Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as violent crime, nonviolent crime, and fear of crime. Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program funds are used to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement officers through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs. The COPS Office is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and build trust between law enforcement and the community. Statutory Authority This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq. All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law. Program-Specific Information This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq. All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law. For all identified deliverables, the applicant should adhere to the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual. For projects that propose site-specific work, letters of support from the targeted agencies are strongly encouraged. With any programmatic questions, please contact the COPS Office Response Center at 800-421-6770 or send questions via email to
[email protected]. The COPS Office Response Center operates Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, except on federal holidays. Program Goals Under this solicitation, the COPS Office seeks to support 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 To read an overview of the principles of community policing, please see the COPS Office publication Community Policing Defined. Applicants should also consider the COPS Office performance measures when developing their own specific project goals and activities, which can be found in the "Performance Measures" section of this application. LEMHWA National Level Resources, Training and Technical Assistance Two awards, up to $250,000 each Good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence. The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program supports efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of law enforcement officers and deputies. Unfortunately, the stress of officers' work and the stigma associated with seeking assistance for emotional and mental health issues have led to negative consequences such as divorce, alcoholism, injury, and even an increase in suicides for officers across the country. The purpose of this solicitation is to develop resources such as toolkits and publications that can be distributed nationally and to deliver nationwide training and technical assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies to implement successful mental health and wellness initiatives for officers and their families. Applicants should propose initiatives should be national in scope and address their ability to provide nationwide services focused on the following topic areas: Officer emotional and mental health Peer mentoring Suicide prevention Stress reduction, and Peer and officer family support services Projects Out of Scope Applicants that are not public governmental agencies, federally recognized Indian tribes, for profit organizations, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, community groups, or faith-based organizations will not be considered. Projects that are not national in focus (e.g., will only directly benefit agencies in a single geographic area) will not be considered. Projects that do not develop provide training, resources, or technical assistance focused on building the capacity of state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies to officer emotional and mental health, suicide prevention, and peer and officer family support services will not be considered. Projects that focus solely on health screenings or fitness programs will not be considered. Additional Requirements The primary goal is to support national initiatives that will offer training, resources, and technical assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies seeking to offer services on officer emotional and mental health, peer mentoring, suicide prevention, stress reduction, and peer and officer family support services within their agencies. Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to both the LEMHWA Report to Congress and the accompanying Eleven Case Studies for ideas in what will assist them in designing training, resources, and technical assistance that can support law enforcement agencies' implementation of officer mental health and wellness initiatives. The project description should address the following objectives: • How the proposed program activities will support wellness in the agency(ies) served • The intended service area and size of the program (e.g., one agency, more than one agency) • The subject matter expertise of the project leadership • How provider will gauge impact of proposed training, resources and technical assistance being offered Deliverables The primary deliverable of these awards will be the provision of resources, technical assistance and nationally-certified training that can be provided nationwide to support state, local, tribal and territorial agencies implementation of mental health and wellness programs. The project deliverable(s) should be clearly identified in the application projective narrative. Training deliverables must (1) be compatible with the COPS Office Training Portal; (2) include virtual training program files for the COPS Office Training Portal developed in conjunction with the Portal team throughout beta testing, and release; and (3) include certification of the training(s).