Offender Reentry Program Grants

Nonprofits, government agencies and others may apply for a share of $39.6 million in funding for programs that provide addiction services as part of efforts to help criminal offenders reenter society.

Grants of up to $400,000 per year (for up to three years) will be awarded under the FY2010 Offender Reentry Program (ORP) to expand or enhance addiction treatment and related recovery and reentry services for juvenile and adult offenders returning to the community from incarceration. SAMHSA expects to award about 17 grants in FY2010.

“Applicants are expected to form stakeholder partnerships that will plan, develop and provide a transition from incarceration to community-based substance abuse treatment and related reentry services for the populations of focus,” according to the grant announcement. “Because reentry transition must begin in the correctional or juvenile facility before release, limited funding may be used for certain activities in institutional correctional settings in addition to the expected community-based services.”

SAMHSA and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) are currently working on a formal collaboration to coordinate the ORP grant-related activities and BJA's Second Chance Act grant-related activities in FY 2010, the agency noted. “SAMHSA's ORP grantees will be expected to seek out and coordinate with any local federally funded offender reentry initiatives including “Second Chance Act” offender reentry programs, as appropriate,” the SAMHSA announcement said.

Application deadline for the ORP is Jan. 10, 2010. For more details, see the full grant announcement online.