Completed

Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 1 // PI: B. Ellerman (FORGE)

The purpose of this program is to support research, education/teaching, and extension projects that increase participation by women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in STEM. NIFA intends this program to address educational needs within broadly defined areas of food and agricultural sciences. Applications recommended for funding must highlight and emphasize the development of a competent and qualified workforce in the food and agricultural sciences. WAMS-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities by developing research and extension initiatives that focus on new and emerging employment opportunities in STEM occupations. Projects that contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.

For the Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields (WAMS) program, NIFA will support projects with a target audience of K-14 students (kindergarten through twelfth grade plus two years of post-secondary schooling (e.g., vocational-technical institutions or community or junior colleges)). 

No applicants*// Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 0

*UofA will be submitting to NEA Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) in 2024. An organization may submit only one application to either Grants for Arts Projects or Challenge America per calendar year (see Application Limits for the one exception to this rule). If your organization submitted an application to the February 2024 Grants for Arts Projects deadline, you may not also apply to the Challenge America program in April 2024.

 the Challenge America program has extended the NEA’s reach by promoting equal access to the arts in communities across the country. We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and fostering mutual respect for the diverse beliefs and values of all individuals and groups.

Challenge America offers support primarily to small organizations for projects in all artistic disciplines that extend the reach of the arts to populations that are underserved. Challenge America seeks to address potential barriers for organizations seeking funding. The program features an abbreviated application, a standardized $10,000 grant amount, and a robust structure of technical assistance to facilitate entry to NEA funding opportunities.

Challenge America supports arts projects in all artistic disciplines. Projects must extend the reach of the arts to populations that are underserved. Possible projects include, but are not limited to: arts programming, including commissioning or presentation of artists or artwork; marketing and promotional activities; and organizational planning. Projects may consist of one or more specific events or activities, and should not cover an entire season of programming. We do not support seasonal or general operating support.

No Applicants  // Limit: 1 proposal per priority area

Applicants may submit multiple applications that uniquely address one or more of these program priority areas. However, applicants may not submit multiple applications addressing the same program priority area. 

This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to advance national policy or systems-level change to reduce indoor air risks and yield measurable environmental and public health outcomes. The EPA has identified and characterized significant risks to public health from indoor environmental contaminants that are commonly found in homes, schools, and offices or commercial non-industrial buildings where Americans spend up to 90 percent of their time. Levels of air pollution indoors are often two to five times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher than outdoor levels. Common indoor air contaminants include:
• Radon
• Environmental asthma triggers (e.g., secondhand smoke; cockroaches and other pests; chemical irritants; dust mites; pet dander; nitrogen dioxide; wood smoke; and mold)
• Pathogens transmitted through the air (e.g., SARS-COV-2, Influenza)
• Particulate matter
• Combustion byproducts
• Volatile organic compounds

Estimates of the economic costs in the US associated with adverse health and productivity effects of poor indoor air quality (IAQ) fall between $13 and $32 billion annually. Additionally, the annual sales of IAQ products and services are valued at $18–$30 billion and are associated with approximately 150,000–250,000 current jobs in the US.

The goal of the EPA’s Indoor Environmental Division is to reduce the environmental health risks posed by contaminants in indoor environments. This is achieved by understanding the science of both environmental health risks and effective prevention and control methods. This knowledge then is used to promote appropriate, evidence-based environmental risk reduction activities through voluntary actions by the general public and key stakeholders to improve IAQ.

The EPA is soliciting applications from eligible entities (as described in Section III.A) to conduct demonstration, technical assistance, training, education, and/or outreach projects that seek to reduce exposure to indoor air contaminants by advancing national policy and systems-level initiatives.

Limit: 1 // PI: D. Soh (Wyant College of Optical Sciences)

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER), through its Bioimaging Research effort, hereby announces its interest in receiving innovative applications to advance fundamental research or use-inspired technologies of new bioimaging or sensing approaches. Fundamental research to enhance spatial and temporal resolution, measurement speed, long-term sample stability, selectivity, sensitivity, or chemical specificity of bioimaging technologies are desirable. Proposed research should demonstrate a comparative advantage over state-of-the-art techniques or identify biological characteristics that cannot currently be measured. Quantum-enabled technologies are allowed but not required in this FOA. Applications can be submitted under one of two subtopics: 1) Novel research concepts proceeding through technical validation that are not required to evaluate new biological hypotheses; 2) Innovative experimental prototype research proceeding through hypothesis-driven biological experimentation; proposals submitted under this subtopic are encouraged to coordinate with biological collaborators if domain expertise is not in-house. All applications are expected to describe how, if realized, they would advance biological knowledge of plant and microbial systems relevant to bioeconomy or environmental research in fields of study supported by BER.

