PSMHI Grant: $38M to Build Crisis Response and Treatment Networks (FY 2026)

DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance has opened the FY 2026 Public Safety and Mental Health Initiative (PSMHI) — approximately $38 million for about 13 awards of up to $3 million to build the service networks that keep untreated mental illness and substance use from landing on police officers and jails: 24/7 crisis stabilization centers with law-enforcement drop-off, comprehensive treatment services, and the health-record technology that connects them. This is the second PSMHI round, following FY 2025's $42M competition. Applications run on DOJ's two-step clock — Grants.gov by September 25, JustGrants by October 2 — and two requirements deserve immediate attention: SAM.gov registration must be underway by September 11, and the budget must carry an escalating match that doubles to 40% in year three.

What Is PSMHI?

PSMHI funds coordinated, direct intervention across public safety, justice, mental health, and substance use agencies — from pre-arrest through reentry — with an explicit FY 2026 emphasis on civil commitment, institutional treatment, and step-down pathways for people unable to care for themselves, backed by accountability measures that ensure treatment compliance. It's the successor track to BJA's Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) and Connect & Protect, and the NOFO explicitly welcomes prior awardees of those programs applying to enhance or expand. Funding concentrates in three core areas:

• Crisis Stabilization Centers: 24/7 crisis receiving and drop-off centers with dedicated law enforcement access and protocols, no-refusal policies, and capacity for rapid assessment, stabilization, and civil commitment evaluations. Funded centers must serve as an alternative to hospitals, jails, and street settings, with protocols for frequent utilizers and formal transfer agreements for high-acuity individuals.
• Treatment Services: comprehensive mental health and substance use treatment — clinically appropriate medications, therapy and counseling, overdose prevention, recovery support, extended observation beds, medication bridging, and reentry services. Programs must prioritize approaches that demonstrably reduce homelessness.
• EHR Systems and Technology Modernization: electronic health records and related technology (including telehealth) across correctional and crisis settings, improving data sharing and continuity of care during incarceration, before release, and through reentry.

Who Can Apply

• States, counties, cities, and townships
• Special district governments
• Tribal governments — federally recognized and other than federally recognized
• Other units of local government (towns, boroughs, parishes, villages)
• Nonprofit or for-profit mental health agencies — only if designated by the state mental health authority to provide services as a unit of state or local government, with the designation letter attached

One application per applicant. Multi-entity projects name one applicant; everyone else participates as subrecipients (an entity can be a subrecipient in more than one application).

The Required Partnership

Every application must demonstrate that at least one justice agency and at least one mental health agency will support the project — committing staff time, space, services, or other project needs — documented in an attached MOU or letter of intent. Unsigned drafts are acceptable at application (explain why on a cover page), but within one year of award, grantees must deliver both a signed, executed MOU and a cross-system action plan, and both need BJA approval before full implementation. Prior JMHCP, Connect & Protect, and PSMHI awardees who already completed an approved planning phase can attach their approved guide and skip straight to implementation.

The Escalating Match

This is the requirement that reshapes budgets. PSMHI requires cash and/or in-kind match on an escalating schedule:

• Years 1–2 (combined): 20% of total project cost — distributed across the two years however you like
• Year 3: 40% of total project cost

An application without the required match is deemed ineligible — not docked points, ineligible. You must identify the source of the non-federal share and how it will be used, and note the audit trap: if you propose more match than required and OJP approves it, the full amount becomes part of the approved budget and subject to audit. The escalation is also a sustainability signal — the year-3 step-down assumes your jurisdiction is picking up the program, which is exactly what the scored sustainability plan must show without assuming future federal funding.

The Certification That Can Sink an Application

State and local government applicants must submit a Certification by the Chief Executive Officer (or senior official) of compliance with 8 U.S.C. § 1373 — using only the template in the NOFO's Appendix 1, signed under penalty of perjury. The NOFO is blunt: applications required to include it that don't will be denied. Tribal governments and public educational institutions are exempt. Getting a mayor's or county executive's signature — with the legal review that signature will trigger — takes lead time; start it the same week you start the MOU.

