FY24 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program

Transcript also available as PDF.

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's webinar, “FY 2024 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program,” hosted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. So, at this time, it's my pleasure to introduce Gregory Torain, Senior Policy Advisor with BJA, to begin the presentation. Greg.

GREGORY TORAIN: All right. Thank you, Daryl. And welcome, everyone, to the FY24 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Solicitation. Again, if you missed, my name is Greg Torain. I am one of the presenters for today. You'll also hear from Kerri. We are the policy advisors that manage this program. Next slide.

So for today's agenda, we'll go over the welcome and introduction to the Office of Justice Program, as well as what is the Bureau of Justice Assistance. We'll go over program overview. We'll also do the eligibility and requirements. We talk about some application resources. The one I like the best is the feedback from the experts. So we'll get an opportunity to ask a couple poll questions for you all. It's always helpful for us to do that because it allows us to get your feedback and to be able to see how we can better support you and make our program a better program for the next coming years. And following that, we'll have a Q&A. Next slide.

So, Section 1, Welcome and Introduction. We can go to the next slide.

So, what is the Office of Justice Programs? So Office of Justice Program provides grant funding, training, research, and statistics for our criminal justice community, and we are one of three grant components within the Department of Justice. The other is OVW, which is the Office of Violence Against Women, Office of Community Oriented Policing. And within the Office of Justice Program, you have, what's listed on the right, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, both where myself and Kerri sit. You also have the BJS, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, who collect criminal justice-related data and statistics. Then you have NIJ, who provide criminal justice-related research. Then you also have Office of Victims of Crime that provides funding to support crime victims. You have OJJDP, which also supports grant funding to support juvenile justice-related programs, as well as family programs. And then, lastly, you have the SMART Office, the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehension, and Registering. So those are all the entities that sit within the Office of Justice Programs. Next slide.

So here is our mission at BJA. I won't read through the entire mission. It's just important to understand that BJA works with our partners to reduce crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement and promote a safe and fair criminal justice system. And we're led by our director, Karhlton Moore. Next slide.

So, how does BJA support the field? We do it in three ways. The first being our investments. So our investments are solicitations that we put out for applicants to apply to support the working goals of the current administration, as well as what we’re trying to do here at BJA as aligned with our mission. Shared knowledge. BJA also supports a number of research projects that supports the field in terms of identifying what are best practices. And we use that information that we learn from the field to be able to infuse back into our particular programs to make our programs more research-based and aligned with the trends. And then engagement. We engage our various partners, whether it's our TTA providers, whether it's our other federal partners, or whether it's you, the community, that are doing the work to ensure that we know what’s going on, we identify what the trends are, and we bring that back. And collectively through our investments, our research, and our engagement, we are working to create stronger programs that will impact communities and help you do the work that you do. Next slide.

So, I'll go over the Program Overview. So, for the Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Conviction Program, our goal really is to enhance and expand the work that you guys do on a day-to-day basis to help you better identify, assess, and manage post-conviction claims of innocence while translating lessons learned into practices to prevent future error and to bring justice to victims. So, again, our role is really to provide the support you need through the funding vehicle, which is our solicitation, as well as our trained technical assistance that provides a variety of different resources to support you. Next slide.

So, here's our first poll question. So, "Has your organization or entity ever received a BJA wrongful conviction award?" So, please indicate yes or no. This allows us to get a good sense of who's on the webinar that had received the funding and also those who have not. So it's always good for us to have a sense of that. So I'll give you maybe 30 seconds to answer, respond to that question. Okay. We'll give it another 10 seconds and then we'll move on to the next slide. Let's see what we have here. So it looks like almost even to yes, no, and no answer. So it sounds like we got a pretty diverse group on today's webinar. So, again, thank you for responding to that poll question. We can move on to the next slide.

So, for this year's solicitation, we're going to break down how many awards we look to make in each of the categories. And this is also information on the currently solicitation.

So for Category 1, for the Wrongful Conviction Entity-Led Strategy, we’re expecting to make nine awards in the amount of $600,000 for each individual award, the maximum amount. These awards will start October 1st of 2024. And these awards are for 36 months, three years. For Category 2, the Conviction Integrity Unit-Led Partnership, we're looking to expect to make two awards in the amount of $600,000, which is the maximum. Again, the start date is October 1st of 2024. And the period of performance for those awards are 36 months. And then Category 3 is our Wrongful Conviction and CIU TTA Award. So one award in that category. The funding amount is $1.2 million. And, again, that one starts on October 1st, 2024, and that's for 24 months for the period of performance. Next slide.

