FY 2023 Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance Program

Transcript also available as a PDF.

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to today's webinar, FY 2023 Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance Program hosted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. At this time, it's my pleasure to introduce Heather Tubman-Carbone, Associate Deputy Director with the Bureau of Justice Assistance to begin the presentation. Heather?

HEATHER TUBMAN-CARBONE: Thanks, Daryl. Good morning, all. And thank you so much for joining us. We are thrilled to bring this opportunity to the field.

We've got a lot of information today, so you won't just hear from me. I am joined by Andre Bethea, Senior Policy Advisor, and Tasha Aikens and Meg Chapman, Policy Advisors at BJA. Andre leads the National Reentry Resource Center and the education and employment work, so you'll hear from him about those among others. Tasha leads the corrections and community engagement work, so you'll hear from her on those topics. And Meg is the lead on behavioral health, you'll hear from her on that, as well as some other application suggestions.

So, let's dig in. Today, we are going to cover, as I said, a number of things. We've got a lot of information for you. First off, we'll start with an introduction of who OJP is and how BJA sits within OJP. I'll provide a program overview for this solicitation and talk about the general goals, objectives, and deliverables. We'll then hand off to Andre, Meg, and Tasha to talk through the goals, objectives, and deliverables that are specific to each section or each category in the solicitation. We'll also cover eligibility and application requirements. We'll talk about application resources to guide you as you prepare your application and submit it. And we will leave some time for Q&A at the end.

So first, what is the Office of Justice Programs? The Office of Justice Programs, also known as OJP, provides grant funding, training, research, and statistics to the criminal justice community. We are one of three grant-making components of the Department of Justice.

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BJA in particular was created in 1984 to reduce violent crime, create safer communities, and reform our nation's criminal justice system. BJA strengthens the nation's justice system and helps America's state, local, and tribal jurisdictions reduce and prevent crime, reduce recidivism, and promote a fair and safe criminal justice system. We focus our programmatic and policy efforts on a wide range of resources, including training and technical assistance to law enforcement, courts, corrections, treatment, reentry, justice information sharing, and community-based partners to address chronic and emerging criminal justice challenges nationwide. And we do this in four ways: we fund, educate, equip, and partner. With this solicitation, one could argue we are doing all four of these.

The Second Chance Act puts out grant funding to state, local, tribal, and community-based entities across the nation every year. This solicitation is for training and technical assistance to support them. So, with this solicitation, we are providing funding to many training and technical assistance providers to provide education, to equip the field with tools, and to serve as a thought partner with us and with jurisdictions and communities, organizations across the country.

Before we dig in, a question for everyone. Has your organization been awarded federal grants in the past? Your response options are—and you should see the poll up on your screen—you can vote:

Yes, my organization has extensive experience with federal grants. Yes, though my organization does not currently have any federal grants. My organization has limited experience with federal grants. Or, my organization is brand new to federal grants and looking to learn more.

So please take a moment and respond.

All right. If we could close the poll, let's see what we've got. Maybe I suggested closing the poll too early. It looks like about half of the folks on the line did not answer. Of those who—I'm sorry—about a quarter who answered, or about a quarter of folks on the line, have extensive experience. And about 15% are new to federal grants. So, I think we really—and there are some in between as well—so, we really run the gamut here. So please, as we go through, don't hesitate to pop any questions you have in the Q&A section. We will save time for them at the end but don't feel like you have to wait until the very end to put those in there.

All right. First, let's start with the Program Overview. There's a lot going on with this one. So first, a quick note about the Second Chance Act. The Second Chance Act funding helps jurisdictions to develop, implement, and test strategies to assist youth and adults as they transition out of detention and incarceration and reenter their community.

BJA administers Second Chance Act funding in three ways. We make grants—as I mentioned—grants to state, local, tribal, and community-based entities. We support training and technical assistance to support those grantees as well as to advance the field at large. And we also support the National Reentry Resource Center, which serves as a clearinghouse for the field of information related to reentry, as well as serving as the coordinator and convener of the grantees and technical assistance providers.

The grants are competed separately.

