Grants / Department of Justice / National Institute of Corrections

21CS29: Structured Decision Making Framework Community of Practice Seminar

Closed Closed August 16, 2021 Opportunity 21CS29 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of National Institute of Corrections notices from 2021.

• Award ceiling$100,000
• Total funding$100,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

NIC invites applications from nonprofit organizations (including faith-based, community, and tribal organizations), for-profit organizations (including tribal for-profit organizations), and institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education). Recipients, including for-profit organizations, must agree to waive any profit or fee for services.NIC welcomes applications that involve two or more entities; however, one eligible entity must be the applicant and the others must be proposed as subrecipients. The applicant must be the entity with primary responsibility for administering the funding and managing the entire program.

Is this a realistic fit?

• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The Structured Decision Making Framework (SDMF) Tool was developed by Ralph Serin of Carleton University. SDMF is an empirically validated model for helping parole boards make high-quality parole decisions. As its name suggests, the framework provides a structure for making decisions. It does this through the use of relevant factors, which are conditions or behaviors determined by evidence-based research to influence a person’s propensity to engage in crime after release. Because the framework relies on evidence rather than subjective criteria, it can help parole boards demonstrate a commitment to making objective, non-arbitrary release decisions. NIC has developed specialized technical assistance for parole boards to help them integrate the SDMF into their current practices. This “onboarding” combines readiness assessments, implementation planning, training, and coaching to ensure parole boards have the capacity and ability to use the tool. To date, NIC has assisted twelve states in adopting the SDMF model. All evidence-based models require the regular examination of recent and ongoing information, data, and training to ensure positive outcomes. Fidelity to a model increases the likelihood that those who use it will consistently obtain the same results. It is a reflection of the extent to which skills and attitudes are acquired and can be transferred to the changing working environment. A community of practice will be used to foster fidelity and ongoing examination of the tool among practitioners. A community of practice (CoP) is based on social learning theory whereby members of a group transfer knowledge and improve practices in real time by interacting with others in the same group. Engaging in an SDMF CoP can help group members improve their efficacy in using the tool and prevent parole boards from “project drift” where practices/processes change from the original model intent. This increases fidelity.

Category: Other.

We found no grant awards under Assistance Listing 16.601 in fiscal 2021 to 2025, which usually means the program is new or very small.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

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