NIJ FY18 Comprehensive School Safety Initiative | NIJ 2018 14140

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2018 14140

The NIJ FY18 Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) is a discretionary grant program from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), focused on funding rigorous, research-driven projects that generate practical, usable knowledge to improve safety for students and schools. Rather than supporting general security upgrades or routine programming, the emphasis is on research and development that can clarify what works, for whom, under what conditions, and why. The intent is to produce findings and tools that school systems across the country can apply for years, not just within a single site or district.

A defining feature of this opportunity is its partnership-based approach. CSSI projects are expected to bring together researchers and practitioners in real-world school settings, linking educators with key stakeholders such as law enforcement, behavioral and mental health professionals, courts, and other justice system partners. These collaborations are meant to ensure that research questions are grounded in day-to-day school safety challenges, that interventions or strategies are feasible in practice, and that results can be translated into actionable guidance rather than remaining purely academic.

The solicitation is structured around five funding categories, each with different expectations and requirements, allowing applicants to propose different types of research that still align with the overall CSSI mission. While the specific category definitions are not provided in the text you shared, the inclusion of multiple categories signals that NIJ anticipated a range of project designs and scopes, such as evaluation research, implementation studies, measurement and data improvements, or other applied research efforts that advance the evidence base for school safety.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of entities that could contribute to school safety research. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; nonprofits including those without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and even individuals. This wide eligibility reflects NIJ s goal of drawing proposals from both academic research teams and practice-oriented organizations capable of conducting high-quality research in partnership with school communities.

In terms of funding and scale, the award ceiling listed is 50,000,000, with an expected 25 awards, indicating a sizable federal investment overall and the possibility of supporting larger, multi-site, or nationally relevant research efforts. The opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2018 14140, under CFDA 16.560, and falls within the funding activity areas of law, justice, and legal services as well as science and technology and other research and development, which matches the initiative s applied research focus. The solicitation was created on February 27, 2018, with an original closing date of May 7, 2018, placing it within NIJ s FY18 grant cycle.

Taken together, CSSI is best understood as a national research initiative aimed at strengthening the evidence base around school safety through well-designed studies and strong practitioner partnerships. The program prioritizes results that can be generalized beyond a single school, inform policy and practice, and improve how schools and their partners prevent, respond to, and recover from safety threats and related challenges.

• 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 "NIJ FY18 Comprehensive School Safety Initiative" 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 Feb 27, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 07, 2018. (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 $50,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), 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.

Apply for NIJ 2018 14140

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