Justice Assistance Grant Program FAQs

How do I find my project application if I don’t complete it all at the same time?: When you log into ZoomGrants (ZG), click on My Account Home. Any incomplete applications will appear under the Incomplete tab. If the application deadline has passed the incomplete applications will move to the Archived tab.
How do I add another contact person to the Project Application?: See pages 14-15 of the Navigating ZoomGrants and Setting up New ZoomGrants Accounts instructions at: NEW ZoomGrants Grantee Navigation New Instructions (PDF in new pop-up window)

What do I do if I get the message that I exceeded the maximum length for a question?

If there is a character limit it will appear with each question. As you type a box indicates how many characters are remaining. There may be a slight discrepancy in character counts upon saving the answer. Carriage Returns count as two (2) characters when SAVED, but count as one (1) character when TYPING/EDITING. The final character count may be off by 1 character for each carriage return. You may need to shorten your answer if your initial answer uses the maximum character limit prior to saving.

How do I submit more than one application for my agency?

A ZG account is linked to an individual within an agency, and not the agency as a whole. If your agency has distinct and separate projects with different project directors each project director should have his/her own account. (Unless the agency decides to have a singular generic account owner that provides project director access to each application on a case by case basis).

If your agency has multiple ZG accounts, each account may submit one or more applications. If a single ZG account holder would like to submit more than one application, you may accomplish this one of two ways:

Apply Again – creates a new blank application
- Login using the Zoom URL
- Click "Apply Again" to create a new Application.
Duplicate Application – copies an application within the same Grant Program and allows you to edit it.
- Under My Account Home find the application you want to duplicate (it will be under either the Incomplete or Submitted tab).
- Click "Duplicate" and a copy of the application will open and allow you to edit.

We are applying for continuing funding, do we have to reduce our request by 10% although we are adding to our project?: No, continuation applicants are no longer required to decrease their requests annually. JAG projects are eligible for a total 48 months of funding.
Can we request more than one year of funding?: No. This is a one year grant and your budget must reflect a one year budget. Projects are eligible for a maximum of 48-months of funding. You must apply again for each year of funding. Funding beyond the first year will be determined based on performance of subgrantee, meeting reporting requirements and availability of funds.

We are a non-profit and will be partnering with a unit of government, does the Project Director need to be from the applicant agency (unit of government) or can our agency designate a Project Director?: The Project Director must be from the applicant agency (unit of government). However, you can list your agency’s Primary Contact in the Implementing Agency section of the application.
Do we need to include a breakdown budget for any contractors/vendors?: Yes. A line item budget must be included in the budget narrative under the consultant/professional services category. Suggested budget format for breaking out the costs in the consultant/professional services is: list personnel and cost of each position/consultant, supplies and operating, travel, equipment, and contracted services or professional services. The budget should include only those items for which you are requesting JAG funding.

If a nonprofit is the primary actor in a project, will a full budget be necessary from the agency as has been the case in the past?

Yes. A line item budget for the JAG-funded work of that non-profit organization must be included in the budget narrative under the consultant/professional services category. Suggested budget format is: list personnel and cost of each position/consultant, supplies and operating, travel, equipment, and contracted services or professional services.

Our state agency, which will be the Applying Agency, has divisions across the State. The divisions will be submitting separate applications and accepting responsibility for each grant separately. Can we designate our own Project Director and Financial Officer?

Yes, for each project you can designate a separate Project Director/Financial Officer from each Division.

Each Division/Project Director may have a separate account and designate Project Officials within each individual Application.

Prior to application submission by the division, all applications must be reviewed and approved by our Authorizing Authority so that s/he has the opportunity to evaluate projects to determine if they are in keeping with our mission and goals and do not vi: Yes, you can “Print/Preview” the application prior to submission. This can be found on the top right corner of the individual application. You may save to PDF and/or print it.
If your Agency is within more than one Congressional District does ZOOMGRANTS allow you to enter them all?: Yes, the application will collect information regarding the Geographic Area(s) where grant funds will be utilized and is not linked to the physical address of the agency.

