Technical Assistance Grants

Technical Assistance Grants is sponsored by State Justice Institute. Provides funding for state and local courts to obtain expert assistance in diagnosing and addressing specific challenges.

## **Technical Assistance Grants are designed to provide state and local courts with funding to obtain expert assistance to diagnose a problem, develop a response to that problem, and initiate implementation of any needed changes. ** #### **SIZE AND DURATION OF GRANT** Technical Assistance (TA) Grants may not exceed $75,000 and 12 months in duration.

Grant funds may cover the cost of obtaining the services of expert consultants; travel by a team of officials from one court to examine a practice, program, or facility in another jurisdiction that the applicant court is interested in replicating; or both.

In calculating project duration, applicants are cautioned to fully consider the time required to issue a request for proposals, negotiate a contract with the selected provider, and execute the project. Funds may not be used for salaries or benefits of full-or part-time court employees.

Applicants for TA Grants are required to contribute a total match (cash and in-kind) of not less than 50 percent of the SJI award amount, of which 20 percent must be cash. For example, an applicant seeking a $75,000 TA grant must provide a $37,500 match, of which up to $30,000 can be in-kind and not less than $7,500 must be cash. All grant applications must be submitted via the online Grant Management System (GMS).

Refer to the Grant Application Guide for details about what an application for a Technical Assistance Grant must include.

#### **SELECTION CRITERIA** In addition to the criteria detailed below, SJI will consider whether the applicant is a state or local court, a national court support or education organization, a non-court unit of government, or other type of entity eligible to receive grants under SJI’s enabling legislation; the availability of financial assistance from other sources for the project; the diversity of subject matter, geographic diversity; the level and nature of the match that would be provided; reasonableness of the proposed budget; the extent to which the proposed project would also benefit the federal courts or help state or local courts enforce federal constitutional and legislative requirements; and the level of appropriations available to SJI in the current year and the amount expected to be available in succeeding fiscal years, when determining which projects to support.

**TA Grant applications will be rated based on the following criteria:** * Whether the assistance would address a critical need of the applicant * Soundness of the technical assistance approach to the problem * Qualifications of the consultant(s) to be hired or the specific criteria that will be used to select the consultant(s) * Commitment of the court or association to act on the consultant’s recommendations * Reasonableness of the proposed budget