The Criminal Justice Division of the Texas Governor's Office (CJD) awards over $100 million annually to statewide, regional, and local projects. Funding is from a variety of sources, both federal and state, and for a variety of specifically earmarked purposes. These sources are:
Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC)
Targets neighborhoods with high rates of violence, drug and gang-related activities, weapons violations, truancy and school dropouts. Funds under this source must follow the guidelines as outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act.
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP)
Develops more effective education, training, research, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs in the area of juvenile delinquency and programs to improve the juvenile justice system.
Title V Delinquency Prevention
Reduces juvenile delinquency and youth violence by supporting communities in providing their children, families, neighborhoods, and institutions with the knowledge, skills and opportunities necessary to foster a healthy and nurturing environment that supports the growth and development of productive responsible citizens.
Title V funds are available to local units of government and Native American tribes.
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)
Provides assistance and services directly to victims of crime. These projects focus on the victims' recovery from a criminal act and guidance through the criminal justice process.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
Provides funds to reduce and prevent violence against women. Funding is provided to train law enforcement officers and prosecutors to respond to violent crimes against women, and to strengthen victim services programs that address domestic violence or sexual assault.
State Criminal Justice Planning Fund (SF-421)
Biennial appropriation by the Texas Legislature from a fund collected from court costs and fees. The funds may provide for a wide range of projects designed to reduce crime and improve the criminal justice system.
Agencies within H-GAC's region who are interested in funding for programs that fall within guidelines are encouraged to apply to CJD. To encourage a consistent growth in new programs, funding is intended as seed money for new projects. Therefore, grants under SDFSC, JJDP and SF-421 are awarded under a decreasing funding ratio over a three-year period.
Criminal Justice Planning at H-GAC is multidimensional, the facets of which include:
Technical Assistance to Applicants
As applications become available on the Governor's website, workshops are conducted for those agencies wishing to apply for monies under any of the funding sources listed above. This provides assistance for applicants on application procedures and conformance to fund-specific guidelines.
Individual technical assistance is provided to requesting agencies either by e-mail, telephone, in-office or on-site.
CJD's Grants Monitoring Technical Assistance Checklist is used to assist a grantee in the event of a CJD monitoring visit.
Application Prioritization
H-GAC facilitates the prioritizing of projects through the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee (CJAC). The CJAC includes representatives from the law enforcement, court, non-profit, faith-based, and concerned citizen communities; each member is qualified to review and score grant proposals submitted to CJD for funding.
For each funding source the CJAC presides over priority hearings, during which applicants must give a five-minute presentation on the merits of their proposals. After the presentation there is a question/answer session, then the applications are given a score.
Once the applications are scored, each application is averaged and placed in a funding priority list which is approved by H-GAC's Board of Directors and submitted to CJD. CJD then uses the list to help in making funding decisions for the region.
Community Planning
All applications must address a need cited in a Criminal Justice Community Plan developed by citizens of the county in which services are to be provided. H-GAC facilitates the development of these plans at the county level, which include at least one preliminary meeting with the coordinator and several meetings with the citizens involved in the actual building of the plan.
Additionally, H-GAC maintains a Regional Criminal Justice Community Plan which highlights area-wide needs in juvenile, victim, and law enforcement services.