The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance seeks applications for technical assistance and training providers for Second Chance Act (SCA) grantees to improve reentry and reduce recidivism. Providers are sought to support site-based SCA grantees in one of the following three categories of technical assistance: Corrections and Community Engagement; Education, Employment, and Community Engagement; and Behavioral Health, Housing, and Family Support. Submissions are due by April 28, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced the Justice Reinvestment Initiative to support research and analysis of business management and operations processes of criminal justice systems. Funding proposals may be submitted under one of three categories: Improving Court Processing and Efficient Docket Management; Improving and Implementing Pre-Trial Systems; and Innovative Approaches to Improve the Efficacy of State, Local, and Tribal Justice Systems. Proposals are due by May 1, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity for state, local, and tribal community corrections agencies to improve the capacity and effectiveness of the supervision capacity of their probation and parole agencies and their parole success rates in reducing recidivism. Applications are due by April 28, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity to help local jurisdictions identify strengths and gaps within their reentry systems, build capacity for improving reentry systems or improve service delivery, or enhance existing reentry programs to reduce recidivism. Applications are due by May 4, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity for projects that establish, expand, and improve treatment for individuals with substance use disorders during incarceration and reentry into the community. Applications are due by April 27, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity for state, local, and tribal community supervision agencies to develop and test new or enhanced applications of the swift, certain, and fair (SCF) principles of intervention to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for individuals under community supervision. The SCF principles of intervention reflect:

• Swiftness—responding to behavior quickly so those under supervision relate the response to their behavior.

• Certainty—ensuring that sanctions and rewards are applied consistently and predictably.

• Fairness—making sanctions and rewards proportional to negative and positive behavior respectively. Applications are due by April 28, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Applications are sought for projects designed to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment in prisons, and to achieve and maintain compliance with PREA standards. Applications are due by April 14, 2020.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance has announced a grant funding opportunity under the Correctional Adult Reentry Education, Employment, and Recidivism Strategies (CAREERRS) Program under the Second Chance Act. Applications are sought to implement or expand education and employment programs that build partnerships with corrections, parole, probation, education, workforce development, and reentry service providers to enhance employment prospects for incarcerated youth and adults reentering the workforce. Grants applications are due by April 27, 2020.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation-funded report evaluates the effectiveness of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Justice Involved Individuals Seeking Employment (CBI-Emp) curriculum to address economic stability under the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study. Economic stability is one of the three approaches within the Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grant program. A process study assessed how three RF program grantees implemented CBI-Emp, which assists individuals with recent justice involvement in identifying and changing thinking patterns and actions that prevent positive outcomes. Under the study, participating fathers were randomly selected and offered either their respective organization’s services or CBI-Emp with the range of services offered by their organization; these interventions’ costs and impacts were evaluated.

This Urban Institute blogpost profiles Kentucky’s Justice to Journeyman program, a prison apprenticeship program. The blogpost notes a key feature of the model: starting classroom occupational instruction (for jobs not available at correctional facilities) at the beginning of the apprenticeship and on-the-job training (OJT) upon the apprentice’s release. This classroom instruction and OJT leads to placement for jobs as welders, electricians, and telecommunications workers. Research cited in the blogpost notes that conventional prison-based apprenticeship programs offer occupational training in jobs typically found in correctional facilities, such as groundskeeping, cleaning, and cooking, which effectively limits economic prospects for returning citizens.