Grant Details

Community Policing Development Solicitation (CPD Microgrants) program funds are used to develop law enforcement's capacity to implement community policing strategies by providing funding to local, state, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies. When properly applied, community policing improves the identification and prioritization of community problems; builds trust and relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve; and enables an agency to build a culture toward accountability, transparency, open communication, and mutual trust.

With this funding, the COPS Office supports projects that allow for the identification and expansion of promising practices and produces knowledge products that follow the principles of good guidance:

• Quality-driven, with an emphasis on action statements to drive promising practices and reduce variations in performance
• Evidence-based, with recommendations that are consistent with the weight of the best available evidence identified through systematic review
• Accessible, with clear language and manageable lengths that are appropriate and relevant for the law enforcement field
• Memorable, to encourage immediate actions or aid for the complex situations law enforcement professionals face

The 2024 CPD Microgrants program will fund projects related to the following subtopic areas:

• Building Trust and Legitimacy with the Community - The COPS Office will provide funding to law enforcement agencies seeking to develop or enhance programs that focus on building trust and legitimacy between law enforcement and the communities they serve. The COPS Office will give special consideration to projects that support underserved communities including projects focusing on youth.
• Underserved Populations - The COPS Office will provide funding to develop or enhance programs that meet the needs of these and other underserved populations. The application should identify the population(s) that will be the target audience for the project activities and how the agency determined that audience. Agencies are encouraged to partner with institutions of higher education, community groups, other criminal justice stakeholders, and the general public on project activities
• Hate Crimes and Domestic Extremism - The COPS Office will provide funding to develop or enhance programs that aid in the prevention of and response to hate crimes and domestic extremism. Agencies are encouraged to partner with institutions of higher education, community groups, other criminal justice stakeholders, and the general public on project activities.
• Officer Recruitment and Retention - The COPS Office seeks demonstration or pilot projects with creative methods for recruitment and retention that include quantitative measures of success. Applicants should identify a list of activities and strategies based on prior research and best or promising practices. Applicants should clearly source each activity and strategy in the project narrative. A variety of objectives can be proposed to achieve the project goal(s) and may involve agency personnel and resources as well as community partners.
• Community Violence Intervention - The COPS Office will provide funding to develop and enhance programs that engage the community in violence reduction efforts including street outreach, violence interrupters, hospital-based interventions, group violence interventions, and other strategies that provide wraparound services to communities. Special consideration will be given to programs that develop or enhance gun violence interventions. Agencies should identify a list of activities and strategies based on prior research and best or promising practices. Applicants should clearly source each activity and strategy in the application. Agencies are encouraged to partner with institutions of higher education, community groups, other criminal justice stakeholders, and the general public on project activities.
• Open Topic Area - Law enforcement agencies are invited to propose projects that offer highly innovative solutions to address complex, locally identified community issues. Proposed project objectives and findings should prove useful to other law enforcement agencies nationally facing similar challenges.

Proposals should be responsive to the topic selected, significantly advance the field of community policing, and demonstrate an understanding of community policing as it pertains to the application topic. Applicants must identify specific program goals that will be directly accomplished if awarded CPD Microgrants funding.