ICJR Grant: $31.5M to Strengthen the Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence (FY 2026)

The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has opened its FY 2026 Grants to Improve the Criminal Justice Response (ICJR) Program — the VAWA program that funds how police, prosecutors, courts, and victim service providers work together on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking cases. The open competition offers $31.5 million across roughly 55 awards of $500,000 to $1.5 million, with award caps set by service-area population and two add-on funding tracks worth up to $300,000 more. Applications are due in two steps — Grants.gov by August 18 and JustGrants by August 20, 2026 — and the eligibility rules contain a trap that catches police departments every cycle.

What Is the ICJR Program?

Authorized by 34 U.S.C. § 10461(a), ICJR (historically known as "Improving Criminal Justice Responses" or the Arrest Program) funds projects that treat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law: offender accountability and homicide reduction, victim safety, protection order enforcement across state and Tribal lines, and coordinated action among law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and victim services. OVW released the NOFO June 4, 2026 and held pre-application office hours in June and July.

Who Can Apply — and the Trap in the Fine Print

Eligible applicants fall into two groups:

• Government entities: states (including DC and territories), federally recognized Indian Tribal governments, units of local government, and state and local courts (including juvenile courts)
• Nonprofit entities: state or territorial domestic violence coalitions, sexual assault coalitions, Tribal DV/SA coalitions, and victim service providers (501(c)(3) status required)

The trap: under 28 C.F.R. § 90.61(b), the following are not "units of local government" and cannot apply on their own — police departments, sheriffs' departments, district or city attorneys' offices, pre-trial service agencies, probation and parole departments, shelters, nonprofit victim service agencies, and universities. If your police department wants ICJR funding, the city or county itself must be the applicant on its behalf. Plan signature authority and council timelines accordingly.

Required Partnerships and Certifications

ICJR is built around mandatory partnership. Every government or court applicant must partner with a victim service provider, and every coalition or victim-service-provider applicant must partner with a government that can make the statutory certifications. The partnership is documented in a Memorandum of Understanding — a required attachment that must show the victim service provider participated in developing the application (34 U.S.C. § 10462(a)(4)). The MOU is scored alongside your proposal narrative, not filed and forgotten.

Government applicants must also submit a Certification of Eligibility covering specific legal commitments: encouraging arrest of offenders, discouraging dual arrests, prohibiting mutual restraining orders, not charging victims fees, and not polygraphing victims — plus a Prosecution Certification (victim-centered prosecution training, policies, and protocol), a Minor Certification (not prosecuting minors with respect to prostitution), and an HIV certification, assurance, or exemption letter for state and local governments. Courts have a lighter certification set; nonprofit applicants submit certifications signed by their partner government.

What ICJR Funds

The statute lists 26 purpose areas. In practice, competitive projects cluster around:

• Offender accountability and homicide reduction — including multidisciplinary high-risk teams that use evidence-based lethality indicators (purpose 22)
• Protection order enforcement — registries, interstate and Tribal enforcement, and the data and tracking systems that connect police, prosecutors, and courts
• Coordinated units and centers — centralized DV/SA dockets and teams, and family justice centers that co-locate advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, and civil legal help (co-location is fundable; construction and major renovation are not)
• Sexual assault response — SANE/forensic examiner programs, Sexual Assault Response Teams, kit backlog inventories and victim notification protocols
• Training and policy — for police, prosecutors, probation/parole, and judges, including crimes affecting older victims, Deaf victims, victims with disabilities, and immigrant victims
• Legal advocacy and victim services — with a hard limit: legal assistance requires an existing legal program and no more than 30% of the budget
• Missing or murdered Indigenous people — law enforcement protocols and annual data reporting (purposes 23–24)

The Two Add-On Funding Tracks

• Policing and Prosecution Initiative (up to $300,000 extra): the FY 2026 appropriation sets aside up to $5 million for dedicated law enforcement officer or prosecutor positions focused on investigating and prosecuting these cases. Your proposal narrative must state you're applying under it, and the budget must clearly identify the added positions.
• Sexual assault priority (up to $200,000 extra): by statute, at least 25% of ICJR funds must support sexual assault projects. Applications putting at least 45% of their budget toward sexual-assault-focused statutory purposes qualify for the add-on — and may be eligible for an additional 24 months of non-competitive continuation funding.

