NCJA's Strategic Planning Toolkit
The NCJA Center for Justice Planning (NCJP) provides training and technical assistance (TTA) to Byrne JAG recipients on behalf of the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). States must complete a Byrne JAG strategic plan in order to receive their allocation of Byrne JAG funding; NCJP provides TTA to help recipients identify priorities and needs to plan for targeted investment of Byrne JAG funds. For direct assistance with any of your strategic planning needs, please contact us at
This page serves as a resource hub and a toolbox for a variety of guidance and information on Byrne JAG strategic planning.
NEW! Equity Across a Continuum in Grants Administration
The NCJA Center for Justice Planning is proud to release Equity Across a Continuum in Grants Administration. This report is a preliminary step towards an intentional and sustained effort toward reducing disparities in the criminal justice system throughout the entire grants administration process. Through in-depth interviews with SAAs, document reviews, a literature review, case studies and working group discussions, NCJA, along with its partners, identified eight promising and emerging practices for SAAs to decrease ethnic and racial disparities in grants administration and promote equity overall.
Background on Byrne JAG and Its Strategic Planning Requirement
This short document describes how the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) calculates the award amountallocated to each state and territory, how funds are distributed and pass-through requirements to local governmental agencies.
Here you will find reports on how states and territories have invested their Byrne JAG funds by program area and program type.
This resource document, updated regularly, answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the Byrne JAG program. It is updated regularly.
This one-pager describes the programs nine broad-ranging program areas and examples of the kinds of initiatives they encompass.
This guide details the Death in Custody Reporting Act compliance guidelines, and was published in December 2023.
This document, specifically created for Byrne JAG, guides states through the key steps and components to creating an effective and comprehensive strategic plan.
This fillable PDF serves as a tool to help states assess the strength and comprehensiveness of their strategic plan. NCJP staff utilize this document when analyzing and providing feedback for TTA purposes, but states are also highly encouraged to utilize this document.
One requirement for the Byrne JAG program, outlined in the state solicitation, is the submission of a comprehensive statewide strategic plan every five years and the submission of an annual report during the years in which the strategic plan was not fully updated. In order to provide clarity, NCJA created a document outlining what information should be covered in each document.
Strategic Planning Basics
NCJA approaches the planning process through seven steps from identifying priorities to developing an evaluation strategy. Each step and its sub-steps are described here.
This document is a pre-made worksheet to help states prepare for the planning process by establishing deadlines and assigning roles.
From the initial planning phase to the submission of your state’s Byrne JAG application, the development and drafting of a strategic plan involves many steps. This template provides an example of steps your state can take during the strategic planning process.
This document helps states outline the role of stakeholders in the strategic planning process and identify where stakeholder gaps may exist.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused and Time-bound (SMART) goals are important to Byrne JAG strategic planning. This worksheet helps states create and define their goals.
Strategic Planning Next Steps
This report from NCJA's Center for Justice Planning covers promising and emerging practices for ensuring equity in grants administration and strategic planning.
This foundational brief establishes key principles, definitions and more, that guide NCJA’s new Equity in Grants Administration and Strategic Planning Program.
In Grantmaking: A Statewide Strategy to Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Legal System, NCJA and NACo reflect on how states and counties can reflect on the grantmaking processes to administer funds more equitably and for greater impact.
This document provides an overview of the Sequential Intercept Model as a planning tool to create outcome-informed action and focus on the thoughtful use of resources.
This fact sheet provides a concise overview of the new three-digit dialing code (988) for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline—its history, benefits and opportunities for State Administering Agencies (SAAs) to maximize its benefit.
This policy brief highlights lessons learned from a meeting of senior officials from state administering agencies (SAAs ) and single state agencies (SSAs) in three states to share lessons learned in collaborating to address substance use disorders (SUD) within justice-involved populations. It is a joint publication by NCJA, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD.)
This document provides an explanation of braided funding. The guide outlines important factors to consider when contemplating braided funding, provides steps for developing the model and highlights two states that currently utilize braided funding.
This brief provides an overview of the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA), its reporting requirements, and how they align with other federal programs that collect data on criminal justice related deaths.
The guidebook presents an in-depth look at how to effectively plan for and work through crisis events, including crisis leadership, continuity planning, grants management, collaboration and communication.
Attend One of Our Byrne Jag Strategic Planning Workshops
The NCJA Center for Justice PlanningNCJP provides many TTA offerings including (but not limited to) developing and disseminating stakeholder surveys, helping SAAs navigate strategic planning and advisory boards, data visualization and PMT dashboards, recruiting non-traditional stakeholders for advisory committees and assistance with the comprehensive criminal justice strategic planning process. Want to participate in a workshop? View Our Complete Listing of Workshops and Trainings.
Listen to the NCJA Podcast
These curated episodes cover some of the basics of strategic planning and its processes and are great supplements to the other resources in this toolkit. Click here for a complete directory of all NCJA episodes.
This webpage was created with the support of Grant No. 2019-YA-BX-K002 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the SMART Office, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.