The SJI Board met on June 15, 2026, and awarded 12 new grant applications totaling $763,601 for the 3rd quarter of FY 2026.
The Board awarded three (3) Strategic Initiative Grants (SIG) to: National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to close the gap between guardianship innovation and practice by identifying drivers and barriers to reform, building court capacity through focused learning communities, adapting tools for emerging adults, and providing tailored implementation planning and technical assistance to states; 2) The Center for Justice Innovation (CJI) to partner with the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation and IBM to develop a first-of-its-kind Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered treatment planning tool for state courts. The tool will increase court capacity to connect people to community-based treatment by improving the quality of treatment plans regardless of court type; and 3) the Institute for Intergovernmental Research to support judge and sheriff pairs from rural communities in identifying priority issues, coordinate peer exchanges for teams from rural communities to learn about successful practices and promising solutions, and enhance the Reaching Rural Resource Center.
Four (4) Technical Assistance Grant applications were awarded to: 1) the Nebraska Administrative Office of Courts and Probation for a youth probation and justice system review in Douglas County; 2) the Hamilton County, Tennessee, General Sessions Court for a project to improve debt collection processes; 3) the Superior Court of Stanislaus County, California, for a strategic planning project; and 4) the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, California, for an information security improvement project.
Five (5) Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants were awarded to: 1) the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for leadership training for court administrators; 2) the Alabama Administrative Office of the Courts for capital case litigation training; 3) the Louisiana Supreme Court for a new judge curriculum and training project; and 4) the National Association of State Judicial Educators for educational programming; and 5) the Judicial Council of California for a trial court chief executive officer academy.
The next deadline for grant applications is August 1st, 2026 (4th Quarter of FY 2026).