You can see your screen now that we award grants directly to state, local governments, federally recognized Indian tribes, and non-profit organizations through the separate solicitations listed on your screen. And you can see that those are able to be organized into categories that align with our solicitation categories like corrections in community engagement, education and employment, and behavioral health.

This particular solicitation is competing the training and technical assistance. There are four categories. First is the National Reentry Resource Center. Second is Corrections & Community Engagement. Third is Health & Housing. And fourth is Education & Employment.

These categories represent four distinct awards. In each of these categories, we anticipate making one award. All of those awards will run for 36 months. They are, however, for different amounts.

Category 1, the National Reentry Resource Center will be 1 award for 36 months for up to $3 million.
Category 2 for Corrections & Community Engagement, also 1 award, 36 months but up to $2 million.
Category 3, Health & Housing: same number, one award, same amount of time, $2.75 million.
Category 4, Education & Employment: $2 million.

These award amounts are based on the amount of work that we are asking to be done in each category, so that takes into consideration, for example, the number of site-based grantees that the TA provider will be supporting as well as the additional work that we anticipate to support the fields at large. And proposals should reflect that.

So, a little bit more about each. For Category 1, the National Reentry Resource Center is a clearinghouse to criminal justice practitioners, stakeholders, and grantees. The NRRC, as we call it, serves as a coordinator and convener of the grantees and our TA providers, while also maintaining a website that provides resources to the field.

For each of the other three categories, we're looking for a provider to support grantees who receive those site-based awards and applicants may apply for more than one category. So, anybody who's tuning in today, you are absolutely welcome to apply for one category, two categories, three, or even four categories. Please keep in mind that for each category you're interested in, you must submit a separate application.
The general purpose of those three categories—Categories 2, 3, and 4—is to support grantees to accomplish their specific grant-funded projects by providing subject matter and project management expertise.

What that means is, grantees are submitting their own proposals. Sorry—I was going to skip solicitation. They are responding to solicitations with their own proposal, with their own projects that are based on the problems and challenges that they see in their jurisdiction and their solutions to address those.

The role of the TA provider is to both help those grantees accomplish their specific goals, as we have funded them, but also to support the fields at large. That includes responding to ad hoc requests. That also includes developing topical tools and resources to advance knowledge, policy, and practice. At BJA, we generally refer to these—this sort of two-pronged approach to TA—as grantee work and policy work because your goal is to advance the grantees to accomplish their goals as well as to advance the field at large.

TA can take many forms and it will take many forms. Some examples of TA delivery are:

Virtual and onsite consultations Webinars Publications Peer learning Developing communities of practice Producing customized resources Facilitation Training and national conferences, and Policy academies. To that end, applicants should propose activities that will take any of these forms in order to accomplish the specific goals of your category.

And there are some expectations around training and technical assistance, so I want to take a moment to go through these. These are pretty important to BJA.

First, BJA expects that all TA providers will deliver individualized, efficient, and consistent training and technical assistance.

For Second Chance Act grantees, that includes developing tailored TA plans with the grantees. So again, BJA is funding grantees to pursue their individually proposed projects. And training and technical assistance providers are here to help them, in part, to help them meet those goals. So, you would develop a tailored TA plan with those grantees.

Assist the grantees in completing a planning and implementation guide. That's a requirement of the grantees; that is in the solicitation they are competing for.

Assign a qualified coach to each grantee and hold monthly virtual check-ins. This one's also pretty important. I mean, all of these are important, but this one in particular is how you establish your ongoing communication with the grantees. We expect there to be one individual who is assigned to each grantee. You may have one coach who works full-time and serves all the grantees in a particular program, depending on the number. Or you may have multiple coaches who serve the grantees within a particular program or across programs. But the goal is to have a coach that each grantee knows they can turn to and that they get comfortable with.

We also expect that training and technical assistance providers will anticipate, quickly identify, and address challenges that grantees are facing. One of the goals about monthly check-ins is to create a rapport, to create the relationship so that the TA provider can anticipate, identify, and address challenges.

