NCJ Number
237045
Date Published
November 2011
Length
1 page
Annotation
This Office of Justice Program (OJP) fact sheet is designed to provide faith and community organizations information to facilitate their participation in Federal grant opportunities.
Abstract
This fact sheet is designed to aid faith and community organizations by empowering them with information to overcome the regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles that historically have impeded their access to Federal resources. Improved relationships between the Federal Government and faith-based and community groups has resulted in more opportunities to access Federal resources for faith-based and other nonprofit organizations. The Department of Justice is one of 12 Federal agencies that includes a Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives coordinated by the White House program. As a central part of the department's efforts, OJP assists faith-based groups with programs and initiatives throughout the criminal justice spectrum, ranging from youth violence prevention to crime victim assistance to prisoner reentry. The programs include: the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) which supports the Accessing Resources for Community and Faith-based Organizations (ARC) Initiative to deliver training and technical assistance to community-based, faith-based, and nonprofit organizations to enhance their capacity to compete for Federal funding, form partnerships, and revitalize communities; the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) which supports collaboration between State and local agencies and faith-based and community organizations to meet the needs of offenders returning to their communities from prisons and jails; and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) which has made funds available to promote greater participation by community and faith-based organizations in victim services. In addition to supporting local faith-based victim assistance programs, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has sponsored research pertinent to the faith community and, in particular, faith-based and community nonprofit organizations serving the field of criminal justice.