Priority Considerations

OJP may give priority to applications advancing DOJ-wide goals (supporting law enforcement operations, combatting violent crime, protecting children, serving trafficking victims) and, specific to this NOFO, to applicants that actively enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting; that use assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) or civil commitment for people who are a danger to themselves or others; and — for states — that substantially implement SORNA sex-offender registration obligations. Applicants claim these through the two Agency Funding Priorities Inventories in JustGrants ("Ending Crime and Disorder"). Separate priority consideration is available for coordination with federal law enforcement through established or committed 287(g) partnerships or Homeland Security Task Force participation, documented by a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office or partnership evidence. Priorities influence — but don't guarantee — funding.

What PSMHI Cannot Fund

• Prizes, rewards, entertainment, trinkets, or any monetary incentives
• Client stipends and gift cards
• Vehicle purchases
• Food and beverages, including sustenance
• Legal services for removable or unlawfully present aliens (with narrow exceptions for victim protection orders)
• Any activity, at any tier, that violates or impedes 8 U.S.C. § 1373 or federal civil rights law

The client-stipend and gift-card exclusions matter for treatment program design: contingency-management-style incentives common in behavioral health programs can't be paid from this award.

How Applications Are Scored

The Proposal Narrative is capped at 10 double-spaced pages (12-point font; timelines and résumés can ride as separate attachments), weighted as follows:

• Description of the Need — 5%
• Project Goals and Objectives — 15%
• Project Design and Implementation — 35%: activities, staffing, information sharing with courts and community supervision, coordination with existing federal behavioral health funding, and the strategy for producing the year-one action plan and executed MOU
• Capabilities and Competencies — 25%: your track record running similar projects and the team's relevant experience
• Plan for Sustainability — 5%: state, local, or private funding that continues the program — explicitly not assuming more federal money
• Budget — 15%: itemized, computation shown, match sources identified

Submission Mechanics and Timeline

1. SAM.gov: begin registration or renewal by August 26 and no later than September 11 — the NOFO gives explicit dates because SAM delays sink DOJ applications every cycle.
2. Step 1 — Grants.gov: SF-424 by 11:59 PM ET, September 25.
3. Step 2 — JustGrants: full application — narrative, budget, MOU/letters, certifications, priority inventories — by 8:59 PM ET, October 2. Miss step one and step two is closed.
4. E.O. 12372 intergovernmental review does not apply. OJP's late-submission policy covers technical difficulties and disasters.

BJA anticipates notifying awardees by September 30, 2026, with 36-month awards starting October 1. Expect regular performance reports, and remember the year-one deliverables: BJA-approved action plan and signed MOU before full implementation.

Practical Guidance for FY 2026 Applicants

• Start SAM.gov renewal today — the September 11 date is the NOFO's own drop-dead, and it's three weeks away.
• Route the CEO certification for signature this week. It's a template-only, penalty-of-perjury document that city and county attorneys will want to review before the mayor or executive signs.
• Draft the MOU in parallel, not after. Unsigned drafts are acceptable at application — but the partnership commitments (staff time, space, services) must already be described, and design-and-implementation is 35% of your score.
• Model the year-3 budget cliff now. The 40% match year is where councils balk; a named funding source in the sustainability plan converts a weakness into scored strength.
• Prior JMHCP/Connect & Protect grantees: attach your approved planning guide — it satisfies the action-plan deliverable and signals implementation readiness.
• Design incentives around the exclusions. No client stipends or gift cards means recovery-support budgets need different mechanics than many SAMHSA-funded programs use.

Contact Information

• Program questions: OJP Response Center — OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov, 800-851-3420 (9–5 ET weekdays)
• Grants.gov help: 800-518-4726 (24/7)
• JustGrants help: 833-872-5175 or JustGrants.Support@usdoj.gov

How Avila Can Help

A competitive PSMHI application coordinates a lot of institutions on a five-week clock: a justice-plus-mental-health MOU, a CEO certification through legal review, an escalating match with named sources, priority inventories, and a 10-page narrative carrying 35% of its score in one section. Avila helps cities, counties, and their behavioral health partners find opportunities like this early, decode NOFO requirements, and draft competitive responses. Book a demo to see how public safety teams use Avila on exactly this kind of application.

For related federal-grant guides, see our posts on the FY 2025 PSMHI round, the FY 2026 OVW ICJR Program, and OVC victim services funding. For registration prerequisites, see SAM.gov registration and Grants.gov registration.