Grant writing is not easy, but sharing helpful tips and information is.... The following funding news release from the Office of Justice has resources to use when you're filling out an application in the Justice Grant System (JustGrants).  It includes multiple detailed resources for completing the Budget Detail Form plus updated (2021) resources and guides for the application process. 

Government social service agencies are transitioning from being providers of services to entities that predominantly commission, facilitate, or broker services. This transition requires new skills in government – such as agility, innovation, transparency and connectedness – and new capabilities for facilitating relationships with external partners – such as flexibility, co-venturing, co-creation.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announced awards of more than $144 million to enhance services for victims of crime nationwide. OJJDP awarded more than $54 million to support the effective investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases and improve positive outcomes for child abuse and neglect victims. This includes OJJDP's support of children's advocacy centers (CACs) to address child abuse and neglect and training and technical assistance for CACs, multidisciplinary teams, and child abuse professionals.

OJJDP also awarded funds to support Court Appointed Special Advocate programs nationwide and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to improve juvenile justice and dependency systems’ response to child abuse and neglect, as well as child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. In addition, OJP awarded nearly $101 million to combat human trafficking.

View the OJP fact sheets for additional information about the awards to improve services for victims and the awards to combat human trafficking.

The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announced awards of more than $341 million to combat addiction nationwide. OJJDP awarded more than $19 million to support its Family Drug Court Program and more than $5 million to support its Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program. OJJDP also awarded $14 million under its Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative to address opioid and other substance abuse. In addition, OJJDP awarded nearly $9 million to fund OJJDP’s Opioid Affected Youth Initiative to support opioid-focused prevention and intervention programs. Another $1 million will fund training to serve families impacted by opioids under OJJDP’s Child Abuse Training for Judicial and Court Personnel program.

For additional information about these awards, see the OJP fact sheet.

The Headline

After years of writing about the mass incarceration of Americans, it gives us great pleasure to share this headline with everyone in the social services community.

We recently conducted an informal poll of the social workers we deal with every day and asked them what they thought was the #1 social malady threatening the country today. Their answer might surprise you; more than the opioid epidemic; more than veterans affairs; more than homelessness; more than woman’s rights; more than economic imbalance; more than education issues; more than civil rights; more than the environment; the problem that was cited more than any other was – STUDENT DEBT!

Government agencies in general tend to stay in their own siloes and be reluctant to share information. Some of it is agency caseworkers being too busy. Some of it is concerns about being HIPAA compliant. And some of it is a healthy paranoia about data security. The right government software solutions can alleviate much of those concerns.

Where have all the CDCs gone? For decades, Community Development Corporations tackled some of America’s most challenging problems: neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, community economic development, workforce development and job creation, financial empowerment and food access.

Henry Ford, not the US Labor Bureau, instituted the first major increase in the minimum wage. In January 1914, Henry started paying his auto workers a remarkable $5 a day. Doubling the average wage helped ensure a stable workforce and likely boosted sales since the workers could now afford to buy the cars they were making. It laid the foundation for an economy driven by consumer demand. 

How did the United States, with 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners, become home to the largest prison system in the history of the world? Some say it’s an accomplishment. The U.S. is a law and order country and our criminal justice system is the envy of the world. Others feel quite differently and suggest that the “war on drugs” led to the mass incarceration of two generations of the urban poor.