So, for Category 1, the Wrongful Conviction Entity-Led Strategy, this strategy is led by a wrongful conviction entity that focuses on review and litigation of post-conviction claims of innocence. So the maximum award is up to $600,000. So I want to kind of clarify. So if you are applying and your entity doesn't require or need the maximum amount of $600,000, you can apply for $100,000, you can apply for $200,000, you can apply for $300,000, whatever is best or works best for you and for your program or what you need in terms of funding. So for period of performance, again, it's up to 36 months. So if you're applying, you may be flexible where you request the maximum amount for 12 months, for 24 months. So it's really up to your needs. We want to make sure that we're supporting you in terms of what you need for the amount of time that you need that funding. I want to kind of be clear of that. And then also it's important to note that partnerships with a CIU is encouraged but not required. If you do submit an application within Category 1 and do not indicate that you have a partnership with a CIU, it won't count against you. If there's no points to that, all applications will look the same. I just want note that. So we can go to—next.

So, for Category 2, the CIU Unit-Led Partnerships, a strategy led by state or local prosecutor office or a CIU that focuses on the prevention of wrongful convictions and the review of post-conviction claims of innocence and may include partnerships with wrongful conviction entities. Again, similar to Category 1, the maximum amount is up to $600,000. Again, it's based off your need. And then the performance measures or the period of performance is up to 36 months. And, again, that's consistent with Category 1. If it's only 12 months you need or 24 months, request that in your application. And, again, a partnership with the wrongful conviction entity or review entity is encouraged but not required. Again, there's no penalty for not having a partnership indicated in your application. Next slide.

So, allowable use of funds. So here is but not limited to how funds can be used. So the six different categories you see in front of you, or areas, are what typically applicants indicate in their application how they plan to address their goals and objectives. Within each of these categories, there is flexibility to look at diverse ways or innovative ways that you can request funding to support your initiative. Most recently, we were at the Innocence Network Conference and we got a couple questions related to diverse and innovative ways to use your funding. One was related to hiring or having an evaluator to be a part of our program to support our program. And, yes, that is allowable because that allows you to be able to look at how you can expand on your goals by looking and evaluating the overall process of being efficient with your program or whatever it is that supports the overall goal of your program to make your program successful, then that's an allowable cost to support that person to be there to evaluate your program. Another was looking at innovative or unique partners to be at the table, to work with you to support your efforts and your goals and objectives of your program. So that would also be allowable. But if there's anything that's questionable, definitely feel free to reach out or even ask those questions. But we do encourage innovation in our applications. So I just want to make sure that's noted. Next slide.

So, also, we have the Category 3, the Wrongful Conviction and CIU TTA. Funding is intended to help wrongful conviction entities, prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsels, and courts identify actual perpetrators and develop training tools, policies, and procedures that can prevent wrongful convictions. Again, the maximum amount within that category is $1.2 million and the period of performance is 24 months. Next slide.

So, for training and technical assistance, some of the deliverables that are indicated in the solicitation is direct consultations. So that person needs to be able to indicate how they're going to be able to conduct meetings and assess our grant's needs, bringing in subject matter experts to assist in identifying those needs to ensure that our grantees are able to implement the programs as successful as possible, developing helpful materials that are conducting post-conviction investigation litigation, whether it's podcasts, publications, that may be helpful or guide to our grantees. We'll be looking to work with that TTA provider, or the applicant who's applying for TTA would be indicating that in their application in terms of what will be those products based off what we know are the needs of the field. Then, also offering webinars and trainings on topics that are specific to the needs of conviction integrity units as well as wrongful conviction review entities. And then evaluation. Looking to support our grantees in terms of going out and providing comprehensive, qualitative research-based evaluations to ensure that if there are challenges that needs support, then we will be providing that support. So, really, for the applicants that are applying for the site-based awards, the individual awards, we really want to make sure that when we're making our awards, we're working to help you be as successful as possible. We know everyone comes at a different level or a different aspect of funding levels and/or work that you're doing and different challenges in your jurisdictions. Our overall goal is really to get you to the best situation you can be in and to be successful. And that's our overall goal with our grantees. Next slide.

