Bureau of Justice Assistance · Department of Justice

BJA FY 2026 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act Program

Open

In short: Bureau of Justice Assistance gives grants of up to $645,000.

Deadline: Due Nov 13, 2026 · 35 days left
Award size: Up to $645K
Match ?: Not required · Work out your budget and match
Who can apply: Set by the official notice: see Who can apply below
Where: Anywhere in the U.S., including Tennessee

Read the official notice Should we apply? Sign in to save

Before you apply: federal grants require an active SAM.gov registration (Unique Entity ID) and a Grants.gov account. Registration is free but can take weeks, so start now, not when the deadline is close. Get-ready checklist

How this fits you

Available in Davidson County (nationwide program)
No match required

Tell us who you are to see whether you're eligible.

About this grant

This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY 2026 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act Program. This opportunity supports state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, including prosecution agencies, in investigating and prosecuting criminal offenses involving civil rights that occurred no later than December 31,1979, and resulted in a death.

Who can apply, from the official notice

State Law Enforcement; Local Law Enforcement; Tribal Law Enforcement; Local Prosecutors; State: For the purposes of this NOFO, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Local: For the purposes of this NOFO, “local” includes towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or other general purpose political subdivisions of a state.

Official notice: https://simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/01b34321-5a4e-4b9f-93a8-2afeb7170947 · Printed from grantme.click/grants/1a54f33e-9d8a-405d-94ae-1b67506db396

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Your schedule, working back from the deadline

Oct9
Check that your SAM.gov registration is active (or start it now)
Grants.gov: allow up to 10 business days for SAM registration, weeks or months if information isn't verified. It must be renewed every year. Grants.gov
Oct23
Ask partners for letters of support or commitment
Suggested: partners need about three weeks to write and sign letters.
Nov6
Finish a complete draft for a final review
Suggested: leave about a week for someone else to read the draft.
Nov11
Submit
Grants.gov: submit at least 24–48 hours before the deadline: uploads fail, systems slow down, errors need fixing. Grants.gov blog
Nov13
Deadline
From the funder.

Save this grant to put these dates in My grants and your private calendar.

Writing the need statement? Davidson County facts with citations.

See how others wrote it

The agency posted this example. Read them for structure and level of detail. Don't copy their words: funders treat copied text as plagiarism, and requirements change from year to year, so follow the current notice.

Any OJP grant (sample for a rural police department) Sample budgets
A sample budget summary and budget narrative. Not a full application · Link checked Oct 7, 2026

All sample proposals

About the federal program

Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations Program
Program number 16.031 (the federal Assistance Listing number) · U.S. Department of Justice, OJP Bureau of Justice Assistance · Grant, cooperative agreement (a grant with close agency involvement)

How applications are judged

In each year's official notice: read this year's.

Match

None required (federal program listing).

This program on SAM.gov

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Key facts