Program Objective

BER is soliciting applications in the following subtopic areas: 1) fundamental imaging or sensing research from concept to validation or 2) evaluation of biological hypotheses or questions with feasible, use-inspired prototypes. Under subtopic 1) applications could evaluate, untested concepts, and theoretical models, develop novel experimental prototypes and validate measurement accuracy against known technical or biological validation standards. Under subtopic 2) research of experimental prototypes of instruments and methods that will include demonstration of feasibility leading to hypothesis-driven biological experimentation to demonstrate value to the user community. This FOA does not solicit late-stage optimization after initial prototype research, or engineering development of resources, or equipment.

Subtopic 1: Concept to Validation

Projects can begin at the conceptual (pre-experimental) stage and move through validation by comparing technical performance and biological measurements against accepted standards. This stage is too early to investigate new biological questions until proven accurate and reproducible. The intent of the first subtopic is to include applications that might not yet have experimental demonstration of feasibility but hold promise of significant impact if successful. These high-risk high-reward applications might reside completely within a scientific and technical field of research and are not required to demonstrate novel biological utility. However, validation against already characterized synthetic or biological samples in BER-supported bioenergy and environmental research should be included. Measurement should be compared to known or “gold-standard” targets measured by competing methods.

Demonstration in living systems is not required, but systems must have future impact on in situ imaging, measuring, or modeling for plant- and microbial-based bioenergy research. Proposed projects should hold promise for significant advances in imaging or sensing and must include plans to manage the high risk inherent in testing novel concepts and techniques. These “high-risk/high reward” projects might have no preliminary data to support the concept making feasibility challenging to evaluate for scientific merit. However, reviewers will be instructed to evaluate merit based on the future significance of the potential for success and the risk-reward balance when evaluating the applications for consideration of funding. In all applications it is expected that the future significance for biological investigations in fields of study supported by BER will be described.

Subtopic 2: Prototypes for Biological Hypothesis Research

Projects can begin with use-inspired experimental prototypes that will be tested for technical and biological validation but cannot include development to field-ready demonstration prototypes. In addition to technical research and testing, projects must include research to evaluate an untested biological question or hypothesis. Optionally, collaboration with external biological investigators can be included towards evaluating biological hypotheses. The intent of the second subtopic is for technically feasible research that can be tested to demonstrate utility for biological users. Public dissemination of research results can provide demonstration of value to the BER research community and generate interest in adoption of new technologies.

Demonstration in living systems is not required, but technical systems must have future impact on in situ imaging, measuring, or modeling of plant- and microbial-based bioeconomy or environmental research. Applications should demonstrate an advantage over current techniques or measure new biological characteristics that could not be accessed with existing approaches. Further, evaluating untested biological hypotheses is required to demonstrate project significance to bioenergy, bioeconomy, or environmental research. Multidisciplinary teams of physical and chemical scientists, plant biologists, microbiologists, and engineers are encouraged to develop high impact imaging and sensing approaches that are inspired by well-defined biological hypotheses. Optional funding for collaboration with investigators outside of the PIs laboratory can be requested in the application for out years two and three. In all applications it is expected that the future significance for biological investigations in fields of study supported by BER will be described.

 Limit: 1 // PI: J. Wu (East Asian Studies)

The Foundation invites scholars from universities worldwide, as well as renowned cultural and academic institutions, and calls on scholars in these institutions to nominate suitable candidates. The prize is open to scholars from all countries. Individuals as well as teams of several researchers can be nominated. 

The focus of funding by the Gerda Henkel Foundation is on the historical humanities: Archaeology, History, Historical Islamic Studies, Art History, History of Law, Prehistory and Early History, and History of Science

 Limit: 1 per department // Fast Pitch Grants:  A. Wright (Cochise County Cooperative Extension)

UArizona may submit one application per department.

