NIJ FY23 Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Research, Evaluation, and Associated Training & Technical Assistance Support | O NIJ 2023 171648

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2023 171648

The NIJ FY23 Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Research, Evaluation, and Associated Training and Technical Assistance Support opportunity is a discretionary, competitive funding solicitation from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) under the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Its purpose is to strengthen the national knowledge base and practical effectiveness of community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts by funding research, rigorous evaluations, and targeted training and technical assistance (TTA). The larger policy frame OJP highlights includes advancing civil rights and racial equity, improving access to justice, supporting crime victims and people affected by the justice system, improving community safety, and building trust between communities and law enforcement. The funding is structured as a cooperative agreement, which generally means NIJ expects substantial involvement in shaping or guiding the work during the project period, not just passively issuing funds.

The solicitation supports CVIPI, which is designed to help communities implement and improve evidence-informed violence intervention and prevention programs. Rather than funding direct services alone, this particular NIJ solicitation focuses on the research, evaluation, and support infrastructure that helps those programs learn what works, for whom, under what conditions, and how to improve. NIJ lays out four main categories applicants can propose under. The first category funds TTA that builds evaluation capacity for CVIPI sites and strengthens researcher-practitioner partnerships, with the idea that communities and practitioners can meaningfully participate in evaluation design, data use, and continuous improvement. The second category supports TTA for violent crime problem analyses in jurisdictions that did not receive funding under the OJP FY22 and FY23 CVIPI solicitations, essentially helping additional places diagnose their violence challenges and identify strategic responses even if they were not funded in earlier CVIPI rounds. The third category funds site-based evaluations of programs funded under the OJP FY22 and FY23 CVIPI solicitations, which is the core evaluation lane meant to produce credible findings about implementation and outcomes in real-world settings. The fourth category is broader and supports other community-violence research and evaluation projects that fit NIJ priorities but are not limited to those specific CVIPI-funded sites.

A central theme throughout the solicitation is that NIJ wants projects grounded in meaningful engagement with people who have lived experience related to the topic being studied. That can include justice practitioners, community members, victims of crime, service providers, and people with justice system involvement. This is not presented as a token consultation requirement; NIJ signals that proposals will receive special consideration when lived-experience engagement is built into the methods in a serious way. NIJ also encourages multidisciplinary research teams, reflecting a preference for approaches that combine complementary expertise such as criminology, public health, psychology, sociology, economics, implementation science, community organizing knowledge, and advanced quantitative and qualitative methods.

NIJ also emphasizes the measurement and analysis of equity-related factors, specifically calling out diversity, discrimination, and bias and encouraging attention to differences across age, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation when relevant to the research questions. Practically, this means proposals are expected to think through what data are needed to examine disparities, how to measure them responsibly, and how program impacts or implementation may vary across groups or be shaped by structural conditions.

For projects that involve partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other governmental or community agencies, NIJ expects clear documentation of those relationships. Applications should include letters of support signed by an appropriate decision-making authority at each partnering agency. These letters are not just general endorsements; they must acknowledge that de-identified data produced or used through the NIJ award will be archived with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the project. NIJ encourages applicants and partners to review NIJ data archiving guidance early, since the archiving requirement affects data governance, privacy protections, and data management planning from the start. If an award is made, NIJ expects the grantee to have a formal agreement with partnering agencies in place by January 1, 2024, and that agreement must include language ensuring the project can meet the NACJD archiving requirement.

Another major priority is dissemination, with NIJ explicitly pushing applicants to go beyond academic publications. NIJ seeks robust, creative, multi-pronged dissemination strategies designed to translate findings into changes in policy and practice. They specifically encourage strategic partnerships with organizations and associations that are well positioned to put research into the hands of decision-makers and practitioners (for example, national practitioner networks, professional associations, technical assistance providers, or community-based coalitions). NIJ indicates special consideration for proposals that dedicate at least 15 percent of the requested award budget to dissemination activities, and applicants are expected to show this clearly in both the budget worksheet and budget narrative.

On the administrative and eligibility side, the opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2023-171648; CFDA 16.560) is open to a wide range of applicant types: state, county, and city or township governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including small businesses, and for-profits other than small businesses). If multiple agencies will participate and federal funds will be used across partners, NIJ requires that only one entity submit as the applicant and lead, while other participating entities must be structured as subrecipients. NIJ also states that the applicant should conduct a majority of the proposed work, reinforcing that the lead organization needs to be the true project driver rather than a pass-through.

Key timing and funding details included in the posted source information are that the solicitation was created March 7, 2023, with an original closing date of May 22, 2023, and an award ceiling listed as $15,000,000. The solicitation also notes an expected awards field but does not provide a number in the provided excerpt. Overall, the opportunity is designed for applicants who can combine credible research or evaluation capacity, real partnerships with communities and agencies, strong data stewardship and archiving readiness, and a serious plan to ensure findings are actually used to improve community violence intervention and prevention efforts.

• The National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY23 Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Research, Evaluation, and Associated Training & Technical Assistance Support" 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 2023-03-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-22. (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 $15,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), 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, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

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