Statutory and Agency Priorities

By statute, OVW must prioritize applicants that do not currently centralize handling of these cases, demonstrate strong enforcement and prosecution commitments (including out-of-state and Tribal protection orders), have cooperative arrangements with neighboring jurisdictions, and — for data-system projects — propose linking police, prosecutors, and courts where such systems don't yet exist. For FY 2026, OVW may also give priority consideration to projects combatting human trafficking and transnational crime, projects dedicated to criminal justice response in small, rural, remote, and Tribal communities, and applications from governments certifying compliance with federal immigration law (8 U.S.C. § 1373) or participating in the 287(g) program. Priorities influence — but don't guarantee — funding decisions.

How Applications Are Scored

The Proposal Narrative is capped at 10 single-spaced pages using OVW's template, and weighted as follows:

• Purpose of the Project — 30%: why you're applying, goals and objectives, communities served
• What Will Be Done — 35%: activities, responsibility, victim safety and offender accountability, trackable outcomes
• Who Will Implement — 20%: named people, roles, and partner coordination
• Budget — 15%: itemized costs with computations, within your population tier's cap

Budget details that trip up first-time applicants: set aside a minimum of $5,000 in the travel line for OVW training and technical assistance, distinguish subawards from contracts, and fairly compensate project partners (or explain in the MOU why not). Applications that don't follow the format can lose score.

Submission Mechanics

1. SAM.gov: start registration or renewal at least 30 days before the deadlines.
2. Step 1 — Grants.gov: submit the SF-424 by 11:59 PM ET, August 18, 2026. E.O. 12372 intergovernmental review applies — check whether your state's Single Point of Contact requires review.
3. Step 2 — JustGrants: submit the full application — narrative, budget, MOU, certifications, Summary Data Sheet, Confidentiality Notice Form — by 4:59 PM ET, August 20, 2026.

OVW's late-submission policy covers technical difficulties and disasters, but the two-step structure means a missed Step 1 usually forecloses Step 2. Awards will be announced by September 30, 2026, with projects starting October 1. Post-award, expect semi-annual performance reports and quarterly Federal Financial Reports (SF-425); delinquent reports can freeze drawdowns.

Practical Guidance for FY 2026 Applicants

• Get the MOU moving first. It requires a victim service provider's documented participation in developing the application — that can't be backfilled the week of the deadline.
• Confirm the right applicant entity now. If the project lives in the police department or prosecutor's office, the city or county applies — which means your governing body's authorized representative, not the chief.
• Check the certifications against current policy. The eligibility certification commits your jurisdiction to specific practices (no victim fees, no polygraphing victims, discouraging dual arrest). If a policy needs updating, start before you apply.
• Size your request to your population tier — and if you serve a rural or Tribal area, say so: it's an explicit FY 2026 priority.
• Consider the sexual assault track. The 25% statutory set-aside means SA-focused applications compete in a favorable lane, with $200,000 and a possible 24-month extension on the table.
• Multiple applications are allowed if each proposes a different project in a different service area.

Contact Information

• Program questions: OVW.ICJR@usdoj.gov or 202-307-6026
• Grants.gov help: 800-518-4726 (24/7)
• JustGrants help: 866-655-4482 or OVW.JustGrantsSupport@usdoj.gov

How Avila Can Help

ICJR applications juggle a lot of moving parts on a 10-page budget of space: statutory purpose areas, a scored MOU, five certifications, population-tier budgets, and two portals with different deadlines. Avila helps cities, counties, and their partners find opportunities like this early, decode NOFO requirements, and draft compliant, competitive narratives. Book a demo to see how public-safety and victim-services teams use Avila on exactly this kind of application.

For related federal-grant guides, see our posts on the BJA mental health collaboration program, OVC victim services funding, and the HUD Continuum of Care competition. For registration prerequisites, see SAM.gov registration and Grants.gov registration.