CTAS FY26 Webinar: Purpose Areas 8 and 9 (OJJDP)

As Leslie mentioned, please put your questions into the chat so that we can respond to you and any questions that we are not able to respond to today. We will follow up with you. All right. So. Here is just a general slide about C test application resources. You can always visit the tribal justice and safety website. In order to find funding opportunities, a link to. The webinar recordings, just grants links and resources and also important links. And contact information that may be helpful on your submission process. So, as Leslie mentioned. I am Jasmine Wilkerson. It's a pleasure to see you guys. I'm a deputy associate administrator here at representing C test purpose area 8. And then I'm going to let Chelsea introduce herself. Hello, everyone, my name is Chelsea Logan. I'm a grant specialist here at. And I'm the lead for our C test purpose area 9. Thank you, Chelsea. Okay. This is just about the question. So we're going to skip over that slide. So, as you all probably know. When we're talking about which offices participate in C test, it's going to be from the office of justice programs, the Bureau of justice assistance. The office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention that's Chelsea and myself. And then we have the office for victims of crimes. And then, in addition to the offices, we also have the office of community oriented policing services office or cops. So, we have a few poll questions just to know who's here. So, I'll give you a few seconds to complete that. So, 1 person wrote interested in learning more about purpose areas, 8 and 9. And that is the only comment we have so far. Thank you. Okay, well, you're at the right place in the right spot to learn more about purpose areas, 8 and 9 this year. We do have a few changes and so I'll talk about those. Momentarily, so for fiscal year, 26. We are thinking that we'll have approximately. 7,000,950 thousand dollars available to make 10 awards. Up to 750,000 dollars per award now, purpose area 8. Generally covers are enhancing youth healing to wellness purpose area and then purpose area 9, which is our tribal youth justice programs. We have approximately 12.7Million dollars. We are seeking to make approximately 25 awards across 2 different categories, which includes our seating change planning grant, which we'll talk about more that grant. Is a planning award of up to 100,000 dollars per award for 2 years and then we have our harvesting change implementation and expansion award up to 500,000 dollars per year for 5 years. That award is about implementation and expansion of your program. We will talk more about specific eligibility requirements. When we get to it, so what is new for purpose area 8 this year, we are solely focusing on the enhancement of existing you fill into wellness courts. This means that you have to have a currently funded. Or an award that just ended in order to be eligible for purpose area 8. Applicants must attach a copy of their most recent. You fill into wellness court strategic plan or sustainability plan to the application. And so, for purpose area 9 in 2006. We have condensed the 3 categories we used to have to this year. So now we just have the seating. Change planning grant and the harvesting change implementation and expansion grant. Please note the category 2 applicants must attach a copy of their recent travel. You. Justice program, strategic plan, or sustainability plans to the application. The other thing that we change for purpose area 9. You will notice before we called it the tribal youth. The tribal youth program, as opposed to tribal justice, those are interchangeable. However, this year we wanted to focus more on the justice component. Okay, so in thinking about enhancing youth health and wellness. For its purpose area, a, the purpose is to effectively integrate substance use treatment. Drug testing, graduated incentives, sanctions. And case management and judicially supervised tribal court settings. That have jurisdiction over youth who have a substance use disorder. Or co-occurring mental health disorder with substance use. To reduce recidivism, increase access to treatment and recovery support services as well as prevent overdose fatalities. Again, we have approximately 7.9, 5Million. Available for purpose area a, we're going to try to make 10 awards up to a maximum of 750,000 per award. For 5 years for purpose area a. You are eligible if you are federally recognized Indian tribe. Or consortia consisting of 2 or more federally recognized Indian tribes. Who proposed to continue expand or enhance a current youth health and wellness court. To respond to alcohol and substance abuse issues, including opioid use of juveniles and young adults younger than the age of 21. The goal of this purpose area is to support tribes seeking to enhance an existing youth health and wellness court. To respond to the alcohol and substance use issues, including opioid usage. Of juveniles and young adults younger than the age of 21. Objectives of this purpose area. Are to ensure that all grantees over the 5 year project period. Have access to the treatment court resources, including. Funded training and technical assistance that is provided. Free of charge to successful