Program overview

The Justice Reinvestment Grants Program will fund Aboriginal community-led change to address the underlying causes of imprisonment and re-offending. The NSW Justice Reinvestment Grant Program has been created to provide funding to Aboriginal communities in NSW to develop Justice Reinvestment approaches to systems change. Up to $7.5 million (excluding GST) in total funding is available for initiatives across a duration of three years.

Funding can be used to:

• create or support community governance and consultation
• investigate issues, including by using data, research or through local community meetings
• develop a plan for change, including specific initiatives and/or options for reform
• implement or pilot initiatives and/or options already developed to address identified issues.

DCJ recognises that organisations at different stages of their justice reinvestment journey may wish to apply for funding for different types of activities. Funding is available to communities who are familiar with Justice Reinvestment or are already working towards agreed community goals, as well as communities that are new to Justice Reinvestment. Communities and organisations at an early stage of their justice reinvestment work can apply for a grant to support the development of a community strategy and three-year plan.

Priority will be given to three-year proposals from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled organisations (ACCOs). Applicants are encouraged to read all the details in these guidelines, and the FAQs, before applying.

Justice Reinvestment is an approach that supports Aboriginal communities to find local solutions to local issues. The aim of Justice Reinvestment is to resource communities to develop, and deliver solutions that reduce contact with the criminal justice system, including the police, courts and prison.

It aims to support communities to identify the reasons why people end up in the criminal justice system in the first place, and then come up with activities and initiatives that can make real change.

While Justice Reinvestment is about Aboriginal-led solutions, it is also about government supporting communities to identify issues and develop a plan for change. Government support can include:

• providing data held by government to help identify and analyse options 
  
• creating deeper relationships with local service providers or government agencies to support Justice Reinvestment initiatives and/or remove blockages that may get in the way of reform. 

While justice reinvestment is an evolving practice across Australia, for the purposes of the NSW Justice Reinvestment Grants, justice reinvestment is defined by the following four elements: 

1. Justice reinvestment aims to reduce Aboriginal people coming into contact with the justice system: Justice reinvestment has an early intervention and prevention focus. In working towards this goal, other cross-cutting issues relating to health, employment, education, gender and disability may also be addressed.

2. Justice reinvestment must be led by Aboriginal people united by a connection to place and community: Local Aboriginal leadership is supported by strengthening self-determination and culture to build community consensus and vision. This leadership manifests in different ways within the work of justice reinvestment.

3. Justice reinvestment has a systems focus: One key aim is to identify and tackle a range of drivers that contribute to contact with the justice system and incarceration, and to reform government systems. Given the complexity of issues requiring attention, holistic collaborative impact partnerships with multiple stakeholders are essential across sectors. 

4. Justice reinvestment is informed by data and evidence: Data and evidence is used to set priorities and measure progress. Data and place in these two contexts must be defined by Aboriginal people, including with reference to Indigenous Data Sovereignty and governance principles.

This definition of justice reinvestment below is based on the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research’s Interim Key Findings Report, commissioned by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, which was drafted following a design process with 35 First Nations communities between March and May 2023.

The overarching objective of the NSW Justice Reinvestment Grant Program is to support Aboriginal communities to reduce contact between Aboriginal adults or young people and the criminal justice system at the local level.

This may be implemented through initiatives that address interactions with the criminal justice system itself and/or address the social determinants of crime, which can include: out-of-home care, poor school education, early police contact, unsupported mental health and cognitive disability, drug and alcohol use, unstable housing, and other factors.

Given the overarching objective involves local communities addressing issues at a local level, the objectives of the Grant Program also extend to capacity-building, including:

• Establishing or supporting Aboriginal-led local governance arrangements that can identify and drive place-based change
• Deepening collaboration between Aboriginal communities and local services and groups that have a role in developing and implementing local solutions
• Supporting communities to adopt a systems-focused approach to reform
• Providing communities with access to different forms of evidence, including data, to inform work.

This grant program is split into two stages:

Stage 1: Expression of Interest (EOI) – Applicants must submit an EOI in Stage 1 to be eligible to receive funding. The first stage is to make sure your organisation is eligible and to answer some questions that will help DCJ design Stage 2 assessment criteria to meet the local needs of organisations who have submitted an EOI in Stage 1. 

EOIs OPEN: 23 January 2024

EOIs CLOSE: 18 March 2024 (5pm)

Stage 2: Full Grant Application – If your organisation or partnership is found to be eligible, you will be invited to Stage 2. In Stage 2, you will be supported to submit a full proposal and costing. 

FULL GRANT APPLICATIONS OPEN: 2 April 2024

FULL GRANT APPLICATIONS CLOSE: 13 May 2024 (5pm)

For more information on the National Agreement, Priority Reforms and the 2021-22 NSW Implementation Plan are available on the Aboriginal Affairs NSW website.

This is an open and competitive grants program. Applicants will be assessed and scored against the assessment criteria. Applications with the highest scores are more likely to be funded. The following principles will guide the assessment process and are contained in the Assessment Criteria:

Assessment Criteria

*DCJ understands that some applicants have not yet established community-led governance or had experience with Justice Reinvestment. The Assessment Panel will take this into consideration when applying the Assessment Criteria to applications at the early stage of Justice Reinvestment.

