Grants Announcement: Arnold Ventures Criminal Justice Research Grants During the First Quarter of 2026 Support Innovations in Public Safety

Testing new and promising public safety policies expands the toolkit for policymakers across the country who are seeking to reduce crime and make the criminal justice system more efficient and effective.  

Houston, TX (May 27, 2026) — In the first quarter of 2026, Arnold Ventures (AV) awarded more than 12 new research grants through its open request for proposals (RFP) for criminal justice research. These grants, totaling around $5 million, demonstrate the philanthropy’s ongoing commitment to advancing and rigorously testing innovative public safety policies. 

The first quarter grants support research in a variety of areas, including school- and community-based violence reduction, less-than-lethal force training for law enforcement, homelessness prevention, school-based medical facilities, youth employment, reducing gender-based violence, understanding the effects of lead exposure, and more. 

“In response to local needs and changing public safety conditions, policymakers and practitioners across the country are experimenting with innovative approaches that often break with traditional ways of thinking about crime and punishment,” said Jennifer Doleac, executive vice president of Criminal Justice at AV. ​“We are committed to supporting and testing these interventions to determine whether they work and whether they can be scaled up across the nation to improve safety for individuals, families, and communities.” 

This release covers a subset of grants that were committed, awarded, or fully executed in the first quarter of 2026. It is intended to be illustrative of the work that AV is funding in the criminal justice field and serve as a resource for academics and practitioners who might be interested in applying for funding or in the outcome of previously funded research. It is not a comprehensive summary of AV’s Criminal Justice grantmaking. Grant amounts are rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. 

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Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports research to understand the root causes of America’s most persistent and pressing problems, as well as evidence-based solutions to address them. By focusing on systemic change and bipartisan policy reforms, AV works to improve the lives of American families, strengthen communities, and promote economic opportunity. 

Community Safety 

Name: Understanding the Life Course Outcomes Associated with the G.R.E.A.T. Program 
Description: This project leverages a randomized controlled trial to examine the long-term impact of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) middle school program on adult criminal justice involvement, financial well-being, and civic engagement among participants now aged 30 – 32. 
Geographic Focus: Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas 
Grant Recipient: Michigan State University 
Principal Investigator(s): Chris Melde, Steven Wu-Chavez, Steven M. Chermak, Dena Carson 
Term: 2026 – 2027 
Amount: $299,900 

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Name: A Multisite Evaluation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu-inspired Gracie Survival Tactics Training 
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial across three law enforcement agencies to evaluate the impact of a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu-inspired training on officer use of force, injury rates, proactive engagement and citizen complaints. 
Geographic Focus: Alabama, North Carolina, Texas 
Grant Recipient: Research Triangle Institute 
Principal Investigator(s): Melissia Larson, Nicole Johnson, Sean Wire 
Term: 2026 – 2027 
Amount: $1,283,300 

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Name: Safer Stronger Together Initiative: An evaluation of a place-based social intervention on crime 
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the public safety impacts of the Safer Stronger Together Initiative, a family navigator program providing intensive social service coordination to high-need households in high-crime Maryland zip codes. 
Geographic Focus: Maryland 
Grant Recipient: George Mason University 
Principal Investigator(s): David Weisburd, Preeti Chauhan 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $609,200 

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Name: Impacts of the Los Angeles Homelessness Prevention Unit on criminal justice outcomes 
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of the Los Angeles County Homelessness Prevention Unit, which provides targeted financial assistance and case management to high-risk households, on criminal justice outcomes including jail bookings and arrests. 
Geographic Focus: Los Angeles, CA 
Grant Recipient: The Regents of the University of California Los Angeles 
Principal Investigator(s): Janey Rountree, Till von Wachter, Brian Blackwell 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $99,100 

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Name: Do school-based health centers affect juvenile crime and delinquency? 
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to evaluate the impact of school-based health centers (SBHCs), which provide on-site medical, mental health, and behavioral health services, on juvenile crime, delinquency, and student outcomes. 
Geographic Focus: National 
Grant Recipient: Georgia Tech Research Corporation 
Principal Investigator(s): Lindsey Bullinger, Analisa Packham 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $299,900 

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Name: Evaluating the Impact of Title IX Regulations on Campus Sexual Harassment 
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to evaluate the impact of the 2011 Title IX reinterpretation, which required universities to adopt stricter sexual harassment policies, on campus sexual misconduct incidents, institutional compliance, and student mental health. 
Geographic Focus: National 
Grant Recipient: Social Science Research Council 
Principal Investigator(s): Mateo Montenegro, Michele Rosenberg 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $206,800 

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Name: The Impact of Youth Employment Programs on New York Juvenile Crime 
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial in New York City and difference-in-differences across New York State to evaluate the impact of Youth Employment Programs on youth arrests, convictions, firearm mortality, and civic engagement. 
Geographic Focus: New York 
Grant Recipient: Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania 
Principal Investigator(s): Judd Kessler, Marcos Soler 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $634,000 

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Name: Understanding and Preventing Gender-Based Violence in the United States 
Description: This project uses instrumental variables to examine whether the Earned Income Tax Credit can disrupt intergenerational cycles of violence by mitigating the effects of childhood exposure to gender-based violence. 
Geographic Focus: National 
Grant Recipient: University of Southern California 
Principal Investigator(s): Emily Nix, Bilge Erten, Shawn Ratcliff 
Term: 2026 — 2029 
Amount: $291,700 

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Name: Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Police Concentration Study 
Description: This project uses a natural experiment following the 2019 redistricting of Washington D.C. police service area boundaries to estimate the effect of police concentration on crime and public safety outcomes. 
Geographic Focus: Washington, D.C. 
Grant Recipient: The Niskanen Center 
Principal Investigator(s): Erich Battistin, Richard Hahn 
Term: 2026 – 2027 
Amount: $99,400 

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Name: Legacy of Lead: The Impact of Pb Exposure and Remediation Efforts in Colorado 
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity to estimate health, education, and criminal justice outcomes associated with childhood exposure to lead through drinking water, soil contamination, and residential paint as well as the effectiveness of remediation strategies in Colorado targeting each source of exposure. 
Geographic Focus: Colorado 
Grant Recipient: Regents of the University of Colorado 
Principal Investigator(s): Stephen Billings, Ludovica Gazze, Kevin Schnepel 
Term: 2026 — 2028 
Amount: $805,300 

Courts 

Name: Impacts of Felony Diversion on Health and Housing Outcomes in San Francisco 
Description: This project uses instrumental variables to evaluate the impact of San Francisco’s Collaborative Courts felony diversion programs on health, housing, and mortality outcomes, and whether diversion can close racial gaps in outcomes. 
Geographic Focus: San Francisco, California 
Grant Recipient: Regents of the University of California at Berkeley 
Principal Investigator(s): Johanna Lacoe, Steven Raphael 
Term: 2026 — 2027 
Amount: $125,000