FY 2026 Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative
🏛 Bureau of Justice Assistance (USDOJ-OJP-BJA)
✓ Free, no account · Source: Grants.gov · Last verified Oct 7, 2026
Can you apply?
This grant is for local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors' offices in rural jurisdictions seeking to reduce violent crime. Eligible recipients include city and county governments, towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, and other local government units in rural areas. Applicants must have a specific violent crime challenge and a strategy to address it. Activities include personnel hiring, technology upgrades, training, equipment, and data analytics to prevent and respond to violent crime.
The grant supports equipment purchases like vehicles, records management systems, and communication technology. Personnel costs for prosecutors, criminologists, and officers are eligible. This is a competitive grant open to rural law enforcement and prosecution agencies nationwide.
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Program description
This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY 2026 Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative. This opportunity supports local law enforcement in rural jurisdictions to prevent, respond to, and reduce violent crime. The goal is to equip rural law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices with the resources necessary to implement a violent crime reduction strategy to solve a specific violent crime challenge utilizing one or more of the following approaches:
• Personnel, Tactics, Training, and Equipment to Reduce Violent Crime. This includes updated technology and tools, including records management systems, vehicles, vests, and firearms that assist agencies in responding to and preventing violent crime. This also includes hiring additional personnel such as a prosecutor or criminologist to strategically address persistent crimes, early case management, and increased police training.
• Technological Enhancements to Reduce Violent Crime. Technology takes the form of hardware, software, communications systems, intelligence centers, and equipment. Technology systems can create the infrastructure for actionable intelligence, enhance officer safety, support efficient operations, shorten case filing timelines, and manage risk.
• Data Analytics and Intelligence. Enhance crime analysis capabilities through personnel, training, and software enhancements to identify crime hotspots, predict high-risk times and locations, and allocate resources more effectively to prevent violent incidents before they occur.
• Other approaches that align with the Department’s priorities and provide a significant reduction in violent crime rates.
Who can apply
Eligible applicants
How to apply
Application links
Key dates & requirements
Required documents
- SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance)
- Project narrative describing the violent crime challenge and strategy
- Budget and budget narrative
- Letters of support from local partners
- Evaluation plan with success metrics
- Organizational capability documentation
Program contact
- 👤 Bureau of Justice Assistance
- 📧 OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov
- 📞 202-514-9354
Funding track record
Recent awards under CFDA 16.039 from the last 3 years — real organizations that won funding through this same program.
Top 10 Largest Recent Awards
-
$10,471,407
-
$1,400,000
-
$300,000
-
$300,000
-
$300,000
-
Sauk County WI$300,000
-
$300,000
-
White County AR$300,000
-
$300,000
-
$300,000
Top States by Funding
- VA 1 awards $10.5M
- MD 1 awards $1.4M
- NY 4 awards $0.7M
- SC 3 awards $0.7M
- CO 3 awards $0.7M
Source: USAspending.gov — federal spending transparency. Data covers last 3 years.
Funding history
Annual funding for this program — Federal obligations (CFDA 16.039). How funding has trended year over year.
| 2024 | $7,391,833 |
FAQ
Who is eligible to apply?
Local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors' offices in rural jurisdictions. This includes cities, counties, towns, villages, and other local government units.
What can we fund with this grant?
Personnel (prosecutors, criminologists, officers), equipment (vehicles, vests, records systems), training, technology systems, and data analytics capabilities.
What is the application deadline?
The deadline is October 30, 2026. Check the full NOFO for any application portal opening dates.
How competitive is this grant?
These are highly competitive federal grants. Strong applications clearly define a violent crime problem and explain how your strategy solves it.
What is the award amount?
Individual awards range up to approximately $2.6 million, though the exact amount varies by application and available funding.
💡 Tips for applicants
- Clearly identify your specific violent crime challenge (e.g., homicides, armed robbery) with data supporting the problem.
- Explain which approach (personnel, technology, analytics, or other) best fits your jurisdiction's needs.
- Include detailed timelines and milestones for implementation.
- Document how you will measure success (e.g., crime reduction, case closure rates, response times).
- Partner with local prosecutors' offices to strengthen your application and show coordinated effort.
⚠️ Common mistakes
Applications lack specific data on the target crime problem or fail to show why the proposed strategy is the right solution. Weak evaluation plans don't measure meaningful outcomes like actual crime reduction. Applications propose unfocused approaches that try to address multiple crime types without clear priority.
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