If your organization serves people coming home from prison or jail, one of the most important federal reentry funding opportunities of the year is open now. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) posted the FY 2026 Second Chance Act Community-based Reentry Program on September 21, 2026. The first deadline is Friday, October 30.
This is a summary of what the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) says, so your team can decide quickly whether to apply. Always work from the full NOFO itself.
The essentials
From the BJA opportunity page and the NOFO:
- Opportunity number: O-BJA-2026-172717
- Total funding: Up to $12,500,000
- Anticipated awards: 13
- Award size: Up to $1,000,000
- Award period: 36 months, starting January 1, 2027
- Cost share (match): Not required
- Step 1 deadline: SF-424 in Grants.gov by October 30, 2026, 11:59 p.m. ET
- Step 2 deadline: Full application in JustGrants by November 6, 2026, 8:59 p.m. ET
About SAM.gov: The NOFO asked applicants to begin SAM.gov registration or renewal by September 21 and no later than September 30, 2026. If your registration isn't active, get help right away through the SAM.gov help desk (sam.gov/help) and read OJP's policy on late submissions due to technical difficulties before you count yourself out.
What it funds
The program supports community-based organizations and tribal governments that provide mentoring and transitional services to people returning from adult correctional facilities who are assessed as moderate to high risk for recidivism. Services can start before release, after release, or both.
BJA's stated goal is to create safer communities by improving reentry outcomes and reducing recidivism. Its two objectives are to provide mentoring and other transitional services, and to prioritize people at moderate to high risk.
Allowable uses listed in the NOFO include, among others:
- Validated risk and needs assessment tools
- Educational, literacy and vocational services
- Substance use and mental health treatment and services
- Individual or group mentoring and peer supports
- Family reunification services
- Service coordination, including connections to health care, housing referrals, and continuity of substance use and mental health care
- Transitional jobs strategies that meet the NOFO's criteria
The NOFO lists things award funds can't pay for, including client stipends, gift cards, incentives, vehicle purchases, and food and beverages. Check the full list of unallowable costs and out-of-scope activities before you build your budget.
Who can apply
- Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
- Nonprofits, with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education)
You can submit more than one application if each proposes a different project. Partners on a single project must be subrecipients, not co-applicants.
What you'll need
Required partnership. You need a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or letter of intent with each correctional agency partner overseeing the facilities where you'll recruit participants. Unsigned draft MOUs are accepted with a cover page explaining why. BJA says a partnership that includes pre-release access to participants and data sharing will be a key factor in reviewing your capabilities.
Required certification. Your chief executive must sign an assurance that your organization will collect unique identifiers and recidivism indicator data for every participant and report it at closeout (Appendix A of the NOFO).
Application parts, including:
- SF-424 (Grants.gov, Step 1)
- Proposal narrative, 10 pages maximum, double-spaced
- Budget (web-based form or attachment)
- MOU(s)
- Timeline by quarter
- Chief Executive Assurance (Appendix A)
- Proposal abstract, up to 2,000 characters (abstracts of funded projects are public)
How it's scored
The NOFO weights the review like this:
- Description of the Need: 5%
- Project Goals and Objectives: 15%
- Project Design and Implementation: 35%
- Capabilities and Competencies: 30%
- Budget: 15%
Project design and your organization's capabilities make up 65% of the score. That's where to spend your writing time.
Under the Second Chance Act, BJA also gives priority consideration to applications that use activities shown to be effective and that include an independent evaluation, ideally with random assignment. BJA strongly encourages hiring a full-time coordinator with experience working with people who have been incarcerated. OJP's broader funding priorities are listed in the NOFO, and applicants who want priority consideration should say which ones their project advances.
Avoidable mistakes
The NOFO spells out the basics BJA checks before peer review. Applications that miss them may not move forward:
- Eligibility. The applicant must be an eligible tribal government or nonprofit.
- Award ceiling. The amount requested can't exceed $1,000,000.
- Scope. The project has to fit this NOFO: mentoring and transitional services for moderate- to high-risk adults returning from adult correctional facilities.
- Required parts. The SF-424, proposal narrative, budget, MOU, timeline and Chief Executive Assurance are all marked required.
Other details to get right:
- The narrative must be 10 pages or fewer, double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, with numbered pages. Tables and charts count toward the limit. OJP may lower the score if the format isn't followed.
- Keep personal information out of the abstract, including staff names, because funded abstracts are public.
- BJA is releasing six Second Chance Act NOFOs for adults this year. You can apply to more than one and reuse narrative sections, but every other required document has to be submitted separately for each NOFO.
A plan for the weeks before the deadlines
By Oct 23:
- Confirm SAM.gov is active and your Grants.gov and JustGrants roles are set up.
- Get MOU conversations with your correctional partner(s) moving. Drafts are acceptable.
- Pin down your target population, how many people you'll serve, and your baseline recidivism data.
By Oct 30:
- Submit the SF-424 in Grants.gov. Don't wait until the last night.
- Draft the narrative, starting with Design & Implementation and Capabilities.
- Get the Chief Executive Assurance signed.
By Nov 6:
- Finish the narrative, budget, timeline and abstract, and submit in JustGrants.
Questions about the NOFO go to the OJP Response Center: 800-851-3420 or OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, weekdays.
Why this funding matters
Federal reentry grants like this one pay for the mentors, case managers and coordinators who help people through the first months home. BJA and its correctional partners deserve credit for keeping this investment going and for building outcome measurement into it. For background on what tends to work, see our summaries of what the research says about reentry programs and the Massachusetts programming study.
A free tool for the people you serve
Whether or not you apply, here's something your participants can use on day one. Free and Forward is a reentry mobile app on the App Store and Google Play. These are free for every person, in English and Spanish: a 27-step checklist with due dates, goals and progress tracking, a calendar with reminders for check-ins and court dates, a resources directory by state, a job board of second-chance employers, and interview practice questions and tips. There's nothing for your organization to procure and no contract.
For full access, organizations can buy seats at the Basic, Plus or Premium level. Each seat is a single-use code the person redeems on their own account. New organizations can ask for 20 free Premium test codes. The app has no agency-facing view: your organization sees how many codes have been used, never who used them. Details are at freeandforward.com/organizations.
This article summarizes a federal funding notice for general information. It is not legal or grant-writing advice, and Free and Forward is not affiliated with BJA or OJP. The NOFO, the OJP Application Resource Guide and your BJA contacts are the authoritative sources. Confirm whether any specific cost is allowable before including it in a budget.
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