My organization is a government, a tribal entity, or a university: You may submit one application per department. You may submit another if, and only if, you are collaborating with another organization.

The Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona offers capacity building grants to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of obtaining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training for their staff, Board, and volunteers.

The FY24 DEI grant is always open and is in the amount of $1000 per nonprofit organization.

This grant is being offered to nonprofits in Cochise and eastern Santa Cruz counties to promote population health and community wellness that is best achieved when diverse groups of people relate to one another with acceptance and respect, are valued and welcomed for who they are, and are given the same opportunities to grow, contribute, and develop within their community, regardless of their identity.

The grant is for the sole purpose of DEI training. The organization may select the DEI training that works best for them.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training Grants

The Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona offers capacity building grants to nonprofit organizations for the purpose of obtaining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training for their staff, Board, and volunteers.

The FY24 DEI grant is always open and is in the amount of $1000 per nonprofit organization.

This grant is being offered to nonprofits in Cochise and eastern Santa Cruz counties to promote population health and community wellness that is best achieved when diverse groups of people relate to one another with acceptance and respect, are valued and welcomed for who they are, and are given the same opportunities to grow, contribute, and develop within their community, regardless of their identity.

The grant is for the sole purpose of DEI training. The organization may select the DEI training that works best for them.

Fast Pitch Grants

No LOI

Application opens January 22, 2024 and closes February 2, 2024 at 4:30 PM. 

Participants will be invited to present pitch by February 9, 2024. 

The Fast Pitch presentation will be on February 21, 2024. 

The Fast Pitch grant supports an organization’s ability to operate efficiently and build capacity through education such as conferences, webinars, speakers, or training curriculum for staff, board, or volunteers. The purchase of technology and software used to build internal capacity of the nonprofit organization is also included in the Fast Pitch Grant.

Grant amount: Up to $2,500. One Fast Pitch grant per nonprofit organization

Responsive Grants

No LOI

Grant application opens March 4, 2024 and closes March 29, 2024 at 4:30 PM.  

Grants will be awarded after July 2024.

The Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona collaborates with The Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise. Cooperatively each organization funds grants up to $5,000 for a one year project.

The Legacy Foundation accepts applications for grants pertaining specifically to population health and community wellness. All other grant requests are made directly to Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise.

Responsive Grants

No LOI

Grant application opens March 4, 2024 and closes March 29, 2024 at 4:30 PM.  

Grants will be awarded after July 2024.

The Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona collaborates with The Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise. Cooperatively each organization funds grants up to $5,000 for a one year project.

The Legacy Foundation accepts applications for grants pertaining specifically to population health and community wellness. All other grant requests are made directly to Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise.

Innovative Grants

 No LOI 

Grant Application opens June 3, 2024 and closes August 30, 2024 at 4:30 PM. 

Each year the Legacy Foundation offers Innovative Grants up to $50,000 a year for up to two years ($100,000 max). These projects must meet at least one of the Innovative criteria contained within the grant guidelines link be

Strategic Grants

Behavioral Health Strategic Grants ongoing FY22-FY24. 

Only when we work together can we improve the health of our communities. By tapping into and increasing the community’s capacity for identifying and addressing significant health-related issues, we continue to leverage assets and networks. 

The most effective and positive changes are accomplished through partnerships and collaborations with other organizations focused on common goals. Rarely does one organization have the perspective to see all aspects of how complex problems affect people and very few organizations have the time, money and people to address all aspects of a problem. 

The Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona Board identifies a strategic focus and invites community organizations providing services within that focus to apply for funding. Because partnerships are so critical to success, organizations are encouraged to submit applications that reflect collaboration with other organizations. 

Emergent Grants

Emergency and urgent needs for nonprofit organizations may occur outside the routine cycles described above. These types of grant requests will be considered on an individual basis.

If your organization has an emergency need call the Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona at 520-335-6015 or email info@lfsaz.org

Sponsorships

Sponsorship Requests are requests for funds to sponsor a community event. Organization receiving funds agrees to include our logo in media and at the event. Event must be related to health and wellness.  Sponsorship requests are generally granted in the amount of $1,000

Apply through the online grant portal.