So, again, we have another poll question for you guys. "Will you be applying for funding out of this solicitation?" Please indicate yes or no. So, again, we'll give it about 30 to 40 seconds for you to provide this information. Okay. And this is also pretty helpful for us. It gives us a good sense of who we have on and who's looking to apply for funding. All right. We'll give it about another 10 seconds. See what we have. Okay. So it looks like a large number are looking to apply and we have a large number who just didn't respond but may be interested to learn more. So, again, thank you for submitting that poll. Again, that information is going to be helpful for us as we move forward with this whole grant process. Next slide.

"So if you indicated that you are looking to apply, for which category will you be applying?" Again, Category 1 is the Wrongful Conviction-Led Entity, Category 2 is the Conviction Integrity category, and then Category 3 is the Training and Technical Assistance category. We'll give you guys about another 15 seconds. Okay. Let's see what we have. Okay. All right. So we have 16 for Category 1, 14 for Category 2, and 6 for Category 3. Awesome. Thank you, guys, for responding to that poll. Again, this is helpful information for us just to have a sense of what we may potentially have coming in in terms of for review. Next slide.

So, I want to make note that there are two deadlines. As you can see, this solicitation was released back in March 20th. April 11th, we are at the, what, 23rd day since the solicitation has been out. Step one of this process is the Grant.gov. The deadline is May 15th. So you need to definitely make sure that if you're going to be applying, you want to start your process right now and make sure that you use that deadline of May 15th. And then the step two process is the JustGrants process, where you submit the remainder of your application via JustGrants, and that deadline is a week after that, which is May 22nd. This solicitation is out 64 days, which is pretty consistent with most of our other solicitations. So, again, if you haven't started yet, please start right away if you're looking to apply or respond. Next slide. Okay. Eligibility requirements. Next slide.

So, who may apply in both Category 1? So these are the areas that you would need to be as an entity to be able to apply. So I'm not going to read through all of them. Just understand the entity that you are, and if you fall within any of these categories for Category 1 and 2, then you are eligible to apply to the solicitation, again, for those two categories. Let's give it a second, I wanted to make sure they can see each of the entities. So we'll move to the next slide. So for Category 3, which is the Training and Technical Assistance, these are who may apply or entities that can apply for Category 3. And as you can see in the left, we're looking definitely for entities that have experience and expertise in administering CIUs and/or experience in reviewing cases of post-conviction and appeal claims of innocence. Okay. All right. We can move to the next slide.

So, OJP Priority Areas. So OJP provides priority considerations for applicants for a number of different priority areas. For this solicitation, we have Priority Area 1A. Applicants that propose projects that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to accessing services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequality, and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. So within this category, if you're looking to apply for this priority consideration, to receive this, the applicant must describe how the proposed project will address identified inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for these communities. So within this solicitation, there are certain areas that's indicated where you respond to this priority. Next slide.

So. like we mentioned earlier, there is an application checklist at the end of this solicitation. I encourage you to please visit that and look at it, and when you're submitting your application, go through the checklist one, two, three, ten times to make sure that you are submitting everything that's required within the application. So, again, application step one, under Grants.gov, these will be the two documents that you'll be sending. This is the step one process of the application. It's the SF-424, as well as the Lobbying Activities form, the SF-LLL. Once completed, then the next phase or step would be step two, within JustGrants. These are some of the documents that you would need to submit under the application step two process in JustGrants. As you can see, there are some highlighted as required. The next slide, I'll go a little more in-depth as it relates to those documents. But as you can see, obviously, the Abstract, the Narrative, your Budget, Indirect Cost, Financial Management forms, Disclosure, and there are some additional attachments that are indicated in the application checklist. So definitely, it's always good to go back before you submit your application, to go back to that checklist to make sure you have everything covered and that you're not missing anything that needs to be in your application. Next slide.