In this vein, we also expect TA providers to have sufficient subject matter expertise to assist grantees. For example, if you are applying to Category 4, for Education & Employment, it is expected that the staff who are proposed to work on this project has expertise and experience in those areas as opposed to, for example, behavioral health. That would be a different category. BJA also expects that you will utilize a range of local and national subject matter experts, and advise grantees on their evaluation activity. To the extent that evaluations are being performed by the grantees as part of their grant-funded project, we expect the TA providers to support them in those efforts.

We also ask TA providers to collaborate and coordinate with local jurisdictions, federal partners, and interest groups. One aspect to coaching a grantee is to appreciate the landscape that they're working in and that often means getting to know people and places in that environment.

We also expect TA providers to respond to ad hoc requests from the field from practitioners. And in doing so, we expect you to prioritize unfunded applicants, meaning the TA doesn't go just to the grantees.

Just a few more expectations.

One thing that BJA values in particular from the TA providers is being a thought leader and a thought partner. The cooperative agreement holders selected through the solicitation are our partners, are our ears and eyes on the ground and we expect you to be partnered to us in thinking about what the field needs, getting those resources out there, convening the grantees and advancing the field.

We also expect TA providers to build the knowledge of the field and to build capacity in their category subject through presence at national meetings and conferences. Meaning, for example, if you are the training and technical assistance provider for the corrections and community engagement work, we would expect there to be a presence at the American Correctional Association or Correctional Leaders Association conferences to engage the leaders in that field. This also includes coordinating TA activities with BJA and other OJP offices, assisting grantees in the collection of their performance measure data, and tailoring TA strategies to meet the emerging needs of grantees and reporting performance trends.

Lastly, we expect TA providers to maintain a listserv and to participate in GrantStat and mini-GrantStat, if requested. GrantStat and mini-GrantStat are really sort of like stocktaking efforts that BJA goes through every few years just to understand better what's going on in a particular grant program, what are the needs in the field, and what might we do better to meet those.

Next up, I am going to hand off to Andre Bethea, Senior Policy Advisor, to talk about the Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables for each category—or at least kick us off, as we've got a number of categories. Andre, the floor is yours.

ANDRE BETHEA: Thanks, Heather. And again, thank you everyone for joining us for the Second Chance Act, Fiscal Year 2023 Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance Program.

So again, we have a great deal to cover. My colleagues and I are ready to get to the Q&A, so let's jump in specifically on Category 1, which is the National Reentry Resource Center or, as we love to call it, just simply NRRC.

So here, the goals are really to advance knowledge and practice of the reentry field. That means everything, from ocean to ocean, and including our territory as well as the states that are not on the Continental 48, that is the expectation. So:

Identify and promote evidence-based practices. Support innovation. Serve as the centralized coordinator of Second Chance Act Training and technical assistance providers and grantees, as well as educate the field.

Jumping into the objectives for the NRRC. You are to:

Serve as a centralized online location for reentry information—not just information from the DOJ, but reentry information from our various federal partners.

Provide education and other resources.

Translate products and initiatives of BJA, Second Chance Act TTA providers, as well as the federal interagency initiatives to the field.

So, what does this look like when we coordinate across the Second Chance Act TTA providers? Well, the provider for the National Reentry Resource Center would:

Develop a communication strategy.

Collect, distribute, and maintain project-specific communications and other relevant information.

Coordinate quarterly conference calls amongst the providers in the National Reentry Resource Center.

Establish protocol for collecting performance measures from the Second Chance Act grantees.

Build communities of practice. That's how we learn. That's how we help others glean something from other jurisdictions or similar different jurisdictions.

Ensure projects are planned and implemented to avoid overlap and duplication.

Assist in editing all Second Chance Act TTA reports and publications, as well as coordinate with BJA's own National Training and Technical Assistance Center as related reentry projects come up through the field.
Some of the deliverables for the NRRC: Initially—the first one, as Heather mentioned earlier, serve as a thought leader, trainer, and information clearinghouse. That is, to:

Create and disseminate knowledge diffusion products. Disseminate best practices and lessons learned. Present at conferences and events. Facilitate and provide reentry resources for people who have been exonerated by BJA-funded efforts and others. Maintain and enhance the NRRC website—that's a huge one. Maintain reentry clearinghouses, which are the National Inventory on Collateral Consequences of Conviction, as well as National Clean Slate Clearinghouse. Strengthen the network of state reentry coordinators. Convene a State Reentry Coordinator's College. Identify promising programs and practices for CrimeSolutions.gov. Develop lessons-learned materials on implementation and evaluation of reentry initiative. A huge one: Plan annual in-person national reentry conference. Collaborate with other BJA and SCA TTA providers. That means:

Provide support on federal initiatives, including implementation of federal policy changes. Support research-practitioner partnerships. And provide support to and coordinate with another BJA-sponsored corporate agreement known as Reentry 2030.