applicants. Applicants may apply for funding to include the following. You can include in your budget staffing. The expansion of the treatment work force. Equipment and supplies related to the hill into wellness court. Please note that while funds may be allocated for program staff to attend training. All successful applicants will receive virtual 1 site. And cluster trainings from the funded technical assistance and training provider. For the enhancing youth health and wellness courts program. Funds are not allowed for additional consultants in that area. There are additional requirements for purpose area 8, including a limitation on the participation of violent offenders. There is a required strategic plan. Awardees will be required to participate in strategic planning. Training and submit an updated comprehensive plan for the continuation expansion. Or enhancement of their program, the strategic plan will include a sustainability plan. We will also have a mandatory C test new grantee orientation. So, for fiscal year, 26, all award recipients are required to attend the new grantee orientation virtually. Applicants must participate in the orientation. It will be scheduled during year 1 of the award period. You must ensure that 2 staff members, the program manager and fiscal manager. Attend this training for each funded purpose area. You have to also ensure that both required staff members are present and engage for the full duration of the training. Generally, there are match requirements for our drug programs. However. Those are way for purpose area 8, you do not have to submit a match waiver request. Any match amount proposed by an applicant and incorporated into a budget. Will be treated as a voluntary match and becomes mandatory and subject to audit. So, if I could encourage you to do 1 thing, you probably should not include match into your budget because it isn't a requirement. Of purpose area 8 to apply for purpose area. Applicants will provide written answers to the tribal community and justice profile and purpose area narrative question sets. In just grants, a copy of those questions sets can be found at the link below. Which is our tribal justice and safety website. And I'm going to turn it over to Chelsea. Hello, everyone. Now we're going to move on to our tribal youth justice program. 9 funds support and enhance tribal efforts to prevent and control juvenile delinquency and strengthen the juvenile justice system for American Indian, Alaskan native youth. There are a variety of priority areas, including efforts at prevention, intervention and treatment associated with this purpose area. It is recommended that tribes choose no more than 1 area in which to concentrate their proposal. And 9 has 2 categories. The objective of 9 is to ensure that all grantees over the project period have access to the. Tribal justice resources needed to 1 develop or enhance prevention and. Strategies that reduce risk factors for juvenile delinquency among tribal youth. To increase the availability and use of diversion programs for low. And moderate risk use as determined by the program. And then continuing with those objectives, it's enhancing access to mental health and substance use screening assessment and treatment services for use. Improving outcomes for tribal youth returning to the community from detention or residential placement. Enhancing tribal capacity to administer monitor and sustain juvenile justice programming. Tribal youth justice program purpose area 9 can also be used to support services. Related to the enhancement of the youth healing to wellness court supported under the C task purpose area 8. And then purpose area 9 does not require a match either. Applicants should choose from the following 2 categories. Please review these categories and eligibility carefully. Category 1, the goal of this category is to increase. Tribal leadership and use family and community involvement in planning activities that culminate in a high quality strategic plan. And related proposal for an implementation grant that reflects the tribes needs values and culture and priorities. Category 2, which is harvesting change. The goal of this category is to increase tribal capacity to sustain effective youth programs, services and supports after the conclusion of the grant award. This may include training and technical assistance to support the tribe and collecting data. Measuring the effectiveness of tribal best practices and expanding local intertribal and regional partnerships. Applicants may propose projects under categories 1 and 2 that address 1 or more focus areas. Including prevention, intervention, treatment and system improvement. This may include training and technical assistance to support the tribe in collecting data and measuring the effectiveness of tribal best practices. And expanding local intertribal and regional partnerships. So, prevention, prevention services to. Impact risk factors for delinquency and promote protective factors. This may include mentoring youth development. Anti gang education, truancy and school dropout prevention programs. After school programs, anti bullying programs and programs that emphasize. Youth family and community engagement. Intervention for tribal youth. In courts, juvenile