BJA FY 20 The National Center on Restorative Justice | BJA 2020 18442

Opportunity Information: Apply for BJA 2020 18442

The BJA FY 20 The National Center on Restorative Justice grant opportunity is a discretionary funding program from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), intended to establish a single National Center on Restorative Justice at an accredited institution of higher education or an accredited law school. The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means BJA expects to have substantial involvement in the project beyond standard grant monitoring, such as collaboration on key activities, deliverables, or direction-setting. The opportunity was created on April 6, 2020, with an original application deadline of May 21, 2020, and BJA anticipated making one award with a maximum funding level (ceiling) of $3,000,000.

The central aim of the Center is to help shape the next generation of leaders in juvenile and criminal justice by embedding restorative justice concepts into higher education and professional preparation. BJA’s vision is for the Center to engage undergraduate, graduate, and law students in deeper, more critical learning about how criminal justice systems function and how restorative approaches can be used alongside or in place of traditional responses to harm. A defining feature of the proposed training is that it should not be built in isolation within academia. Instead, the Center is expected to develop curricula and learning experiences in conjunction with criminal justice professionals, community members, educators, and social service providers, drawing perspectives and needs from state, regional, and national levels. The intention is to create practical, grounded education that reflects real-world system constraints, community expectations, and the lived experiences of people affected by crime and punishment.

BJA leaves room for flexibility in how the education and training component is delivered, but highlights several core pathways the Center may use. These include developing a full degree program, creating a summer-term institute, and/or offering shorter-form brief courses. These options signal an interest in both long-term academic pipelines (degrees) and more accessible, intensive, or modular learning formats (institutes and short courses) that can reach a wider audience. A notable emphasis is also placed on encouraging access to educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals, reflecting a broader equity and reintegration perspective that aligns with restorative principles and workforce development goals in justice-related fields.

In addition to education and training, the Center is expected to support research that helps the field better understand how to deliver direct services that address social inequities. The opportunity explicitly references challenges such as ensuring simultaneous access to substance use treatment and higher education, pointing toward research that is applied and service-oriented rather than purely theoretical. Research support under the Center can take multiple forms: conducting original studies, developing research agendas and methodologies, and translating existing or emerging research into formats that practitioners, policymakers, and communities can use. This “translation” element is important because it signals an expectation that research findings should be disseminated in ways that inform practice and decision-making, not simply published for academic audiences.

From an administrative and classification standpoint, the opportunity falls under multiple funding activity categories, including education and training, humanities (cultural affairs), information and statistics, and law/justice/legal services, which reflects the interdisciplinary nature of restorative justice work. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education, with additional eligibility potentially extended to other entities as described in the solicitation’s additional eligibility section. The CFDA number associated with the program is 16.030, and the funding opportunity number is BJA-2020-18442, which applicants would use to identify the solicitation in federal systems and documentation.

Overall, this grant opportunity is designed to create a national hub that combines workforce and leadership development with applied research in restorative justice. The expected outcome is a Center that can educate future justice leaders through partnerships and experiential learning, while also building and disseminating evidence about service strategies that reduce inequities and improve outcomes for individuals and communities impacted by the justice system.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the education, employment, labor and training, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda), information and statistics, law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 20 The National Center on Restorative Justice" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.030.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 06, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 21, 2020. (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 $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for BJA 2020 18442

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