And now, I believe I'm passing it on to my colleague, Tasha Aikens. Tasha?

TASHA AIKENS: Great. And thanks again to everyone for joining us today.

The goal of the Corrections and Community Engagement is to serve as the training and technical assistance provider to Second Chance Act grantees for programs and advance the field at large on related topics.

Those topics are:

Smart Reentry: Expanding Jail Programs and Services Community-based Reentry Community-based Reentry Incubator Initiative

The objectives for Corrections are to work with BJA to:

Develop and provide tools, training, and resources aimed at helping jails and prisons and their correctional leadership, agency supervisors, and staff:

Implement proposed projects. Make decisions and allocate resources. Operate and scale programs. And manage individuals and reentry processes with the goal of reducing recidivism.

This includes testing and developing strategies to identify people at high risk for violent recidivism and referring to supervision and community-based violence intervention initiatives, as appropriate.

The objectives for the Community Engagement portion are to work with BJA to:

Develop and provide tools, training, and resources aimed at helping community-based organizations to engage with departments of corrections and local justice partners, as well as implement or expand evidence-based programs with the goal of reducing recidivism.

Provide community-based organizations with tailored resources and tips for partnering with correctional agencies on reentry grants, including strategies for leveraging organizational expertise to meet the needs of underserved and historically marginalized and underserved communities.

Next, I will pass it on to my colleague, Meg Chapman. Meg, you have the floor. Thank you.

MEG CHAPMAN: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining and thank you, Tasha.

So as with Category 2, applications in this category—or applicants in this category— should be prepared to support grantees awarded through specific grant programs and then the field at large on related topics, in this case, Health and Housing.

There are five grant programs that will be supported under this category. The first three:

Improve reentry for adults with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.

Adult reentry, education, employment, treatment, and recovery program. And in this case, it's just the group of grantees focusing on treatment.

Improving substance use disorder treatment and recovery outcomes for adults in reentry. Focus is on supporting grantees that are working to establish or expand system approaches that improve outcomes for adults with substance use disorders who are reentering the community.

The fourth program is improving adult and youth crisis stabilization and community reentry programs that support the provision of clinical and recovery support services in the community.

And then the final grant program under this category is the Pay for Success Initiative, which supports performance-based and outcome-based programming that ties to payments for services to reaching agreed-upon goals.

You can review these solicitations on BJA's website. And Heather already went through BJA's expectations related to TA earlier.

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On this slide and the next slide, we're just going to identify our objectives for the policy work to support the field at large.

The first objective is related to Health Service Financing. We're looking for the TA providers to have the expertise to provide technical assistance to states and facilities that, through expanded state Medicaid plans, are able to be reimbursed for Medicaid-eligible services provided to approve Medicaid-eligible individuals for some period prior to release.

We're also looking for the TA providers to support the field to increase adoption of evidence-based practices to improve access to health services and treatment for people both pre-release, and then reentry, with both substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders.

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And we're also looking for the TA provider under this category to be able to address the challenges that people in reentry face in securing stable, affordable housing. And this might, for example, include identifying or elevating model programs in the community.

Lastly, applications should have the capacity to support corrections and partners in the translation of knowledge about the value of family connections and support into expanded opportunities for adults to maintain, establish, or otherwise address connections, and improve family engagement and reintegration post release.

I'm going to pass it back to Andre.

ANDRE BETHEA: Thanks, Meg.

And I'm going to cover Category 4 and then we're going to go into other necessary areas of information for this entire corporate agreement and for this entire solicitation webinar.

