BJA FY 2026 Public Safety and Mental Health Initiative
Opportunity number: O-BJA-2026-172676
Program owner: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Summary: Federal funding for coordinated public-safety, justice, mental-health, and substance-use interventions intended to reduce burdens on law enforcement and the justice system, improve treatment access, decrease recidivism and crime, and support interventions from pre-arrest through reentry.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance supports coordinated, direct interventions across public-safety, justice, mental-health, and substance-use agencies. Supported approaches may include civil commitment, institutional treatment, and step-down services spanning pre-arrest through reentry, with accountability measures intended to promote treatment compliance. The initiative seeks to reduce burdens on law enforcement and the justice system, decrease recidivism and crime, and restore order in communities affected by homelessness, mental illness, and substance use.
Who is eligible?
Applicant types: State governments; county governments; city or township governments; special district governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; other units of local government; and qualifying nongovernmental applicants meeting the additional eligibility conditions.
Listed government applicants include state, county, city or township, special-district, and tribal governments, as well as other units of local government. A nonprofit or for-profit mental-health agency or other nongovernmental applicant is eligible only if designated by the state mental-health authority to provide services as a unit of state or local government and it supplies documentation of that designation. Police departments and sheriff's offices are not separately named as applicant categories in the supplied source.
What can the funding be used for?
Coordinated direct interventions across public-safety, justice, mental-health, and substance-use agencies; increasing access to mental-health and substance-use treatment; civil-commitment processes; institutional treatment; step-down approaches from pre-arrest through reentry; treatment-plan accountability; and efforts to reduce law-enforcement and justice-system burdens, recidivism, and crime.
How to apply
Electronic submission is required. The source identifies an electronic Grants.gov application package that is Workspace compatible. The supplied record does not establish whether a separate JustGrants submission or later BJA deadline applies.
Required materials
A qualifying nongovernmental applicant should attach documentation showing that the state mental-health authority designated it to provide services as a unit of state or local government. Other required application documents are not identified in the supplied source.
Program contact
OJP Response Center
[email protected]
202-514-9354
Official sources
- Grants.gov Public API checked September 2, 2026
- Office of Justice Programs checked October 6, 2026
Grant details can change. Confirm all requirements on the official source before applying.