FY23 Tribal Resources Grant Program - Technical Assistance | O COPS 2023 171555

Opportunity Information: Apply for O COPS 2023 171555

The FY23 Tribal Resources Grant Program - Technical Assistance (TRGP-TA) is a U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office funding opportunity designed to strengthen public safety in tribal communities by expanding and improving community policing practices through hands-on technical assistance. Community policing, as framed in the solicitation, emphasizes partnerships and problem-solving approaches that address the real conditions driving crime and community fear, rather than relying only on reactive enforcement. In this program, the COPS Office is focusing its resources on helping tribal law enforcement agencies and their partners build practical capacity, adopt proven approaches, and embed community policing into everyday operations. The broader values running through the program include civil rights and racial equity, improved access to justice, support for victims and people impacted by the justice system, stronger community safety, and increased trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

This solicitation is structured around a specific technical assistance project: helping tribes develop and implement Tribal Community Response Plans (TCRPs) for Missing Indigenous Persons. The opportunity aligns with Executive Order 14053 (November 15, 2021), which calls for better coordination across federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and specifically encourages the development and support of TCRPs for missing person cases. A TCRP is meant to be a tribally led, culturally appropriate set of guidelines and procedures that improves the speed, coordination, and effectiveness of responses when an Indigenous person goes missing. The federal government has already produced draft guides for TCRP development with input from tribal leaders and communities, and this grant is intended to build on prior COPS Office technical assistance work by moving from general community policing support into targeted assistance that directly improves missing-person response capacity and coordination.

Funding is offered as a cooperative agreement, with one expected award up to $300,000. While eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" (with additional eligibility clarification referenced in the full notice), the solicitation makes clear that the successful applicant should be an organization with well-established experience providing direct technical assistance to law enforcement and justice professionals in this subject area. The emphasis is on delivering practical, on-the-ground assistance that helps agencies build and operationalize plans and procedures. Research and training development projects aimed at tribal law enforcement are explicitly out of scope, meaning proposals centered on producing new research studies or creating training curricula as the primary output are not what this funding is meant to support.

The work itself is expected to include several core components. First, the recipient must create a technical assistance strategy that helps tribal law enforcement develop and implement TCRPs, and that strategy should leverage and coordinate with existing DOJ resources, including U.S. Attorneys Offices personnel such as MMIP Coordinators, Tribal Liaisons, and Law Enforcement Coordinators, as well as the National Indian Country Training Initiative. Second, the project must help tribal agencies strengthen or update internal law enforcement policies and procedures connected to missing or murdered Indigenous persons cases, which can include issues like intake processes, information sharing, investigative steps, coordination protocols, and communication approaches. Third, the recipient must deliver technical assistance not only to tribal agencies but also, as needed, to nontribal law enforcement partners who may be part of implementation, since cross-jurisdiction coordination is often central in missing-person cases. Fourth, the project must ensure broad dissemination of tools and materials that support TCRP development, so that the benefits extend beyond a small number of sites and can be adopted more widely.

The solicitation also sets expectations for the kind of products the COPS Office wants the project to generate. Knowledge products and guidance should follow "good guidance" principles: they should be quality-driven and action-oriented (clear steps that reduce inconsistent performance), evidence-based (aligned with the best available evidence identified through systematic review), accessible (plain language and practical length for working law enforcement professionals), and memorable (easy to apply under pressure in complex situations). Applicants are expected to consider COPS Office performance measures when shaping project activities and to follow the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual for deliverables. If the project includes site-specific work with particular agencies, letters of support from the targeted agencies are strongly encouraged to show buy-in and readiness to participate.

Finally, the COPS Office is placing a strong premium on demonstrated cultural, legal, and operational competence in Indian Country contexts. Applicants must document staff experience and organizational capability to work with federally recognized tribes, including knowledge of federal Indian law and tribal law, jurisdictional issues that affect investigations and enforcement (including complexities for tribes located in P.L. 93-280 states), federal policies tied to self-determination and tribal consultation, the roles of federal agencies involved in Indian law enforcement and tribal justice services, and an understanding of tribal governance systems, culture, and intergovernmental protocols. In short, the grant is built for an experienced technical assistance provider that can support tribally led planning, improve real-world law enforcement procedures, and produce usable tools that help tribes and their partners respond more effectively to missing Indigenous persons cases.

• The Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY23 Tribal Resources Grant Program - Technical Assistance" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.710.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 12, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 15, 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 $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O COPS 2023 171555

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