Under Equipment...if you are requesting equipment that is under $5000 each but are requesting more than one, making your total over $5000 will it be okay to enter under Equipment and not Supplies?

These are considered supplies and must be entered into the supplies and operating category. Equipment is considered an individual item costing $5,000 or more.

Do the character limits in the sections include the spaces between words?

Using data released by the federal government, ZOOMGRANTS completes a SAM verification (via each applicant’s UEI) and presents the results for each applicant in the Application Summary tab of their applications.

The federal government releases this data every month, and SAM checks are completed once an applicant submits their application and are automatically updated monthly, following the release of the new data.

The SAM verification will only appear in the Application Summary tab on an application if the applicant has entered a valid UEI.

What is the average grant amount for the last/current funding cycle?: We recommend applicants request only what is truly needed for each project rather than what has been funded in the past.
In professional services – can that be for the cost of the accountant that oversees our grant financial piece?: Yes, if the services are being contracted, include the costs within the Consultants/Contracts (Professional Services) line item.

Can the applicant agency be a City or County or must be the City or County’s law enforcement department?

In ZoomGrants, the City or County is considered the Legal Entity. The Police Department or Sheriff’s Office would be the Applicant Agency (applying agency). The DBA status should be set to Yes.

What are the character limits for each section?

Pre-Application/Organization Details and tab Questions / Statement of Work tab

Short Answers:

Single Line: 250 characters
Multiple Choice: only one answer is allowed
Checkboxes: one or more answer is allowed
Table Format: 10 characters each

Long Answers:

Each long answer question will indicate the character limit associated with each question.

Tables (G&O, Budget Details, Additional Funding) tab

Large text boxes: 6500 characters
Medium text boxes: 25 characters
Small text boxes: 10 characters

NOTE: Carriage returns count as two (2) characters.

Are food and beverages allowable expenses?

DCJ has been advised that providing food and beverages for conferences, meetings, and trainings that are not a direct service of a program are prohibited. If you are interested in providing food and beverages for direct service recipients (children, youth and families), this requires an expressed pre-approval from the federal Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and there are no guarantees that this will be approved. DCJ suggests that if the need is critical to a direct service program, you try to secure other sources of funding to cover these expenses. If absolutely impossible, and you are approved for grant funding by this Office, we will work with you to seek the food and beverage approval necessary from the federal government, but again this approval is not determined by DCJ and these expenses could be disallowed by OJP.

The following questions and answers are for projects that are applying for multiple applications with multiple applicant profiles.

Q: Can a user be under more than one Applicant Agency?

A: Yes, each individual user will have their own ZG account linked to his/her email address. The Project Director/main account holder creating the application may add “Collaborators” to an application on an application by application basis. Collaborators do not need to be from the same agency.

Q: Could you please clarify what was meant by the applicant not applying to units of local government? Would the City and County of Denver be one applicant and the Denver Police Department be a separate applicant?

A: In some instances, the City and County of Denver is the Legal Entity Name as specified in the Pre-Application / Organizational Details tab. In this case, the Denver Police Department would be the Applicant Agency. However, it is also possible the City and County of Denver could be an Applicant Agency (agency applying for the funds) and could have separate and distinct Applicant records. Contact Cindy Johnson for further instruction.

Q: I apply for grants on behalf of more than one agency. Does this work like Grants.gov where I need different user accounts under each agency?

A: No, you will create your ZG account once and then the Project Director/account owner associated with each individual application may add you as a Collaborator to work on the project.

Q: If we are a subcontractor to a city grant, then do we need a ZG account?

A: No, you do not need a ZG account for JAG. If you are hired to work on a project awarded to the city and are not an employee of the Applicant Agency, you are considered a consultant or contractor.

Q: Can you clarify how multiple users are set up to apply for a single grant?

A: See page 4 of the Navigating ZoomGrants and Setting up New ZoomGrants Accounts instructions at: NEW ZoomGrants Grantee Navigation New Instructions

CDPS

Job Opportunities

Creating a Colorado for All