All right, Category 4: Education and Employment training and technical assistance.

So, the goal here is to serve as the TTA provider to Second Chance Act grantees for the following programs and advance the field at large on related topics like: Adult Reentry and Employment Strategic Planning and Implementation Program. The Comprehensive Adult Reentry, Education, and Employment to Reduce Recidivism Strategies Program Careers. Improving Reentry Education and Employment Outcome Program.

Some of the objectives under Education would be: Improve correctional education. Prepare adults for meaningful careers, and Increase their employability.

This also includes the BJA, Department of Ed, LED, Second Chance Pell Experiments, and Subsequent Pell Reinstatement, that's occurring in July 2023.

For Employment: Increasing the number of individuals who are work-ready, and Improving fair-chance hiring practices.

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So now for Categories 2 through 4—that's the TTA provider areas—we want to talk about some of the deliverables for those specific categories. Again, this is for Categories 2 through 4.

Provide knowledge, resources, and project management guidance to all BJA-awarded Second Chance Act grantees to meet their objectives and deliverables. This is to: Identify and maintain a list of TTA consultants or subject matter experts. Assign a consultant/subject matter expert to each grantee. Host orientation and field-wide webinars to market new funding opportunities.

Also, to assist grantees as they: Complete their grant activities and align operations with evidence-based best practices. Develop the mandatory action plan. Develop individualized TTA plans for each grantee. Build capacity for data collection with the grantees. Disseminate information and updates about their project within their organization—helping the grantees achieve that.

Assess grantees' performance and provide coaching.

Collect and report on performance measures and identify/explain trends.

Interpret quarterly data [that] grantees submit into BJA's Performance Management Tool, identify those trends and TTA needs, [and] recommend adjustments to the TTA strategy.

Use a dashboard to capture the TTA contacts and progress.

Participate in grant performance reviews.

Again, part of the deliverables for Categories 2 through 4 include:

Collaborate and coordinate with the National Reentry Resource Centers provider.

Provide subject matter expertise to, and collaborate with, the NRRC as well as other Second Chance Act TTA providers on reentry events and conferences.

Collaborate with the National Institute of Justice grantee [in] evaluating Second Chance implementation.

Propose and conduct activities that advance the requirements under each category. That is:

Develop research agendas. Synthesize research. Develop practical tools, fact sheets, infographics, and videos, (animations included). Develop curricula. Convene focus groups, listening sessions, expert panels, etc. Develop marketing and communications plan.

Now we're going to jump into section 4, which speaks to the Eligibility and Application Requirements. So, let's start that part.

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Who are the eligible applicants for any of the categories within this Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance program? Well, they include:

For-profit organizations other than small businesses. Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with IRS. Private institutions of higher education. Public and state-controlled institutions of higher education.

BJA will consider applications under which two or more entities would carry out the federal award; however, only one entity may be the applicant. Any others must be proposed as subrecipients, also known as subgrantee.

An entity may be proposed as a subrecipient in more than one application.

BJA will accept an application submitted on behalf of a consortium of providers or entities.

BJA may elect to fund applications submitted under this fiscal's year 2023 solicitation and used in future fiscal years.

Now let's get into application requirements. For budget:

Propose project plans for the full period of performance, which is 36 months, and a budget that assumes level funding for each year of the award. Please note, the award amount in this solicitation is for one year. Pending performance and available funds, BJA will look to supplement these awards in future years.

Spend half of the budget on TTA to the grantees, and then the other half on TTA as policy measures to the field.

This solicitation does not require a match. That means don't put one in there.

Applicants proposing to utilize grant funds to support technological enhancements must develop a digital trust implementation plan that describes how the applicant will communicate the use of this technology with the applicant's employees and the community at large.

OJP strongly encourages every applicant that proposes to use award funds for any conference, meeting, or training-related activity to review carefully the OJP and DOJ policy and guidance on approval planning and reporting of such events.

Let's go through the application requirement checklist, and I'm just going to briefly run through these. This is just some of the content of the application submission. Earlier in the poll, seems like a portion of the attendees on this webinar are familiar with the BJA funding or federal funding at least. So, let's run through it.

