The Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grant Program seeks to develop and expand efforts at the community level to counter violent extremist recruitment and radicalization to violence. The Program provides funding for activities that enhance the resilience of communities being targeted by violent extremists, provide alternatives to individuals who have started down a road to violent extremism, and create or amplify alternative messages to terrorist/violent extremist recruitment and radicalization efforts. It also seeks to develop and support efforts that counter violent extremists’ online recruitment efforts.
As appropriated by Section 543 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act 2016, (Pub. L. 114-113) and authorized by the same and Section 102(b)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended (Pub. L. No. 107-296), the Fiscal Year 2016 Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grant Program provides resources to support programs, projects, and activities that prevent recruitment or radicalization to violence by interrupting those efforts, building community-level resilience, identifying the early signs of radicalization to violence, and providing appropriate interventions through civic organizations, law enforcement or other entities.
Countering violent extremism (CVE) is a key element of DHS’ strategic vision. The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review reflected the importance of CVE by identifying CVE as a “Priority Area of Emphasis” within DHS’ Mission 1: Prevent Terrorism and Enhance Security.
Focus Areas
The FY 2016 CVE Grant Program organizes eligible activities into five focus areas that current research has shown are likely to be most effective in countering violent extremism:
- Developing resilience
- Training and engaging with community members
- Managing intervention activities
- Challenging the narrative
- Building capacity of community-level non-profit organizations active in CVE
Eligibility
States, local governments, tribal governments, non-profit institutions, and institutes of higher education in all 56 states and territories are eligible to apply for FY 2016 funds in specific CVE focus areas. Applicants representing state government agencies, local government agencies, tribal government agencies, and non-profit organizations are invited to apply for funding to implement the following program priorities:
- Developing resilience
- Training and engaging with community members
- Managing intervention activities
Applicants representing non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education are invited to apply for funding to implement the following program priorities:
- Challenging the narrative
- Building capacity of community-level non-profit organizations active in CVE
Proposed programs, projects or activities shall not infringe on individual privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Applications shall describe any potential impacts to privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties and ways in which applicants will protect against or mitigate those impacts and administer their program(s) in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Applicants must have either an existing CVE program or demonstrable expertise to create and administer a program, project or activity which falls within one of the five identified focus areas. Applications which do not describe an organization with appropriate expertise will be deemed ineligible for funding. Guidance regarding eligibility can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) at Grants.gov.
Funding
A total of $10,000,000 will be awarded to a projected 60 grantees through a competitive, panel-reviewed application process. Grants will range in size from $20,000 to $1,500,000, and will be distributed across the focus areas:
- Developing resilience ($3,000,000)
- Challenging the narrative ($2,000,000)
- Training and engagement ($2,000,000)
- Managing intervention activities ($2,000,000)
- Building capacity ($1,000,000)
More information can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) at Grants.gov.
Funding Guidelines
The FY 2016 CVE Grant Program will prioritize innovative and cost effective programs, projects, and activities which establish strong effectiveness measures. DHS will assess funded projects for promising practices and make them available in a replicable form for other communities or sectors. DHS is seeking to fund activities in geographically diverse communities across the country and see a mix of awards to the different eligible applicant types. The period of performance is 24 months, starting December 1, 2016 when the award is anticipated.
There is no maintenance of effort (MOE), cost match, or share match required under this program. Recipients may use grant funds only for the purpose set forth, and must be consistent with the statutory authority for the award. Recipients may not use grant funds for matching funds for other federal grants/cooperative agreements, lobbying, or intervention in federal regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings. In addition, recipients may not use federal funds to sue the federal government or any other government entity.
Federal employees are prohibited from serving in any capacity (paid or unpaid) on any proposal submitted under this program. Federal employees may not receive funds under this award.
Application Process
Applicants are restricted to one application per focus area but may apply for more than one focus area. The application period will open on July 6, 2016, and close on September 6, 2016.
Applicants should consult the Notice of Funding Opportunity for more specific information about the process. Applying for this grant is a multi-step process and it is recommended that applicants begin that process early in order to allow sufficient time to complete the interim steps. Applicants can register early with ND Grants and are encouraged to begin their ND Grants registration at the time of this announcement. Early registration will allow applicants to have adequate time to start and complete their application. Eligible applicants will be notified by FEMA, and asked to submit their complete application package through the Non-Disaster Grants System.
For more information, please see the resources section below, the relevant NOFO posting on Grants.gov, and the FAQ section on DHS.gov/cvegrants.
Evaluation Criteria
Applicants are restricted to one application per focus area, but may apply for more than one focus area. Applications are evaluated in the following three areas:
Eligibility check
FEMA will evaluate applications based on the eligibility criteria. All applicants who do not meet eligibility requirements will be removed.
Subject Matter Expert Review and Scoring
A review panel comprised of officials from the DHS Office for Community Partnerships (OCP), FEMA Grants Program Directorate, the CVE Task Force, and external (non-federal) organizations active in countering violent extremism or CVE research. Evaluation criteria include technical merit, needs analysis, community partnerships, cost effectiveness/sustainability, innovation, outcomes, and budget.
Agency Review
Senior leadership from the DHS Office for Community Partnerships, FEMA, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the CVE Task Force will review all scoring results and will make recommendations on which projects, or portions of projects to fund in order to maximize the total impact of the available funding. The results will be presented to the Director, Office for Community Partnerships and the Assistant Administrator, FEMA Grant Programs Directorate, who will jointly approve/disapprove the recommended selection of recipients for this program. Final funding determinations will be made by the Secretary of Homeland Security, who retains the discretion to consider other factors and information in addition to those included in the recommendations.
Performance Measurement and Evaluation
Because this is the inaugural year of the grant program, DHS has developed a set of program performance metrics that will measure the degree to which the CVE Grant Program enhances resilience to violent extremist recruitment and radicalization. Community resilience in the CVE context means fostering an environment where violent extremists routinely meet disinterest and opposition, recruitment attempts routinely fail, and communities know what tools and support are available to assist individuals that may be on a path towards violence.
Many communities in the U.S. have not yet planned for or taken steps to prevent violent extremist recruitment and radicalization. As such, this program will begin to measure the number of communities with robust efforts, the degree to which it is reaching more people (online and in person), the degree to which it is increasing the number of programs geared toward prevention and the number of people served by them, and identifying model programs that can be replicated or expanded into other communities.
Each funded program or project will have individual performance measures that will measure its success, and these will be used to measure the overall program’s success. The Office for Community Partnerships will monitor the programs in conjunction with the grants officers at FEMA, and the DHS Science and Technology Directorate will conduct independent evaluations on select funded projects.
Resources
FEMA provides a variety of resources available to address programmatic, technical, and financial questions that can assist with the application process.
- Applicants may contact the FEMA Grant Programs Directorate Call Center at (866) 927-5646 or via e-mail to ASK-GMD@dhs.gov for financial-related questions, including pre-and post-award administration and technical assistance.
For general questions about CVE, applicants may contact the Office for Community Partnerships at communitypartnerships@hq.dhs.gov.