So, we have what is called Basic Minimum Requirements. So what we call here at BJA, BMR. So solicitations are useless when—so what you need to make sure that you have in—or addressed is the Basic Minimum Requirements, which are the critical elements of your solicitation. As you saw on the previous slide, we the Project Abstract, the Narrative, the Budget, and Timeline. It's important to note that if your application does not contain any of the elements, the application will not move to peer review, which means it will not get processed in terms of being reviewed. So be sure to make sure that when you submit your application, it has these four critical elements.

One of the mistakes that's done in the past is that sometimes we have applicants who may have two, three people working on an application, and then when they upload the form sometime they might upload the wrong or incorrect form or document and/or I've seen plenty of times where they upload blank documents that have the label as Project Abstract or Narrative. You guys spend a lot of work, a lot of time and effort in submitting the applications, so you want to constantly check to make sure what you're finalizing or sending over or uploading is the actual final document and completed document. And, again, I've seen that plenty of times where we open up an application and it's a couple blank forms that's titled Project Narrative. Kind of hard to read an application if you don't have the actual narrative in the applications though. Next slide.

So, we'll be going over some of the different required documents. The first one is the Abstract. It should be no more than 400 words. What should be in an Abstract? You should be addressing what the purpose is, the primary activities, what you're looking to do, the expected outcomes, what's the service area, some of the intended beneficiaries, community and criminal justice partners that you'll be working with, and if you have subrecipients, provide that information as well. And, again, it's pretty much summarizing the project in your Proposal Abstract. Next slide.

So, the Program Narrative. Again, a required document. Make sure you read through all the instructions on this page, and you meet all the proposal narrative guidelines. That's being double-spaced, standard 12-point font, one-inch margins, and it should not exceed 15 pages. And the number of pages should be from, an example, would be 1 of 15. So the first page would be 1 of 1, 1 of 2, 1 of 3, and so on. If a Proposal Narrative fails to comply with the length restrictions, BJA may consider such noncompliance in peer review and on final award decisions. So you definitely want to make sure you go over the instructions, understand the instructions, and then obviously follow the instructions. So helpful tips. Table, charts, and graphs included in the program narrative can be created in a legible font smaller than 12-point font and will be included in the total page limit. So it's important to note, if you do include tables and charts, what the limit is for that. So next slide.

So, Proposal Narrative, continue with that. So each solicitation in the program narrative has, well, here are five sections. You have Description of Issue, Project Design, Capabilities, Plan for Collecting Data, and then at the bottom, the Budget. So as you can see, you have those five sections, and then for each category, those sections are weighted by a percentage. So you can see Project Design and Implementation and Capabilities and Competency are the most heavily weighted. What I always encourage applicants to do is when you're working on your Project Narrative, you want to be sure to make sure you focus on where the highest percentage of your score will be. So you want to spend 40% of your time to make sure you're addressing the Project Design and Implementation. Maybe 20% of your time that you are towards Capabilities and Competencies. So it just gives you a sense of what you should be focusing on the most in terms of, or what would get you your best bang for your buck when you're submitting your Project Narrative.

One of the things I want to mention too as a helpful tip. I used to write grants a while back. I haven't done it in a while, obviously. But one thing is important when you have your solicitation. You're looking to respond to questions. What's always helpful is if you cut and paste every different thing that we’re requesting that you provide in the solicitation. Maybe cut and paste it in another Word document each of those different sections, and then respond individually to every question that is in the solicitation. For one, it's helpful because those who are reviewing it are able to find that information because it's where it's supposed to be and, two, you want a reviewer that's happy and just reviewing your solicitation, being able to find the information. Last thing you want is the peer reviewer to be looking for information and it’s not in the location where it should be. So just couple of tips that I've seen in the past that may be helpful for structuring your application. Next slide. So I will turn this over to Kerri.
KERRI VITALO-LOGAN: Hi, everyone. Just a few things on the Budget and the Narrative Web-Based Form. I do see a question in the chat asking if the budget form will be the same. Yes. There have been no anticipated changes communicated to us. It should stay the same.

So, one thing that we see a lot, and I just wanted to flag for everyone's attention, is that, please, do not include any non-federal requests or dollar amounts in this budget. The Wrongful Conviction Solicitation and Program does not require match. And if you do match, sometimes people think it gives them a leg up. It causes all sorts of problems, and we probably will ask you to remove it or, worse comes to worst, we have to award you a grant with match in it, which then means you are legally required to provide that funding yourself. And a lot of times organizations are not able to, but it's too bad because you told us you would and so we approved your grant based on that. So please do not include match again. Once more, do not include it. It'll make everyone a lot happier.