There's the application for federal assistance, which is the SF-424. The mandated piece of a proposal abstract, right? Another mandated piece being the proposal narrative. The budget worksheet and narrative timeline, which is all in one now, right? That's mandated. Resumes of key personnel. Again, a very mandated piece. Work product examples. Large part of this work is national work, so we expect that applicants will have work product examples. Any MOUs, Memorandum of Understandings, and other supportive documents, if applicable. Documentation of proposed subrecipients and procurement contracts. We mentioned subject matter experts a great deal in here, so there should be a documentation of proposed subrecipients and procurements contracts. Letters of support. Indirect cost-rate agreement if applicable. Financial management and system of internal controls questionnaire. Disclosures and assurances. Research and evaluation independence and integrity. Request and justification for employee compensation/waiver, if applicable.

Now we're going to jump into the review criteria.

So, for the description of the issue, it's pretty much laid out in solicitation what we need, so that's about 5%. More importantly is your project design and implementation, where you tell us how you're going to achieve that, that's 40%. The capabilities and competencies come in at 30%. A plan for collecting data for performance measures, again, 5%.

And lastly, the budget coming in at 20%.

That breaks up 100% for the review criteria.

Now we're getting into how to apply.

The first thing we need to make sure is that your SAM registration is up to date. It is SAM, that's your System for Award Management.

You must renew and validate your registration every 12 months. If you do not renew your SAM registration, it will expire. An expired registration can delay and even prevent an application submission in Grants.gov as well as JustGrants. Registration and renewal can take up to 10 business days to complete. So please don't wait until the last day of the deadline to try to make that attempt. You might want to do that first.
Gentle reminder, there's now a two-step application process.

Step one, Grants.gov. After registering with SAM, you must submit the SF-424 as well as the SF-LLL in Grants.gov as early as possible, but no later than 48 hours before the Grants.gov deadline. The Grants.gov deadline for the Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance Program is July 25, 2023, at 8:59 PM Eastern Time.

Step two is JustGrants. You'll submit the full application, including all attachments at the JustGrants website, which is justicegrants.usdoj.gov. The JustGrants deadline for this Second Chance Act Training and Technical Assistance Program is August 1, 2023, at 8:59 PM Eastern Time.

Again, we hope that everyone will take the time to look at some of the resources, including to see the "How to Apply" section in the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide. The link is provided here as well as in the solicitation. And see the DOJ Application Submission Checklist. Again, the link is provided here but that's also listed in the solicitation.

All right. I believe I'm taking it back to you, Meg.

MEG CHAPMAN: Yeah, thanks Andre.

I'm going to go through a few of the resources that are available to you to assist you during the application process—and I think will be particularly relevant given what the polling results were, some of you may have more or less experience submitting applications to OJP.

This first slide is a resource guide that walks you through the basics of submitting an application for OJP funding. [It] goes through each element of the application, application attachments, financial information, award administration information, designed to take some of the stress off the application process. And the link is on the slide Andre already mentioned and is flagged again on this slide, the importance of having current registration with System for Award Management or SAM.

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To submit your application, as already mentioned, and also to manage your award, you need to be familiar with the JustGrants system. The link on this slide directs you to JustGrants and the range of resources, training, FAQs, and just an opportunity to request user support that is offered by JustGrants administrators.

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In addition to these online resources, we continue to offer the ability to call or email for technical support for both systems that you're going to need to access as part of submitting an application. Grants.gov, which you will use to, as Andre mentioned, register as an applicant by submitting the application for federal assistance or SF-424, and the SFLLL.

You must do this, as Andre already mentioned, before the deadline and an applicant that, you know, fails to submit in Grants.gov won't be able to submit in JustGrants. So, it's really important to adhere to that deadline. And then JustGrants, which is the system you'll use to submit your application for funding which also must be done by the deadline to be considered for funding.

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And if you're not already a subscriber, please stay connected to OJP and BJA by subscribing to these different opportunities, as reflected on the slide and including JUSTINFO or OJP news releases and the JustGrants newsletter, as well as the DOJ email updates. That will ensure you receive any updates on this solicitation and all other news that we release.