justice system. This may include therapeutic services, mentoring. Graduate sanctions, restitution, diversion. Home detention, foster and shelter care. And other alternatives to detention intervention and treatment services for children exposed to sex trafficking. This may include the development. Of, or implementation of programs and services for children who are victims of sex trafficking. And then treatment treatment services for you, this may include alcohol and substance use treatment programs. Mental health treatment, counseling, referral and placement. And development of comprehensive screening tools. Crisis intervention intake assessment. Treatment team planning and therapeutic services for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Services for youth in detention or out of home placement. This may include risk and needs assessments, educational and vocational programming, mental health and substance use. Family strengthening, recreational activities and after care and re, entry services to help successfully re, integrate youth into the tribal communities. And then system improvements improvement on or establish of data collection systems. This may include efforts to create or improve the ability to track youth in detention. Placement or community based programs with the goal of improving. Understanding of and responses to youth and community needs. Improvement of strategic partnerships to better serve tribal youth. This may include efforts to create or improve relationships between child welfare and juvenile justice serving. Agencies creating or enhancing strategic partnerships with government officials. Improving notification systems and policy reform. And this is a slide for your mandatory deal JC test new grantee orientation. So, all of the award recipients are required to attend the new grantee orientation virtually. And this aside just to apply for a 9. Applicants will provide written answers to the tribal community and justice profile and purpose area narrative questions sets in just grants. Then our tribal youth justice resource center. The office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention provides free training and technical assistance to all tribal grantees through the tribal youth justice resource center. Operated by the tribal law and policy Institute. The supports tribal communities and program planning enhancement and implementation by strengthening knowledge skills and capacity to develop. Sustainable strategies that reduce the number of use in the justice system. Under purpose area 8 and 9. T. Y. J. R. C. offers a wide range of assistance, including. Individualized individualized consultations, virtual and onsite training. Resource materials, peer to peer learning opportunities and ongoing implementation support. This is designed to help tribal. Communities build effective programs that improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaskan native youth and strengthen. Justice systems across tribal communities, and there's a 2 step process for applying. The information on the process is outlined in the application content submission requirements and deadline section. And I just want to emphasize the timeline. Grants dot Gov deadline is Thursday, October 15th. And just grants deadline is Thursday, October 22nd. Please do not wait until the last days to submit your application and just grants dot Gov, or just grants unforeseen local technical issues on the last day can be challenging. And we encourage you to submit early, even if it's just a day or 2 before the note closes. This also provides an opportunity for applicants to double check their submission and ensure that everything is correct as applications can be revised until the closes. If an applicant fails to submit and just grants dot Gov by the deadline. They will be unable to apply applicants can confirm their grants dot Gov submission by verifying that their application status shows as submitted. Or agency tracking number assigned. The recommends that applicants submit the complete application package in just grants at least 48 hours prior to the just grants deadline. Many of the required sections of the application. Including responses to the question sets will be entered directly into just grants and other sections will require documents to be uploaded and attached. Therefore, applicants should allow enough time before the just grants deadline to prepare all requirements of the application. Applicants may save their progress in the system and add to, or change the application as needed prior to hitting the submit button at the end of the application in just grants. An applicant will receive emails when successfully submitting in grants dot Gov. And just grants and should maintain all emails and other confirmations received from Sam dot Gov grants dot Gov and just grant systems. For additional information, see the how to apply section in the. Application resource guide and the application checklist. And this is our final section before we open the floor for questions. The has dedicated websites for up to date information regarding the CTAS solicitation. This includes information on upcoming webinars. And questions set templates to learn more about the resources and tools available. Please visit. The