The second little tip is in your budget narrative, that is the section not where you're providing calculations but where you explain your calculations to us. So you may ask for a case manager $50,000 a year. And that's fine. But then, within the narrative section, you need to tell us what that case manager is doing. And if you don't, we will come back and ask you to clarify. Another thing to know is that, if we have to ask you for clarification on something you've put into your budget or into the project narrative, we will do so, and the changes will be sent to the application submitter in your organization. So whoever that is, please just make sure that they are looking in their spam inbox just to make sure they're not missing any emails from us. In addition, if we do reach out to you, that is not an indication that we intend to fund. So I just have to fill that out there. But please, if we have questions for you, make sure that you're responding to us in a timely manner. We would like to get all of our budgets cleared, but OCFO, the Chief Financial Office, they have thousands and thousands of budgets to review in the summer. And so, if they're unable to review and clear your budget by July 26th this year, they will be moving ahead with making awards but holding funds. So it's very important if you receive a grant from us when you go in and you check to see if your budget has been cleared. Most likely, it will not be. Just that we run out of time. So just be on the lookout for that to know that you are not able to start spending until we contact you and clear your budget. Next slide, please.

Again, Greg mentioned this earlier, but the Timeline is web-based this year. It is a requirement. If you do submit a timeline that is incomplete, we can make the award, but we will hold your funds until we receive all of the information that we had requested. Next slide, please.

So, I know Greg talked about the JustGrants and the Grants.gov, two different deadlines. Again, please read carefully through everything there. It is a two-part process. And a note with the SF-424, what we consider the application page. Again, do not put anything other than the amount that you're requesting from us into that sheet, the UEI #. Also, please go over and double check that that is the correct UEI # for your organization. If we make an award to you, and it's not with the UEI that you had intended, it is a very lengthy and difficult process to reverse that and give it to the correct organization. It can take up to a year, during which time you do not have access to your funding. So again, please make sure that whatever UEI # you're entering is the one that is associated with the organization that intends to imply and administer the funds. Next slide, please.

Again, just reiterating with the SF-424 and the budget, no match at all. And I did want to mention one thing with subawards versus procurement contracts in your submitted budgets. If you are partnering with a wrongful conviction review entity or a CIU or others, they will be considered subgrants and subawards, and that holds greater responsibility for the prime agency, which means that you will be responsible for monitoring an additional oversight of your partners. It is extra steps and we do evaluate to make sure that you are properly monitoring your subgrants, but I just wanted to let people know, again, that if you do partner with an organization, it will be considered a subaward. Next slide, please.

Again, as Greg said, please, please, please review all the documents and requirements in the solicitation. If you just go step-by-step, it'll tell you everything you need to know. And I did want to point out two things that the disclosure of pending applications that is required. What it's asking for is, if you are applying for with other agencies for identical costs, we want to know. So it doesn't necessarily mean that if you apply with us to fund a case manager, but then you apply with another agency to fund an attorney, those are not identical costs, and that is not what we're necessarily looking for or interested in. We want to know if you're applying for the same grant, basically, with multiple agencies. And then the Research and Evaluation Integrity Statement, if you do intend to use your funding to hire an evaluator, we do require a statement of research integrity. So you can find the link in the solicitation to the requirements for that. I think next slide and it goes back to Greg.

GREGORY TORAIN: Thanks, Kerri. So some of our application resources. We'll go to the next slide.

So, we have the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide. This is to help you through your whole application process, so definitely use that. You'll see this language or a link to this throughout the whole solicitation at various points. Looking to your right, I know it might be challenging to see, but it has how to apply in each aspect of your application. It provides instructions on how to go through that process, how to make attachments, how to put attachments in. So definitely, if you have challenges when you're looking to submit your application or working through your application, this is the guide that will assist you through that process. Next slide.

And then we have the JustGrants learning system. So as you're moving forward with submitting your applications through JustGrants, here again are various resources that you can use to find different webinar, or resources, or other guides that can support you in submitting your application through JustGrants. Next slide.

