II. Federal Issues
a. U.S. Department of Justice Announces COPS Funding Opportunity
The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) at the U.S. Department of Justice announced several COPS funding opportunities for eligible local police departments. For more information about how to apply, please see the League’s recent blog post.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.
b. Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Funding Opportunity
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), is seeking project applications for FY22 OJP Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) solicitation.
Applications for funding are to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs, including efforts to address gang and gun violence, based on partnerships among community residents, local government agencies, victim service providers, community-based organizations, law enforcement, hospitals, researchers, and other community stakeholders.
Municipalities are eligible to apply for CVI Planning and Implementation for City/County/Tribal Governments (category 2) and CVI Expansion and Enhancement for City/County/Tribal Governments – (category 4).
The OJP Grant Application Resource Guide provides guidance to applicants for the preparation and submission to OJP of applications for funding. This is a two-step application process with the grants.gov deadline on June 16, 2022 and the JustGrants deadline on June 21.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.
c. Notice of Funding Opportunity Summary
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced the potential availability of funding to provide strategic conservation delivery assistance and provide tools or data that enhance the ability of the agency to support conservation activities in New Jersey. New Jersey municipalities are permitted to apply by June 17, 2022 via grants.gov. Expected grants, which are considered federal financial assistance, are likely to be between $5,000 and $25,000.
The New Jersey NRCS is a federal agency that works with the people of New Jersey to bring about effective conservation and sustainable use of land, water, wildlife and related resources. The New Jersey NRCS Urban Conservation Project is an effort to challenge local Conservation Districts, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, institutions of higher learning and other community partners to establish urban, community and pollinator gardens across New Jersey. The simple act of planting a garden or creating a pollinator habitat can help unite neighbors in a common effort and inspire locally led solutions to some of the challenges facing local communities within the state.
Addressing hunger and health, while inspiring beautification projects, with an urban garden can positively unite communities. As part of the USDA’s Urban Agriculture toolkit, the New Jersey NRCS Urban Conservation Project will provide technical and financial assistance to eligible entities to implement natural resources conservation practices such as low tunnels, high tunnels, composting facilities, micro irrigation systems, rainwater harvesting, raised beds, build pollinator habitats, urban trees (orchards) and establish gardens for food production.
Eligible entities are invited to apply for NRCS assistance with the following key conservation objectives:
Provide conservation learning experiences to urban communities.
Address concerns regarding food deserts.
Improve access to healthy, affordable food at the local level.
Create urban gardening projects that develop urban properties into sustainable production sites for fruits and vegetables.
Leverage non-federal resources to achieve positive natural resource conservation outcomes.
Build and develop healthy and vibrant pollinator habitat.
Provide a method to follow-up with the historically underserved producers to measure rate of success of their participation in both technical and financial assistance by NRCS staff.
Describe the relationship between the applicant and urban and small acreage producers, community gardens, and/or communities addressing food insecurity through farming and education.
Grants 101 Training is highly recommended for those seeking knowledge about Federal financial assistance. The training is free and available to the public and consists of five modules covering each of the following topics: 1) laws, regulations, and guidance; 2) financial assistance mechanisms; 3) uniform guidance administrative requirements; 4) cost principles; and 5) risk management and single audit.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.
d. American Rescue Plan SLFRF Reporting Deadline on 4/30
Tomorrow is the deadline for the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds (SLFRF) Project and Expenditure report to be submitted to US Treasury.
The League’s federal partner, the National League of Cities (NLC), has advised that the U.S. Treasury sent a note to recipients yesterday that stated: “If you have contacted Treasury by email or by phone with a technical issue regarding your report submission and you do not receive a response by the April 30, 2022 due date, please know that the Treasury Portal will remain open for your submissions after the deadline to accommodate those who are experiencing technical issues.”
If you are encountering technical issues, please send an email to covidreliefitsupport@treasury.gov. NLC might also be able to help with Treasury. The email address for help from NLC is SLFRFhelp@nlc.org. Please copy Paul Penna, NJLM Senior Legislative Analyst, on any correspondence.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.
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