PSN General Information

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is designed to create and foster safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in violent crime, including, but not limited to, addressing criminal gangs and the felonious possession and use of firearms. The program's effectiveness depends upon the ongoing coordination, cooperation, and partnerships of local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies--and the communities they serve--engaged in a unified approach led by the U.S. Attorney (USA) in all 94 districts.

The Colorado PSN Task Force intends to allocate funds within the four Targeted Enforcement Areas (TEA), outlined as follows:  1). Denver Metro area; 2). Colorado Springs; 3). Northern Colorado including the cities of Fort Collins, Greeley, and Loveland; and 4). Pueblo to provide services directly relevant to targeted law enforcement intervention aligned with the PSN strategy and for providing prevention and re-entry services, particularly those using concrete interventions to prevent people at risk of committing violence from actually becoming violent and to help people convicted of violent crimes successfully re-enter society rather than relapsing into criminal behavior, including through various services such as job training, transportation, and housing assistance.

• Enhance the capability of task forces within Target Enforcement Areas to identify and
  prosecute individuals perpetrating the most violent acts.
• Enhance prevention resources and community engagement efforts in Target
  Enforcement Areas.

A total of $323,224 is anticipated for subgrants (dependent upon funding availability). Successful Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 - 2022 PSN Grant Program applicants will be provided awards that fall within one or more of the two following purpose areas:

Category 1 is for focused and strategic enforcement by law enforcement agencies*, of which 30% must be dedicated to gang/violent crime task forces – specifically on the investigation and prosecution of criminal and/or transnational organizations that are engaged in high levels of violent crime, firearms offenses, human trafficking, and drug trafficking

Category 2 is for violent crime prevention resources and community engagement efforts.

See application instructions for more specific information.

Project applications that fall within one or more of the Category 1 and Category 2 purpose areas (see above) will be accepted from law enforcement agencies* and from other organizations providing relevant services in Colorado within the four TEAs outlined as follows:

1. Denver Metro area
2. Colorado Springs
3. Northern Colorado (including the cities of Fort Collins, Greeley, and Loveland)
4. Southern Colorado (including the city of Pueblo).

NOTE: A law enforcement agency serving as the fiscal agent for a Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force (MJTF) can apply both as an individual agency and then also as the fiscal agent of a MJTF.

Award start dates will be October 1, 2023.

Applicants may apply for up to 24 months of funding, although it is anticipated that some will not require the full 24 months to fully expend their grant awards and complete their projects.

Find grant announcement, project applications, and instructions on the online ZOOMGRANTS application system.

Questions?

For questions regarding ZOOMGRANTS, contact Gillian Trickett.  

For questions other than technical ZOOMGRANTS issues, contact Amy L. Miller at 720-357-4962.

Project applications must be submitted online (ZoomGrants) on or before MONDAY, MAY 22, 2023.

PROJECT APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE.  

Failure to submit a complete project application may result in denial of funding. 

The Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) requires quarterly reports that document how the grant funds were utilized, including data and other relevant information on performance metrics in DCJ’s online grants management system.

In addition to DCJ reports, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has established mandatory performance measures which must be submitted by the 15th day following each calendar quarter using BJA’s on-line Performance Management Tool or PMT.  These performance measures can be found on the BJA website.

Reporting Deadline

All quarterly reports are due by the 15th day following each calendar quarter and must be submitted online using the grants management system.

DCJ maintains the right to withhold payments if reporting requirements are not met in a timely manner.  

Reviews will be conducted by the PSN Board, members of which will not be eligible to apply for funding. Criteria for scoring to be used
by the PSN Board will be based upon Colorado’s PSN Program purpose areas/goals, and using the criteria listed below. Only those projects denied funding are eligible for reconsideration. If a project is denied funding, a letter describing the reasons for the denial of funding and information on how to request reconsideration (if eligible for reconsideration) of the PSN Board’s decision will be sent to the applicant.

