The Technical Assistance Grants are designed to provide state and local courts with funding to obtain expert assistance to diagnose a problem, develop a response to that problem, and initiate implementation of any needed changes.
Donor Name: State Justice Institute
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/01/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Grant funds may cover the cost of obtaining the services of expert consultants; travel by a team of officials from one court to examine a practice, program, or facility in another jurisdiction that the applicant court is interested in replicating; or both. In calculating project duration, applicants are cautioned to fully consider the time required to issue a request for proposals, negotiate a contract with the selected provider, and execute the project. Funds may not be used for salaries or benefits of full-or part-time court employees.
Funding Information
Technical Assistance (TA) Grants may not exceed $75,000 and 12 months in duration.
Eligibility Criteria
- SJI is authorized by Congress to award grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to the following entities and types of organizations:
- State and local courts and their agencies
- National nonprofit organizations controlled by, operating in conjunction with, and serving the judicial branches of state governments
- National nonprofit organizations for the education and training of judges and support personnel of the judicial branch of state governments. An applicant is considered a national education and training applicant under section 10705(b)(1)(C) if:
- The principal purpose or activity of the applicant is to provide education and training to state and local judges and court personnel; and
- The applicant demonstrates a record of substantial experience in the field of judicial education and training
- Other eligible grant recipients
- Provided that the objectives of the project can be served better, the Institute is also authorized to make awards to:
- Nonprofit organizations with expertise in judicial administration
- Institutions of higher education
- Individuals, partnerships, firms, corporations (for-profit organizations must waive their fees)
- Private agencies with expertise in judicial administration
- SJI may also make awards to state or local agencies and institutions other than courts for services that cannot be adequately provided through nongovernmental arrangements
- Provided that the objectives of the project can be served better, the Institute is also authorized to make awards to:
- SJI is prohibited from awarding grants to federal, tribal, and international courts.
Selection Criteria
In addition to the criteria detailed below, SJI will consider whether the applicant is a state or local court, a national court support or education organization, a non-court unit of government, or other type of entity eligible to receive grants under SJI’s enabling legislation; the availability of financial assistance from other sources for the project; the diversity of subject matter, geographic diversity; the level and nature of the match that would be provided; reasonableness of the proposed budget; the extent to which the proposed project would also benefit the federal courts or help state or local courts enforce federal constitutional and legislative requirements; and the level of appropriations available to SJI in the current year and the amount expected to be available in succeeding fiscal years, when determining which projects to support.
- TA Grant applications will be rated based on the following criteria:
- Whether the assistance would address a critical need of the applicant
- Soundness of the technical assistance approach to the problem
- Qualifications of the consultant(s) to be hired or the specific criteria that will be used to select the consultant(s)
- Commitment of the court or association to act on the consultant’s recommendations
- Reasonableness of the proposed budget.
For more information, visit SJI.
