NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on School Safety | O NIJ 2022 171188

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2022 171188

The NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on School Safety grant is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, administered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). It is aimed at supporting rigorous research and evaluation that strengthens community safety and public trust while advancing civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, and improving support for crime victims and people impacted by the justice system. The overarching goal is to build stronger evidence around what drives school violence and what works to prevent it, especially as threats evolve and communities look for effective, fair, and practical safety strategies.

NIJ is seeking proposals in two main research lanes. First, it wants studies that dig into the root causes and consequences of school violence, meaning projects that go beyond describing incidents and instead analyze underlying drivers, risk and protective factors, and the short- and long-term impacts on students, staff, families, and communities. Second, NIJ wants evaluations that examine the impact and effectiveness of awards made under the STOP School Violence Act, focusing on whether funded activities are achieving their intended outcomes and under what conditions. Across both areas, the solicitation emphasizes filling clear knowledge gaps with credible methods, which typically means strong research design, appropriate data, and transparent analytic approaches that can inform policy and practice.

Because many strong school safety studies require access to administrative data, operational details, or on-the-ground implementation sites, the solicitation highlights expectations for partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other organizations. If a proposal includes such partnerships, the application should include a strong letter of support from each partner agency, signed by an appropriate decision-making authority. These letters are not just symbolic; they should clearly confirm the partner is committed to participating and, importantly, acknowledge that de-identified data connected to the project (derived from, provided to, or obtained through the work) will be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) when the award ends. Applicants and partners are encouraged to review NACJD policies and protections in advance so data-sharing and confidentiality obligations are understood early.

If NIJ selects a proposal for funding, grantees are expected to have formal agreements in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2023. Those agreements must include language that ensures the project will meet the required data archiving obligations. The solicitation also clarifies how to structure multi-organization projects: only one entity can submit the application as the primary applicant, and any other participating organizations that will receive federal award funds to carry out project work must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants.

The opportunity is broadly open to a wide range of eligible applicant types, including state, county, and city governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and certain tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); and for-profit organizations, including small businesses. Foreign governments, foreign organizations, and foreign colleges and universities are explicitly not eligible to apply. In addition, all recipients and subrecipients, including for-profit entities, must agree to forgo any profit or management fee, meaning the award is intended to pay for actual allowable project costs rather than generate profit.

A notable compliance condition applies to law enforcement partners tied to DOJ discretionary funding. To support Executive Order 13929, Safe Policing for Safe Communities, state, local, and campus law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body, or at least have started the certification process, to be eligible for FY 2022 DOJ discretionary grant funding. To qualify for certification, agencies must meet two mandatory conditions: their use-of-force policies must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and those policies must prohibit chokeholds except where deadly force is legally permitted. This requirement extends to law enforcement agencies that receive DOJ discretionary funds through subawards, so applicants planning to pass funds to a law enforcement subrecipient need to ensure this eligibility condition is addressed early.

From an administrative standpoint, the grant is listed under Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2022-171188 and CFDA 16.560, categorized under science and technology and other research and development. The funding instrument is a grant. The original application closing date was April 25, 2022, and the posted award ceiling is up to $6,000,000. Overall, the solicitation is designed for applicants who can deliver high-quality, policy-relevant evidence on school violence prevention and response, and who can manage the real-world requirements that come with agency partnerships, data stewardship, and DOJ compliance expectations.

• The National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY22 Research and Evaluation on School Safety" 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 2022-03-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-04-25. (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 $6,000,000.00 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, Others.

Apply for O NIJ 2022 171188

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