instrument type is a grant, and the activity categories span Law, Justice and Legal Services as well as Science and Technology and other Research and Development, reflecting NIJ's emphasis on research quality, evaluation rigor, and practical usefulness for the field. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 16.560, which is the standard identifier used for NIJ-related federal assistance.

Eligibility is intentionally expansive, allowing a wide range of applicants that could credibly conduct or lead rigorous research. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; individuals; for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses and also small businesses); and other entities as described in the opportunity's additional eligibility guidance. In practice, this mix supports proposals led by universities, research firms, nonprofits, or practitioner-researcher partnerships, as well as collaborations with correctional agencies and community organizations that run reentry programs.

NIJ anticipated making about seven awards under this solicitation, with an award ceiling of up to $6,000,000. The opportunity was created on January 17, 2019, and the original application closing date was May 13, 2019. Taken together, the projected number of awards and the relatively high ceiling suggest NIJ expected a mix of sizable, multi-site, or multi-year evaluations alongside smaller but still methodologically strong studies, with enough funding to support robust research designs, data collection, and analysis.

Overall, this opportunity was designed to generate practical, defensible evidence on reentry approaches that can reduce reoffending, particularly violent reoffending, among higher-risk populations. NIJ's emphasis on "rigorous research" and "evaluations of innovative reentry initiatives" points to a preference for strong evaluation designs (for example, experimental or well-executed quasi-experimental approaches), careful measurement of outcomes, and clear documentation of implementation and context so that results can be interpreted and replicated by justice systems and service providers.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research and Evaluation on Promising Reentry Initiatives, FY 2019" 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 17, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 13, 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 $6,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), 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, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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