Limit: 1 // PI: N. Halvax ( Family & Community Medicine)

AHCCCS is investing funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) into an award program to strengthen Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) in the state. You can find more information on the ARP and Arizona’s spending plans on the AHCCCS ARP Allocations web page.

The ARP Program Awards are intended to enhance the health, safety, and member experience for individuals who receive HCBS. AHCCCS members who can directly benefit include Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) and non-ALTCS members like:

• Individuals who are elderly,
• Individuals with disabilities,
• Individuals living with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) designation, and
• Children with behavioral health needs.

Eligible HCBS providers can request between $10,000 and $1,000,000 for programmatic or infrastructure projects

No Applicants  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

Each academic institution can hand in only ONE PROJECT PROPOSAL. In case of several applications submitted from a single institution, all applications would be disqualified.

Digitalization has enabled tremendous progress in economy and society over the past decades. Global connectivity through the internet and underlying network infrastructure has further accelerated this development. Like with any advance in technology, risks have evolved as well – in case of digitization in the shape of cyber risks.

Cyber risk manifests itself in our everyday lives. Cyber-attacks, espionage, operational errors occur daily, causing loss to the economy at a significant level. Recently, there has been also growing concern about “systemic cyber risk”— the possibility that a single incident could cause ripple effects with potentially catastrophic consequences. A systemic cyber fallout could threaten the digital infrastructure that societies, economies, and governments rely on. Consequently, it comes as no surprise, that cyber risks are identified as one of the top risks over the past years in the AXA 2022 Future Risk Report as well as the Swiss Re Institute SONAR Report 2023..

However, research progress on this subject has been described as modest and the availability of data limited, leading to many questions remaining unanswered. This can largely be attributed to the novelty of the topic, and its constantly evolving threat profile.

To reinforce cyber resilience, more understanding is needed. In light of this, the Swiss Re Institute and the AXA Research Fund have decided to collaboratively support academic research projects investigating how to increase cyber resilience for companies, governments and society looking at different resilience building approaches.. The Partnership has an overall budget of 1M€, which will be distributed to different research projects over 3 years. 

The Call for research Proposals ‘Building Resilience against Systemic Cyber Risk’ seeks to improve the understanding of economic resilience against cyber catastrophes (including around strengthening protection, reducing impact and improving recovery protocols). Project teams will be required to make choices around specific cyber catastrophe scenarios as well as the methodology used.

The results of the work should contribute to industries and societies understanding of economic and business resilience against certain cyber risk scenarios by providing inputs on how to assess resilience and suggest best ways to improve it.

No Applicants  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 per lead institution.

The National Science Foundation's vision of “a Nation that leads the world in science and engineering research and innovation, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation” encompasses core values of research excellence, inclusion, and collaboration, as described in NSF's Strategic Plan. The NSF Division of Materials Research (DMR) supports a broad interdisciplinary research community, which encompasses materials science, physics, chemistry, mathematical sciences, and engineering disciplines, providing a unique opportunity to broadly promote the NSF vision and core values, especially inclusion and collaboration.

The DMR Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials Research (PREM) program aims to enable, build, and grow formal partnerships between minority-serving institutions and DMR-supported centers and/or facilities through materializing the PREM pathway. The PREM pathway aims at broadening participation through enhanced recruitment, retention, and degree attainment by members of those groups most historically underrepresented in materials research. As an essential ingredient for its success, PREM supports excellent research and education endeavors that nurture and strengthen such partnerships and advance the materials research field.

Information about current PREMs and a description of the PREM framework can be found at https://prem-dmr.org/.

The PREM program activity is expected to enhance both the quantity and quality of materials research and education opportunities for students and faculty members at minority-serving institutions, and to demonstrably lead to broadened participation in materials research. These opportunities result from long-term, multi-investigator, collaborative research and education partnerships that define a framework wherein a supportive and stable PREM pathway for promoting inclusiveness in STEM is designed and built. In this context, the framework includes the partnership, the pathway (i.e., the recruitment/retention/degree attainment paradigm), as well as essential research and education elements that collectively propel the participants’ progression along the pathway. Additionally, the PREM activity may also contribute to and strengthen broadening participation efforts at partnering institutions (i.e., the DMR-supported centers and facilities).