Review Criteria

• Applicant meets eligibility requirements.
• Application addresses one or both of the PSN Board’s goals and fits within one or both of the Category 1 and 2 purpose areas.
• The applicant clearly identifies and justifies the problem and the need to address it through use of current and local data/information related to the PSN Board’s goals.
• The applicant clearly described their proposed PSN violence reduction strategy, their specific plan to implement the strategy, and linked their proposed PSN violence reduction strategy to the specified problem description.
• Goals and Objectives are logical, sensible, clearly written, and directly tied to the project.
• Goals are written as broad statements that convey a project's overall intent to change, reduce, or eliminate the problem described.
• Objectives as written are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
• Objectives and Outcomes are realistic and able to be accomplished in the timeframes described.
• Applicant describes how the data as described in the Goals & Objectives section will be collected and used to monitor the project and to adjust to maximize success. Applicant describes how the data will be collected for the BJA performance measures.
• Budget items and budget narratives are detailed, reasonable, allowable, specifically defined, justified, and the applicant demonstrates how those costs were determined. No concerns of supplanting have been identified.

If a project application is denied funding, a letter describing the reasons for the denial of funding and information on how to request reconsideration (if eligible for reconsideration) of the PSN Board decision will be sent to the applicant. Disqualification for failing to meet the minimum requirements is not subject to reconsideration. Applications that are denied funding may submit an appeal within five (5) business days of notification. The reconsideration process will be outlined in the notification letters sent to applicants via the grants management system informing them of the initial
funding decision.

All potential grant applicants who plan to apply for federal funding from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice or any other agency must make sure that their agency has registered with SAM and has an Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). These are required as part of the implementation of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act).

A UEI is a unique number that identifies an organization and helps track the distribution of grant money.  Verify whether your agency is currently registered in SAM. If your organization is currently registered in SAM.gov with either an active or inactive registration, you have already been assigned a UEI. Your UEI is viewable on your entity’s registration record in SAM.gov. 

If your agency is not currently registered  or inactive in SAM you will not have an UEI assigned yet and must begin this process now due to the time required for completion. 

Grant awards without a current registration in SAM and an UEI will have a Special Condition placed on award documents to complete this requirement within 30 days of the start of the grant award period.  It is imperative that this timeframe is met per reporting requirements under the Transparency Act.
 

To register with SAM:

• Go to www.sam.gov
• Click on Create an Account
• Choose Individual account
• Provide the requested information and submit
• Receive the email from “notifications” and click through the sam.gov link to validate your Account
• Log in at sam.gov with the username and password you created

SAM will send notifications to the registered user via email 60, 30, and 15 days prior to the expiration of the Entity registration. To update or renew your Entity records(s) in SAM you will need to create a SAM User Account.

A Full Users Guide as well as Quick Users Guides are available at www.sam.gov, which you may want to review prior to registering with SAM.  

NOTE:  IF YOU HAVE NOT REGISTERED WITH SAM AND DO NOT HAVE A UEI, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUBMIT YOUR PROJECT APPLICATION ONLINE.

All material submitted regarding the application for PSN funds becomes the property of the State of Colorado and is subject to the terms of Colorado Revised Statutes 24-72-201 through 24-72-206, Public Open Records.

The State of Colorado has the right to use any or all information/material presented in reply to the Announcement, subject to limitations for proprietary or confidential information.

Disqualification or denial of the application does not eliminate this right.

Any restrictions on the use or inspection of material contained within the proposal shall be clearly stated in the proposal itself. The contents of the application will become contractual obligations if the project is funded. 

DCJ reserves the right to reject any and all applications, to waive informalities and minor irregularities in the applications received and to accept any portion of the application for funding, if deemed to be in the best interest of the State of Colorado and PSN to do so.

DCJ reserves the option of holding for future consideration those applications with merit that were not funded. Any future consideration is dependent on the availability of federal funds.

There are specific instructions regarding ZOOMGRANTS that you should read prior to beginning your application:

• Grants Guidances and Resources
• Module 101 Grant Administration and Set-Up

• Registration with SAM and an UEI (assigned through your SAM registration) is required to submit your Project Application on-line. 
• Eliminate jargon wherever possible; define or do not use acronyms.
• Make sure there is a thread that ties the project application together from the problem statement through the project activities to the goals and objectives and the budget, the elements should all be related, flow, and make sense.
• Organize goals and objectives. Make sure goals are broad and objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.).
• Use only whole dollar amounts in your budget and be sure to have the financial person who will be working on the project with you look over and verify your proposed budget.
• Justify and explain all budget items and calculations in the budget narrative Example: price per unit x number of units = total price.
• Demonstrate how the costs were determined. 
• Double-check the budget descriptions to make sure that they contain a sufficient level of detail and all figures add correctly.