So, when you are looking to submit your application, again, we're at the step one to the left where it says Grants.gov. This is pretty much to provide you with technical support in submitting both the SF-424 and SF-LLL, or triple L. You have a customer support hotline as well. So again, if you're working through Grants.gov and you have challenges at that process, this where you would go to be able to get assistance. And also, to your right, we have JustGrants technical support, the same information, customer support hotline with an email information, as well as a variety of resources. And this information is also included in, I think, the second page or third page of the solicitation. Next slide.

Then we also have how you can subscribe to OJP. If you're interested in getting texts about various different opportunities. So we do every year, in the beginning of grant fees, and we do webinars. And we also have these webinars on our webinar page. So if you go into BJA webinar, we have webinars on how to apply for funding, all things you need to do, as well as our funding opportunities. And again, at the beginning of each year, we do a variety of webinars on all the different solicitations that we'll be putting out each year. So it's very helpful. So if this grant doesn't meet all your needs, or if you apply for the funding but there's still gaps in services that you need, it's also helpful to look at those webinars to see what other funding opportunity that we do have that will fit and support what you need in your jurisdictions. But again, it says email updates, you just text OJP, enter your email address, or you can scribe that way. So it's just the best way to subscribe into us and getting the latest information. Next slide.

How to stay connected with BJA? We have Facebook, our Twitter, as well as our YouTube account. So, definitely feel free to stay connected to what we're doing at BJA. We're doing some great things, and we want you to be connected to that. Next slide.

Additional Questions. So, if you're working through challenges with your application, you would submit those questions. I would love to say just submit them directly to me, but it's helpful that you first send those questions to the OJP Response Center. They'll select those questions and then they'll send them to me. And then if I have challenges, I'll work with Kerri to make sure we're able to respond to your questions. But it's helpful that those questions go there because they collect those questions and we're able to at the end of the year, or at least the end of this process, to identify what are the most frequent questions that we're receiving to let us know where we might be challenged with our solicitation in terms of not being able to or maybe confused what we have on solicitation if we're getting a lot of questions, so that helps us to be able to the next time we create a solicitation, that we are making sure that we're clear in terms of what people are having questions on for the next time. So it's helpful for us to be able to collect and analyze that data to make sure that the solicitation process is a cleaner process and a more understood process for the next year. So next slide.

Again, just a reminder, that there are dual deadlines. Step one, I know we kind of been beating this down, but yeah, for step one, you definitely want to submit those two forms. And then for step two is the full application in JustGrants. Next slide.

Okay. Kind of more or the same, just the technical for the top for Grants.gov, that's the technical assistance. For JustGrants, again, that's the technical assistance for filling your full application. And then the OJP response center is technical assistance for questions you have related to the actual solicitation. Next slide.

I think that might be the last slide. Oh, no, this is probably one of the more important ones for us, is feedback from the experts. So like I mentioned, you guys are our experts in the field. You're actually on the ground doing this work, and it's just helpful for us to be able to always look to get your feedback to see how we can, again, better work to make sure this program fits your needs. And the best way to do that is obviously to ask you questions about it. And again, this won't be the last time you will hear from us coming out to try to get feedback from you guys. But this is just one aspect of it, to get some feedback.

So, the first one, "Is the current funding amount of $600,000 for up to three years sufficient to manage a wrongful conviction and/or a CIU program?" So I'll give you some time to respond to that. So it's yes or no. All right. So we'll give it another 20 seconds for a response. Okay. We'll see. Okay. So, okay. So we got quite a few no answers, but more of yes, 18 yes and 11 no. Okay. Again, thank you for that response.

We'll go to the next question. "How can BJA support Wrongful Conviction Entities in CIUs to enhance the efficiency in case review?" These are three examples, but if there's another, please let us know. First one is, "With funding to support access to digitized information," helping to make information you get digitized. Would that be helpful, make your work more efficient? Or, "Funding to support the review of cases using artificial intelligence," or, "Supporting collaboration among Wrongful Convictions and Conviction Integrity Unit entities." So we'll give it, let's say, 30 seconds to respond to that.

And again for BJA, we really want to get that input from you guys to make sure that we understand what your challenges are and how we can make your work easier or more efficient, let's say. So let's get about 10 more seconds and then we'll wrap up this question. Okay. So we have 12 for funding support access to digitize, two for funding for artificial intelligence. Okay, that's good to know. Support for collaboration, that's…okay. Good. Awesome. That's excellent to know. All right, thank you guys for that.