Justice dot Gov slash travel slash grants website. And please review each purpose area section for any additional limitations on eligibility that may apply. We will now take time for attendee questions. Please submit your questions via the Q and a box in your control panel. We will do our best to read all questions out loud, but please watch for answers or follow up information. If your question is miss, please email us at tribal grant at U. S. D. O. J. dot Gov. Right now, we don't have any questions. But we will definitely wait. Well, we don't have any questions. I want to thank our panel from the Department of justice for this presentation. Today, before we end, please take note of the following important reminders. A number of CTAS application resources are available to you. As you prepare and submit an application on this slide, you will find contact information. And we do have some questions coming in now. Okay, great. Okay. Somebody wrote, I have a question. So, yep, I'll come back to you. Please go ahead and ask that question. Here's another question that came in for each application. Can applicants only pick can only pick only 1 purpose area. Applicants may pick both purpose areas. I think the most important thing is to make sure that the programs are different. The proposed projects. Another question regarding purpose area 9. The person writes, I am wondering if category. 1, it is required to develop a formal youth justice in the court. Or if it is a youth justice system. It's a youth justice system, but 9 awards can be used to support 8 awards for your courts. Okay, another question. I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Just to answer that. The purpose area 9 does not have to be used specifically for courts. I just wanted to reiterate that point, just in case somebody else was thinking about using it differently. And the category 1 for purpose area 9 is strictly for planning. So, it isn't to implement anything other than create the strategic plan. That will hopefully allow for you to apply for future funding under category 2. Thank you for that clarification. Another question. Can you go over the awardee training requirement? Is it in person or virtual? It is virtual for the orientation. So, there's a question regarding purpose area 9. What level of TTA can we expect? Wondering if we should plan any contractual costs to support our process. And they're asking specifically about seating change. And they're referencing a facilitator to assist with strategic planning. No, you're not allowed to hire a consultant because we have TTA. It's very hands-on. You will be assigned a TTA partner and they will work very closely with you to develop your strategic plan. Another question, a follow-up about the training requirement. How many hours or days is the training? So, right now, we are in the process of planning the orientation. So, it has not been planned yet. So, we're not really sure because if you think about it, the orientation requirement is across all of CTAS purpose areas. So, it also sort of depends on how many purpose areas you apply for and are approved. So, if you think about it as there's going to be one large orientation that applies to everyone and then each purpose area in years past usually had like a separate breakout room. But again, we're in the planning phase of that. So, we're not, we can't 100% speak to that at this point. Another question, can a Purpose Area 8 grant ending September 30th, 2026 apply for new Purpose Area 8 funding? Yes. Another question about consultants. We are using the chat panel for questions. Somebody mentioned that they wanted to have their microphone enabled. They've all been disabled. So, we're using the chat panel and we don't have a Q&A. We are using the chat panel. So, a question that just came in, we are applying for Purpose Area 2 and wanted to use 25% of the consultant's time for Purpose Area 9. Can we do that? Yes, you can split consultants across the different Purpose Areas. I think the important thing will not be, will not be, you can't go over 100%, right? And so, you're going to have to look at that. You're also going to have to look at the purpose of the consultant across programs. Okay. We have a follow-up question about the training and technical assistance provider. Will the TTA partner have significant experience working in tribal communities? Correct. The Tribal Youth Justice Resource Center is a, it's a Native organization that is primarily composed of Native people either from Alaska or the lower 48. So, they are all tribal members for the most part. All right. Another question here. In the CTAS 26 NOFO, on the first few pages, it has a section funding details. It says the anticipated start date is October 1st, but the deadline to submit is October 25th. Can you please clarify the start date? The start dates will be chosen once awards are made. So, you will likely have that conversation with the program office that is awarding your award. Okay. And I don't know that it specifically addresses this question, but I know that the FAQs were amended last week. So, you may want to check those as well to see if that answers some of the questions that you all are raising. I think those FAQs were added to based on the other webinars we