BJA FY 2026 Public Safety and Mental Health Initiative

Source-based overview

This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY2026 Public Safety and Mental Health Initiative (PSMHI). This opportunity supports comprehensive service networks addressing untreated mental illness and substance use to reduce the burden of on law enforcement and the justice system; restore order in communities affected by homelessness, mental illness, and substance use; decrease recidivism; reduce crime; and improve overall public safety and restore confidence in public spaces. This initiative supports coordinated, direct intervention efforts across public safety, justice, mental health, and substance use agencies to increase access to mental health and substance use treatment through civil commitment, institutional treatment, and step-down approaches from pre-arrest through reentry, using accountability measures that ensure compliance with treatment plans. This program moves beyond temporary interventions by supporting appropriate institutional care and civil commitment processes, when appropriate, for individuals unable to care for themselves. The official record contains the controlling eligibility, budget, attachment and submission requirements for opportunity O-BJA-2026-172676.

Eligibility

Eligible applicant types listed by the agency: City or township governments; Special district governments; Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized); State governments; County governments; Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments); Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification). Applicants must also satisfy every programme-specific condition in the full notice.

Funding and benefits

Award ceiling: USD 3,000,000

Themes and supported activities

This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY2026 Public Safety and Mental Health Initiative (PSMHI). This opportunity supports comprehensive service networks addressing untreated mental illness and substance use to reduce the burden of on law enforcement and the justice system; restore order in communities affected by homelessness, mental illness, and substance use; decrease recidivism; reduce crime; and improve overall public safety and restore confidence in public spaces. This initiative supports coordinated, direct intervention efforts across public safety, justice, mental health, and substance use agencies to increase access to mental health and substance use treatment through civil commitment, institutional treatment, and step-down approaches from pre-arrest through reentry, using accountability measures that ensure compliance with treatment plans. This program moves beyond temporary interventions by supporting appropriate institutional care and civil commitment processes, when appropriate, for individuals unable to care for themselves.

Opportunity number: O-BJA-2026-172676

Deadline and timeline

Applications close 2026-09-25: Applications close 2026-09-25: Sep 25, 2026.

Applicants should confirm the exact deadline time, time zone, required documents, portal steps and any institutional approvals on the official call page before submitting.

How to apply

Open the official Grants.gov record, review the full notice and attachments, and use the application package or agency submission route stated there.

Before applying, check eligibility rules, budgets, attachments, page limits, partner requirements, cost-share conditions and whether the opportunity uses an expression of interest, full proposal, registration or nomination stage.