NIJ FY23 W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System | O NIJ 2023 171519

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2023 171519

The NIJ FY23 W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System is a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funding opportunity under the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), focused on investigator-initiated research that can help identify and reduce racial and ethnic disparities across the justice system. The underlying purpose is tightly connected to OJP priorities around civil rights and racial equity, access to justice, support for victims and justice-impacted individuals, stronger community safety, and improved public trust in the justice system. Projects are expected to examine disparities and, importantly, to test or evaluate public policy interventions that could reduce them at any point during the administration of justice, which can include decision points ranging from policing and diversion to prosecution, pretrial, sentencing, corrections, reentry, and supervision.

The solicitation is structured around two researcher career stages. Category 1, W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars, is intended for established researchers who earned their terminal degree at least seven years before December 31, 2022. These applicants can propose research and evaluation projects and are also allowed to include a mentoring component aimed at developing less-experienced researchers. Category 2, W.E.B. Du Bois Fellows, is designed for early-career researchers who earned their terminal degree within seven years of December 31, 2022, and supports research and evaluation but does not emphasize mentoring in the same way as the Scholar track. In both categories, NIJ is looking for strong, independent research ideas that are methodologically sound and clearly tied to actionable policy levers that could plausibly reduce disparities.

A central emphasis of the program is meaningful engagement with people who have lived experience relevant to the topic being studied. NIJ signals that it will give special consideration to proposals that build this engagement into the research design rather than treating it as a peripheral activity. Examples of lived-experience stakeholders include justice practitioners, community members, crime victims, service providers, and individuals who have been involved in the justice system. Applicants are also encouraged to form multidisciplinary research teams, reflecting NIJ interest in combining complementary methods and expertise (for instance, pairing quantitative policy evaluation with qualitative fieldwork, legal analysis, implementation science, community-based perspectives, or behavioral and organizational research). NIJ also pushes applicants to measure and consider the roles of diversity, discrimination, and bias beyond race and ethnicity when relevant, including factors such as age, gender and gender identity, religion, and sexual orientation, recognizing that disparities and differential treatment can be intersectional and context-specific.

For projects that rely on partnerships with criminal justice agencies or other organizations, the solicitation adds clear documentation and data-sharing expectations. Applications proposing agency partnerships should include letters of support signed by an appropriate decision-making authority at each partnering agency. Those letters are expected to acknowledge that de-identified data produced through the NIJ-funded work will be archived with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the end of the award period. NIJ explicitly encourages applicants and partners to review NIJ data archiving guidance, and it sets an implementation expectation that awardees will have formal agreements in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2024, including specific language ensuring the data archiving requirements can be met. In other words, NIJ is signaling that access to usable data and a credible plan to preserve and share it responsibly are not optional details but core parts of a competitive application.

Another major priority is dissemination that is designed to move research into practice. NIJ is not just asking for academic publications; it is looking for robust, creative, multi-pronged dissemination strategies that can realistically influence policy and operational decisions. The solicitation highlights strategic partnerships with organizations and associations that are well positioned to translate findings into changes in policy and practice. It also indicates special consideration for proposals that commit at least 15 percent of the requested project funding to dissemination activities, as shown in the budget worksheet and narrative. Practically, this encourages applicants to budget for products and activities like practitioner toolkits, policy briefs, technical assistance webinars, conference convenings, stakeholder workshops, training modules, implementation guides, or other tailored communication approaches that match the audiences who can actually act on the findings.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this is a discretionary opportunity using a cooperative agreement funding instrument, meaning NIJ typically expects to have more substantial involvement than in a standard grant (for example, involvement in project direction, deliverables, or coordination), consistent with NIJ cooperative agreement practices. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 16.560 and allows a broad range of applicant types, including state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; and for-profit entities (including small businesses). The original posting indicates an award ceiling of $2,000,000 and an expectation of about 7 awards, with an original closing date of April 10, 2023 (Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2023-171519; creation date January 23, 2023).

Finally, the solicitation clarifies how partnerships should be structured for budgeting and accountability. Only one entity can apply as the primary applicant, even if multiple agencies will participate; other participating organizations should be included as subrecipients if they will receive federal award funds to carry out project work. NIJ also states that the applicant is expected to conduct a majority of the proposed work, reinforcing that the lead organization must play the central management and implementation role rather than serving mainly as a pass-through for funds. Overall, the program is designed to fund policy-relevant, methodologically strong research that is closely connected to real-world decision-making and that produces usable evidence and products capable of reducing racial and ethnic disparities throughout the justice system.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY23 W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Justice System" 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 Jan 23, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 10, 2023. (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 $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• 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, Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for O NIJ 2023 171519

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