had and some common questions that we had. All right. Thank you, Leslie. In fact, that question is in there. I totally forgot about the FAQs. Thank you. No problem at all. Another question. If I understand correctly, Purpose Area 8 is only to complete the strategic plan and no implementation of the plan can be done. Is that accurate? No. Purpose Area 8 is for enhancing youth mental wellness courts. And so, within that purpose area, the expectation will be that you have a currently standing and funded OJJDP court that you are trying to enhance or continue. And so, within that, you're going to need to update your strategic plan from your last round of funding to talk about your enhancements or what you plan to do with new funding. Purpose Area 9, Category 1, is the only purpose area that is specifically in OJJDP, specifically dedicated to strategic planning, but that is for tribal youth justice programs. It is not specific to courts. Okay, another question. When does the department plan to issue its decision on awards? I think that's a question I would refer to the FAQs, but we will keep you guys, any applicants will keep you up to date. You can also always email the Tribal Justice email that was referenced in the PowerPoint if you have questions about your specific application and where we are. So, somebody said, for the last question, the person who asked mentioned the due date of October 25. This was incorrect. So, just so we're all on the correct page. Can one of you say again when the due dates are? For Step 1, which is to submit your SF-424 in JustGrants, that is due on October 15th. And Step 2, which is to submit your full application in JustGrants, that is due on October 22nd. And please be aware that there are timing differences, so make sure you pay attention to that as well. Another question. Is the award date September 2027? So, for that question, we would refer you to the FAQs. That question will be answered once awards are made. Okay, another follow-up question about the dates that you just cleared up for us, Jasmine. Question is, I thought SF-424 should be submitted to Grants.gov? That is correct. Okay, let's see what else we got. The NOFO states the award notification date is September 30, 2027. Yes, this is a similar question that we've received, of which I would refer you guys to the FAQs. If you have specific questions about when we are able to make awards, we are happy to respond to you. But at this point, we are just hoping to at least notify you guys prior to or on September 30, 2027. Okay, and I think this is very similar to the last couple that have been asked, but 2027 was mentioned in the NOFO. It is important to know if we should be planning for a project that begins in 2027 or 2026. So, technically, our fiscal year is September 30, 2026, and so we will be in fiscal year 2027. I would say if you have an open award right now that is slated to close or closing soon, that you maybe reach out to our program office, OJJDP, and we can respond to you about, you know, if there are any changes or things that need to be done. Okay, this question, I'm not sure I understand, but since you are both in the grants world, maybe you will. In JustGrants, SF-424, Section 19, is CTAS subject to review? Do we need more clarification from the asker? Yes, please. Okay. Okay, we'll wait to see if we get some more clarification on that question. You've answered all the other ones. Okay, we got one that just came in. So, my point is, and this is a different person asking another follow-up. My point is that there's a big difference in planning for a project that might begin November 15, 2026, for example, versus October 1, 2027. Yes, and we recognize those differences. All of our offices across CTAS will be working diligently to process awards as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we don't have a drop deadline that we can give you. However, in the FAQs for budgetary and planning purposes, we have listed a date that I believe was like January, but please don't quote me on that because I am not looking at the FAQs. But if that date needs to change, we as in CTAS are more than happy to support you in changing your budget to fit your needs based off the timing of notification. Okay, here's just a comment of appreciation. Thank you all for the important work that you do and for this information. It was very helpful. Grant processes are just so overwhelming and very confusing. So having this clarification is incredibly helpful and much appreciated. Well, that was nice. Thank you, and we appreciate you guys as well. Let me see what else we've got. And there was a question about why was this pushed back this year? I don't think that there's anybody that's a part of this webinar that can answer that question here. Let's see what else here. Another thank you. All right, I think we have all of them have been answered. So I appreciate your expertise, Jasmine and Chelsea. Thank you for your time. And thank you, all of you that logged in for today and for the questions that you asked. So we appreciate you. Please check out the CTAS page on the Tribal Justice and Safety website. There's a ton of information there, including the updated FAQs that was mentioned. So thank you all and have a good rest of the day.