A PREM typically encompasses research thrust(s) that involve several faculty members addressing materials research topic(s). Sustained support is developed through a collaborative effort by the participants from both partnering institutions that is based on common intellectual interests (either pre-existing or newly identified) and complementary backgrounds, skills, and knowledge. Ideally, a PREM proposal defines a vision for the partnership that simultaneously promotes inclusiveness and research excellence; the proposed research should be aligned with research supported by DMR. The role of each institutional partner should be explicit, and project goals to achieve the vision should be clearly defined and addressed. Importantly, anticipated challenges and expected outcomes towards increasing participation of groups underrepresented in STEM and research output must be identified and addressed. Plans for student/faculty reciprocal exchange between partnering institutions are required. Project assessment and evaluation plans are required and are designed to emphasize an increase in the quality and quantity of research, education, and broadening participation endeavors measured relative to the beginning of the award. Successful PREMs can be developed regardless of the starting research and capacity levels at the lead institution.

Efforts for broadening participation in materials research rely on creating research and education partnerships that promote inclusive institutional cultures. An effective partnership defines a framework that contains the PREM pathway towards broadening participation, as well as research and education resources. Through effective utilization of research and education resources and depending on the level of support that the lead institution can provide to enable research efforts, a variety of strategies may be developed towards a progressive materialization of the recruitment/retention/degree attainment components of the PREM pathway. Examples include but are not limited to workshops, technical meetings, technical courses, curricular development, summer schools, outreach towards improving recruitment, student mentoring activities, and overall opportunities in science learning and training.

Starting research and capacity levels will position the PREM partnership at a specific location within the PREM pathway, which can range from pre-recruitment to pre-degree attainment stages. It is expected that eventually, and as a result of the developed strategies and proposed research and education elements, the partnership on the PREM pathway will evolve and mature, leading to an increased enrollment of underrepresented students in graduate school, and eventually, to a diverse materials research workforce at all levels (i.e., student, postdoctoral, faculty, STEM career). As examples, to date, successful PREMs have devised innovative strategies around recruitment, retention, and degree attainment that have successfully promoted enrollment of minority students in STEM Ph.D. programs in both minority- and non-minority-serving institutions throughout the U.S. Other successful PREMs have prepared undergraduates at the lead institution for recruitment by the partner institution, which provides another example of a fully materialized PREM pathway that benefits both institutions by simultaneously broadening participation in STEM areas as well as increasing research output.

It should be emphasized that the partnership is expected to develop capacity in at least one segment of the PREM pathway within the duration of the award, commensurate with the partnership’s starting research and capacity levels. The vision for the partnership, however, must include a deliberate effort that aims at the full completion of the pathway, possibly in subsequent awards.

Successful PREMs are expected to:

• Engage in compelling scientific materials research: research thrust(s) must have a well-integrated research program with compelling intellectual merit and broader impacts. Each thrust must demonstrate clear benefits from a collaborative approach, which in turn defines the research and education partnership.
• Promote inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups in the PREM pathway covering all or a segment of the recruitment/retention/degree-attaining sequence through opportunities in science learning and training. These opportunities are the result of applying the elements from the PREM framework in the PREM pathway. Challenges and progress throughout the stages of recruitment, retention, and degree attainment are addressed, as appropriate.
• Propose either existing or newly designed elements in the framework that will successfully promote broadening participation efforts and research output in materials research at the partnering institutions. The proposed elements must clearly define purpose, challenges, and expected outcomes towards broadening participation and increasing research output.
• Provide metrics: PREM partners propose specific metrics with which the partnership will be evaluated. The metrics will emphasize increase in both quality and quantity of research and broadening participation measured relative to the beginning of the award in each partnership. Successful PREMs can be developed regardless of differences in starting research and capacity levels at the lead institution.
• Specify gains: Each partner must specify anticipated gains both in terms of broadening participation and research output. Using the metrics identified in the proposal, gains will be evaluated and assessed within the context of the segment in the PREM pathway that a specific partnership is targeting.
• Establish reciprocity: Reciprocal faculty and student exchanges are a core component of the partnership. Scientific and educational collaboration among all partners with measurable benefits to all are key attributes of a successful PREM. 