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And do stay connected to us through social media, these different outlets. Again, the links are on the slide, which you will have access to.

We're hoping that we have been able to answer any of your questions on this webinar today. But if you have questions that come up, please reach out to the OJP Response Center and information is here on this slide. Next slide.

Most importantly, please remember that applications—as Andre flagged, that I'm trying to reinforce here—must be submitted using a two-step process, each with their own deadline, both through Grants.gov and JustGrants. And then again, note that the submission deadline, as Andre already mentioned, is now 8:59 PM Eastern Time and no longer 11:59.

And as always, please read the solicitation document carefully for any additional guidance.

I am going to move into our next slide, which is kind of just a summary slide of a quick guide on how to get support related to Grants.gov, JustGrants, and to ask solicitation-related questions at the OJP Response Center. Next slide.

I'm going to pass it over to Heather, although I just see that there's a flag to, I think, raise your hand, if you have any questions.

DARYL FOX: Yes, we do apologize...

MEG CHAPMAN: We are experiencing some—sorry, go ahead.

DARYL FOX: Yeah, we do apologize for the technical glitch with the chat and Q&A functions. If you do want to raise your hand, we can unmute your line and to ask the question verbally. I do see somebody just submitted a question in the chat, so maybe it's resolved itself. But Heather, if you see that—I don't know if you could see that question.

HEATHER TUBMAN-CARBONE: Yup, I got it. So, we've got one question in. Before I get to that, I do just want to flag one thing. We have made a correction to the solicitation.

There was a note in there about eligibility that says for-profits, but not small businesses, that has been changed. So, if you go to the BJA website and you look at funding opportunities and locate the solicitation now, you will see that small businesses are in fact eligible. They are not excluded.

All right. So, first question that I can see is, "For a public higher ed institution, do the possible grantees need to be open to the public or can they be focused only on individuals tied to the institution?" So, I could see this going—the question going one of two ways. I'm going to try to answer it. But to the individual who asked, if I don't, please, please put a follow-up question in there. I would like to get this addressed for you.

For this solicitation, public institutions of higher education are eligible applicants to BT providers, to the grantees who will apply under separate solicitations. I'm not sure if your question is asking whether the grant—what you mean by grantee, I guess is where I'm getting a little confused. Grantees who would apply under other solicitations are applying to deliver programs and services or enhance access to programs and services for people who are reentering their communities from prisons and jails. Those individuals may or may not be enrolled in institutions of higher education.

The individuals tied to the institution, that would be the link. But if you're talking about applying to be a TA provider, the TA provider under this solicitation will be delivering assistance to guide the implementation of the programs and services that are being stood up by those grantees. So, you kinda think about it like in tiers, there are grants that will go out to state, local, tribal, and community-based nonprofit organizations to serve individuals coming out of prisons and jails. Sometimes those individuals have links to institutions of higher education.

For this solicitation, the selected providers will work with those grantees, and if somebody who applies to the solicitation is associated with an institution of higher ed, the delivery you will do is not necessarily to people who are enrolled in your institution. This solicitation is to deliver support to those grantees selected under other solicitations. So, it's more that you're delivering to those whom BJA selected, not to individuals that you would select.

If you cannot see the chat icon, please go ahead and raise your hand and we can unmute your line to ask any questions.

Thank you for bearing with us with these technical difficulties. We'll give it another couple of moments. And then of course, as you can see that Meg noted, on your screen are the important contacts for questions. So, there are questions about technical items, and then there are places to ask questions about programmatic requirements.

Those of us on this call are here to answer any questions you have right now, but we will not be able to field individual questions after this as everybody who is a potential applicant has to have equal access to questions and answers. So, they must be either asked in a public forum like this webinar, or tracked through one of these response centers. So, please don't be shy. Let's give it one more minute for questions and if we don't see any hands, then we will close out for today.

All right. Well, with that, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you to my team and colleagues at BJA. This is a lot to deliver today. We hope you all enjoyed listening in and that you are going to apply for one or more categories of this. Many thanks to the team at Leidos, to Daryl and Tammy, for putting on the technical aspects of this webinar, and to our colleague Sara Sullivan behind the scenes.

Thank you all.