Let's see. I think we have just a few more questions. I think these are more summary-type related questions. So let's go to the next slide. "What are some of the most critical areas of preventing a risk for error that contribute to wrongful convictions in your jurisdiction?" So this is typing in the answer. So what are some of the most critical areas of preventing risk for error that contribute to wrongful convictions in your particular jurisdiction? Well, since we're typing this out, we'll give that another 30 seconds.

So I believe this is being recorded, but we'll figure out a way. We're asking you guys for these polls. So the worst thing you can do is ask people for questions and not give them what the responses are. So we'll work to…once we…and this is being recorded, but we'll definitely have this information available to you all that are participating on this webinar. So the last thing you want to do if you ask questions is not know what the responses are or at least have those responses. Okay. I think we can maybe wrap this one up. Okay.

So, I don't think we could probably see these responses, because there are probably a lot of summaries. So what we'll do again, like I mentioned, we'll definitely share this information with you guys at a later date. Next slide.

I think this is our last. "What are the most critical training and technical assistant needs?" So what are your most critical training and technical assistant needs? So we'll give it about another 30 seconds before we close this poll. Okay. I think we can probably close this one up. Okay. All right. So again, you probably can't see these. Again, we'll definitely share this information with you. It's very important for us to know because it helps us to be able to know what your needs are and how we tailor our training, technical assistance to the needs of you all. So, all right. Next slide.

Okay. So, it looks like we're going to move to questions. Q and A. So I want to turn this back over to our facilitator, Daryl. And if there's questions through the Q and A that we can both, me and Kerri, can respond to.

DARYL FOX: Great. Thanks so much, Greg and Kerri. And just as I mentioned, it's been referenced that the PowerPoint transcript and recording for today will be posted to the BJA website. So everybody that registered will receive an email when and where to access that, so you can go back when reference is needed. First one here in the Q is, "Can for-profits apply for this grant?"

GREGORY TORAIN: Okay. Nonprofit?

DARYL FOX: I have for-profits.

GREGORY TORAIN: Oh, for-profits? For which category are we referring to?

DARYL FOX: It didn't mention in the question.

GREGORY TORAIN: Okay.

DARYL FOX: Do you want to follow up on that, who asked that?

GREGORY TORAIN: So for categories I'll go over. So for who can apply under category one and two, I'll just go over it. State, county, and local government, federally recognized Native American tribes and tribal organizations, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits other than institutions of higher education, and state county or a local public defender's office that have an in-house post-conviction representation program. So, if you're looking to apply for categories one and two.

DARYL FOX: Great. Thanks for that, Greg. “Can you explain what constitutes a partnership with the CIU for category one applications from a wrongful conviction entity?”

GREGORY TORAIN: Well, a partnership would be…well, I guess it could be two type of partnerships. So when you're submitting your application and a wrongful conviction entity is looking to partner with a CIU, then if they were in that same application like Kerri mentioned, that the wrongful conviction of category one was the applicant or the fiscal agent applying, then the CIU would be the subawardee in the application. And they would indicate that in their application in terms of what that partnership would be and what the negotiated partnership would be as part of that application. There also could be a partnership between a wrongful conviction entity and a conviction integrity unit that both apply. One applies under category one, and another applies in category two, where they're both applying for the same funding, and for the maximum amount of funding, but they're also indicating that they will partner with that other entity.

DARYL FOX: “Regarding the proposal abstract, the proposal narrative, the budget narrative, and timeline, do you prefer each of these be individual documents or they should be all combined into one file?”

GREGORY TORAIN: They would be individual documents. So when you do the project abstract, that's going to be uploaded as the abstract as an individual document. The project narrative would be its own individual upload document. The timeline is a JustGrants web-based document also. So each one would be uploaded separately. They wouldn't be one document. Good question.

DARYL FOX: And I'm looking at page 10 of the solicitation, nine objectives are listed. Are these just for category three applicants or are those for all three categories?

GREGORY TORAIN: All right. So, let me take a second to pull up the solicitation. And what page was that? I'm sorry.

DARYL FOX: It's at 10.

GREGORY TORAIN: Oh, the objectives. So the golden objective is a combination of all of the categories. So it's inclusive.