** This may include statements of support from community organisations. Statements of support may be provided in writing, an audio recording or a video recording. If the statement is not in writing, the name, position and contact information for the person making the statement should be provided.

Prioritisation

The Assessment Panel will prioritise the following factors when recommending applications for funding:

• delivery by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs)
• projects that are three years in duration
• ensuring an equitable geographical spread of projects
• targeting areas with the highest demonstrated need
• avoiding service duplication.

The Expression of Interest round provides an opportunity for interested applicants to register their interest in justice reinvestment funding. Priority will be given to Aboriginal led, and/or community controlled or managed organisations (ACCO).

Expression of Interest stage asks general questions and does not require applicants to have a developed project proposal.

Yes. All applicants had to submit a Stage I: Expression of Interest to be considered.

Applicants who are successful in their Expression of Interest submission have been invited to apply in the Stage 2: Full grant Application on 2 April 2024. Stage 2 applicants will be required to complete a full application form including supporting documentation. DCJ is partnering with Thirriwirri to provide support during both stages of the Grants Program: www.thirriwirri.org.

Please note: an invitation to apply does not guarantee that funding will be awarded. 

Stage Two – Full Grant Application

Full grant applications will be assessed by an Aboriginal majority panel. DCJ will invite senior officers from DCJ, Council of Aboriginal Peak Organisation (CAPO), NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Regional Alliances (NCARA), and community representatives to sit on the Assessment Panel.

The panel will meet to assess applications and make funding recommendations. In making its recommendations, the panel will consider:

• project rank based on assessment criteria (see Section 6)
• prioritisation factors (see Section 6)
• funding allocation.
• Ineligible and unsuccessful applicants will be notified in writing.
  

The DCJ Secretary is the final decision-maker for funding. The Secretary will consider the recommendations of the Assessment Panel in this decision-making.

DCJ staff may request additional information and/or clarification from applicants at any time during the assessment process.

DCJ recognises that Aboriginal groups and communities across NSW define their communities in many ways. ‘Local’ does not necessarily mean one township or location. When assessing your Stage II: Full Grant Application to determine if your project is local, the Assessment Panel will consider:

• Is there an existing relationship between the proposed locations or communities?
• Does the applicant demonstrate a history of working with people across the locations?
• Does the applicant demonstrate involvement from people across the project footprint?
• Does the project cover a logical geographical area without large gaps between locations?
• Does the applicant demonstrate links between locations in the application?

Grant recipients will be required to:

• Work with DCJ to establish a reporting framework and reporting requirements
• Complete progress reporting as requested by DCJ
• Agree that DCJ staff may meet virtually or visit in person, during or at the completion of your grant activity, to review your progress. We will seek your permission to visit, in accordance with local protocols, and provide you with reasonable notice of any visit
• Complete a Final Report on project outcomes and Financial Acquittal within two months (56 days) of project completion
• Allow DCJ to inspect the records you are required to keep under the grant agreement.

If the acquittal is not complete within the required timeframe, you will not be eligible to apply for any DCJ grants for the following two years.

DCJ requires recipients to provide evidence of project activity such as photographs / videos/ flyers / communications or social media posts demonstrating the project event or activities.

If DCJ is not satisfied with the information provided, we may ask for additional information to demonstrate that the grant funds have been spent in accordance with the terms of the funding.

If reporting and acquittals are not completed within the required timeframe, you will not be eligible to apply for other DCJ grants until the reporting is up-to-date and the project is deemed complete by DCJ.

DCJ is working with the Aboriginal Affairs NSW Aboriginal Cultural and Intellectual Property (ACIP) Protocol that aims to build awareness and respect for Aboriginal culture. The Protocol sets a standard for how DCJ engages with Aboriginal people and communities in regard to their cultural and intellectual property and what we expect from the organisations we fund.

Any Aboriginal Cultural or Intellectual Property submitted in a grant application to DCJ remains the property of the relevant community organisation or Aboriginal person. DCJ will not distribute or communicate any ACIP contained in SmartyGrants and agrees to respect the cultural protocols of the Aboriginal people it may apply to.

More information on ACIP, including the Protocol is available on the Aboriginal Affairs NSW website.

Eligible organisations who progress to Stage 2 of the NSW Justice Reinvestment Grant Program can choose to include community and/or government data in their application. BOCSAR will provide all applicants who progress to Stage 2 justice data on their Local Government Area, which they may choose to use. BOCSAR will also hold an information session to assist applicants in understanding this data. Further information will be contained in the Stage 2 Grant Guidelines, once available.

The Data Connector service can assist you with accessing Justice, Health, Education, Planning and Environment, Treasury and Regional NSW data. For all government-held data and information requests or advice, please reach out to the Data Connector team at ctgpriorityreform4@tco.nsw.gov.au

You can also contact BOCSAR to access Justice data at: 

bcsr@dcj.nsw.gov.au