A PREM may address any area of research supported by the NSF Division of Materials Research which includes 8 programs, known as Topical Materials Research Programs (TMRP): Biomaterials (BMAT), Ceramics (CER), Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Condensed Matter and Materials Theory (CMMT), Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM), Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN), Polymers (POL), and Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC). For a detailed description of the research supported by the 8 core programs visit: https://www.nsf.gov/materials.

Furthermore, in alignment with NSF’s interest in strengthening Emerging Industries, proposals addressing fundamental materials research in the following areas are of interest to DMR:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Research in this area could include the utilization of machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and other emerging data-centric approaches to address complex problems within the realm of materials science. Of particular interest are applications of AI to traditional materials science issues, such as those found in ceramics, metals, metallic alloys, and other materials categories. The use of AI and machine learning to enable advanced manufacturing, and using predictive design to program the composition, structure, and/or function of materials are also of interest.
• Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology: Research endeavors in this area could address materials-related obstacles hindering the integration of synthetic biology techniques into the development of next-generation materials and living or active materials relevant to biotechnology. Fundamental materials research at the intersection of synthetic biology and abiotic materials and technologies, as well as the crossroads of engineering biology and materials science is of particular interest. This may encompass the development of materials, living materials, active materials, and material systems with the potential to revolutionize food production and agriculture, human well-being and biomedical applications, environment, energy, information storage, and processing, as well as the creation of pluripotent and autonomous materials capable of sensing and adapting to their environment. The focus on new approaches to manufacture at scale novel materials that are safer and more sustainable is encouraged (see https://roadmap.ebrc.org/2021-roadmap-materials/ for more information.)
• Advanced Manufacturing: Research in this area could explore novel strategies for creating composite materials that span different materials classes, including the fusion of digital- and self-assembly techniques. Advancements in modeling and monitoring processing with a focus on in situ characterization are of interest. Additionally, developing ability to print functionality, such as spatially resolved mechanical and chemical properties alongside structures are also of interest. Furthermore, hierarchical materials, achieved through a combination of self-assembly and top-down additive manufacturing, as well as the integration of manufacturing approaches for heterogeneous materials (soft and hard), and precision synthesis and characterization of macromolecular and bespoke polymer materials are also areas of interest.

No applicants  // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 
 

Only one (1) application will be accepted from a submitting organization.

The transgender population has some very particular issues associated with aspects of the correctional experience, such as housing, classification, and placement; medical and mental health treatment; clothing and grooming; drug testing; and interactions with staff. As a general group, they are also more likely to be victims of sexually abusive acts while in custody according to surveys conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), which indicate that non-heterosexual adults report higher rates of sexual victimization while in custody.

As the last award for LGBTI work was in 2016, NIC is seeking now to refresh and expand the resources that are currently available, focusing on the transgender population specifically. NIC is soliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for at least a 12-month project period. Work under this agreement will include a literature review, formation of a working group of subject matter experts, a white paper containing findings and recommendations, the updating and development of policy guides, education and training tools, and other resource materials.

Understanding the challenges that transgender people now face is especially relevant to preparing transgender persons for successful reentry and completing successful supervision in the community. It should also be noted that the transgender population is somewhat overrepresented in the criminal legal system due in part to their involvement in activities that can lead to interaction with law enforcement. These activities can include sex work, drug sales and/or use, and other underground economy work cited in the USTS.

Foundational year work for the current project is focused on information gathering and includes a literature review, a review of existing research, legal precedents, federal and state statutes, and administrative rules along with the compiling of a bibliography and recommended glossary. Work will also include the conducting of focus groups with subject matter experts and advocates. This information will be used in the development of self-assessment policy guides for agencies that wish to examine their policies, practices, and training. The convening of a working group of eight to ten subject matter experts to act as content contributors and/or reviewers is a required element of this project. The NIC program manager will assist with the identification and facilitation of this working group.

It is anticipated that the policy guides will be used by individuals from federal, state, and local corrections agencies of all sizes and funding levels, including primarily correctional administrators, medical and mental health staff, and training coordinators. Consequently, the guides must provide sufficient rationale and background information where needed, be easy to understand and convenient to use, and provide resources for further study and follow up. Ultimately, the policy guides will allow users to determine best practices for their specific agency or facility; write policy, procedure, and post orders that will allow implementation and monitoring of these practices; and assist in the development of training and orientation materials.