BJA FY 20 Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities Program | BJA 2020 17210

Opportunity Information: Apply for BJA 2020 17210

The BJA FY 20 Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Its purpose is to help local jurisdictions reduce serious injuries and prevent deaths when individuals with dementia (including conditions such as Alzheimer's disease) or developmental disabilities (including autism) wander away from safe environments and become missing. The program is focused on improving how communities prevent wandering incidents, locate missing individuals quickly, and carry out rescues more effectively, especially in situations where time, exposure, weather, and terrain can rapidly increase risk.

A central emphasis of the program is supporting law enforcement and public safety agencies in adopting and using locative technologies to help track and find missing individuals. In practice, this can include tools and systems designed to support rapid location and recovery efforts, paired with operational procedures and training so responders can deploy them efficiently. At the same time, the opportunity also supports broader community-based approaches by allowing law enforcement and public safety agencies to work in partnership with nonprofit organizations to develop or operate programs that reduce wandering events in the first place, improve day-to-day safety for at-risk individuals, and strengthen coordinated search and rescue responses when incidents occur.

The grant is offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning recipients can generally expect a more active federal role in oversight or collaboration compared to a standard grant award. The opportunity is identified by Funding Opportunity Number BJA 2020 17210 and is associated with CFDA 16.015. It was posted on February 24, 2020, with an original application deadline of April 24, 2020. The award ceiling listed for individual awards is $150,000, and BJA anticipated making approximately 12 awards under this solicitation, indicating a competitive program with a limited number of funded projects.

Eligibility is broad and includes a range of government and non-government entities that might play a direct role in prevention, response, or coordination. Eligible applicants include county governments; city or township governments; special district governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities as permitted under the solicitation's additional eligibility guidance. This wide eligibility reflects the reality that effective wandering prevention and recovery efforts often depend on cross-sector coordination among police and sheriffs' offices, fire and EMS, emergency management, nonprofits that support families and caregivers, and technology or service providers that can help implement tracking and alerting solutions.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at helping communities build practical, on-the-ground capacity to address a well-documented public safety and health risk: individuals who wander due to cognitive impairment or developmental disability can become disoriented quickly, may not seek help or respond to their name, and can be difficult to locate without specialized tools and coordinated response plans. By funding locative technology implementation and collaborative prevention and rescue programming, BJA is targeting faster recoveries, fewer injuries, and fewer fatalities, while encouraging local jurisdictions to formalize partnerships and operational practices that can be sustained beyond the grant period.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the health, humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda), information and statistics, income security and social services, law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 20 Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.015.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 24, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 24, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 12 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for BJA 2020 17210

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