DARYL FOX: And then, Greg, there was a question regarding those answer polls and are those able to be answered post webinar for submission anywhere? I don't know if you knew if that was going to be a possibility if you were seeking that feedback?

GREGORY TORAIN: Oh, what I would request is, so we have the OJP Response Center. So if you have additional information that you want to share, definitely send it through that and indicate what program you're sending it towards for. And we'll end up getting that information.

DARYL FOX: And I'll go ahead, and I answered the question with the email and it’s [email protected].

GREGORY TORAIN: Yes.

DARYL FOX: Mike, if you want to go to slide 41, if we can just have that up for a moment. And it’s with the same information but also includes their number if you need that. Okay. I know there are questions in the Q and A. I know there was a couple in the chat, so I can go there and see, but actually, I think Kerri addressed this. I just want to ask it again just in case it's a little different. "Will the budget narrative web-based form be the same as last year?" Changed from'22 to '23 as recalled."

GREGORY TORAIN: Okay. Kerri, do you want to take that one?

KERRI VITALO-LOGAN: Oh, yes. We have not been told about any changes, so we expect the process to be the same. And, Daryl, I'm sorry. I did forget to add one thing that I'm not sure we highlighted for a potential applicant. New this year is a brief applicant entity questionnaire that you'll see. It's a web-based form and it's basically asking biographical data. We are interested to see who's applying for our grants and how we can expand access. So they would really like people to fill that out. However, it is not going to be included in review criteria for your grant. So answering it or not answering it will not have any impact on whether your grant is funded.

DARYL FOX: Thanks for that clarification. "And then can a nonprofit submit a grant proposal in partnership with a CIU in category two and submit a proposal for other purposes under category one?"

KERRI VITALO-LOGAN: So yes, in a qualified way that if the nonprofit were partnering with the CIU in category two, the CIU would be the lead grantee. And so, the nonprofit would be able to apply for their own primary grant under category one.

DARYL FOX: Oh, thanks for that. Yeah. We do still have a couple more moments, so if you do have a question, please go ahead and enter that in. And I think this one is, "What if all the funds aren't used, the goal has been achieved, is a refund required on that grant amount?"

KERRI VITALO-LOGAN: So, these grants are reimbursement-based, so you will not have access to all the funds upfront. So if grant management has gone as the way it should be, you would just be drawing down what you need as you go along. So there should not be anything to refund to us if you end your grant early. And then one more great resource for people who are curious, I can drop the link in the chat if it works. If you're able to go back and look at previously funded wrongful conviction grants and you can see the individual awardees from each year, you may have to do a little bit of searching, but i just dropped in the 2023 grantees. So if you click on the links under their names, it should bring up their abstract so you can get a sense of what other organizations are doing.

GREGORY TORAIN: Yeah, and it's correct. And one of the things that I'm hoping to get up on our website as well under wrongful conviction, the—our link—under the link of this program is some successful applications. So I'm looking to put up a successful CIU application or a project narrative, obviously redacting the information from that information as well as a wrongful conviction successful application coming pretty soon. We'll make sure that's up and people can get the opportunity to see what two successful applications look like as in terms of the project narratives.

DARYL FOX: Thank you, Greg. That's a great point. So in the chat, I've entered a link to successful applications in general, not specific to this one, but case attendees were looking just to see how those are put together and what they look like. So you can click on that one as well.

GREGORY TORAIN: Yeah. Because we don't have that yet. I'm working to have that, so we'll have at least two of them that are specific to this program.

DARYL FOX: Okay. We just hang on for another minute here. If you do have a question, enter that in. All right. So I think that's the end for today. Greg, Kerri, anything in closing you wanted to make mention?

GREGORY TORAIN: Yeah. I'll just say good luck, everybody. BJA is always excited about the opportunity to put new funding out there and make new awards and eventually have new grantees. So we understand that you have to apply, and we'll look forward to your applications. And again, good luck in this process. Oh, Kerri, have anything?

KERRI VITALO-LOGAN: Nope. I'm good. Thank you.

GREGORY TORAIN: All right. Thanks.

DARYL FOX: Great. Great. Thanks so much. So on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance and our panelists, I want to thank you for joining today's presentation. This will end today's webinar.