Harrisburg, PA — As part of ongoing efforts to support Pennsylvania law enforcement and strengthen community safety across the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) recently announced the availability of $8.2 million in funding for local governments and nonprofits.
"The work happening across Pennsylvania communities is making a difference. We’ve seen an improvement in violent crime clearance rates, a 40 percent decrease in firearm-related crime, and a 35 percent decrease in homicides across Pennsylvania since 2023,” said PCCD Executive Director Kirsten Kenyon. “This funding is critical to continuing these trends and ensuring that Pennsylvanians can feel safe in their communities.”
The federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding will support projects aligned with PCCD’s 2026-2030 Strategic Framework, focusing on innovative approaches to public safety, reducing crime, and addressing emerging needs, including strategies to strengthen crisis response, strengthen local anti-human trafficking efforts, support gun violence intervention and prevention, and advance law enforcement recruitment, training, technology, and accreditation.
The initiative also aims to improve Pennsylvania’s public safety data landscape by enhancing the quality and timeliness of crime data and increasing National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) compliance statewide. Since PCCD released targeted funding to support NIBRS compliance, the number of law enforcement agencies reporting through NIBRS in Pennsylvania has nearly doubled, from 90 to 173.
Eligible Entities
Eligible applicants include local units of government and nonprofit organizations. PCCD expects to fund approximately 30-35 grants with budgets not to exceed $250,000 over the two-year project period.
Eligible Program Activities
Funding is designed to support projects and programs that focus on the priority areas in PCCD’s PCCD’s 2026-2030 Strategic Framework listed below:
Goal 1:
Where available, use flexible funding to support innovative, promising approaches to address persistent and emerging public safety needs.
- Objective 1.1.
Advance strategies that are likely to reduce violent crime and overall crime rates.
- Objective 1.2.
Enhance PCCD’s ability to anticipate and respond effectively to emerging public safety issues - such as artificial intelligence (AI) and other advances in public safety technology, crisis response, and new justice system reforms - through proactive planning and flexible resource deployment.
- Objective 1.3.
Support gun violence intervention and prevention strategies that combine community-based and law enforcement-led approaches, improve clearance rates, and promote healing and recovery for individuals and communities.
- Objective 1.4.
Promote innovation in law enforcement recruitment, retention, and accreditation by investing in training, technology, equipment, regionalization, and other strategies to strengthen public safety.
Goal 2:
Strengthen Pennsylvania’s public safety data infrastructure and expand PCCD’s research and analytic capacity to improve decision-making, transparency, and accountability.
- Objective 2.1. Help improve the quality, completeness, and timeliness of Pennsylvania’s crime data through continued investments and policy reforms to increase NIBRS compliance among law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with key partners.
Important Dates
- July 7, 2026 - Final date to submit questions regarding this announcement.
- July 14, 2026 - Applications are due in PCCD’s Egrants System.
- December 9, 2026 - Applications are presented to the Commission for action.
- January 1, 2027 - Project start date.
- December 31, 2028 - Project end date.
PCCD has posted a pre-recorded informational webinar for prospective applicants and additional resources on its Active Funding Announcements webpage.
Questions about the solicitation and application process should be forwarded to ra-pccd-ocjsi@pa.gov with “26/27 Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)” in the subject line.