Fund it with a federal community-policing grant.
The COPS Community Policing Development (CPD) Microgrants program exists to fund exactly this kind of work: innovative projects that advance community engagement and build public trust. Awards run up to $175,000, with no local match — many times what the platform itself costs.
Up to $175K
per award
$0
local match required
24 months
project period
What the grant is
COPS Community Policing Development (CPD) Microgrants
CPD is the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office program for developing and testing innovative community-policing strategies. Its Microgrants track funds local, state, tribal, and territorial agencies to “implement novel or innovative projects that work to solve problems in the agency or community, to advance crime fighting, community engagement, problem solving, or organizational changes in support of community policing.”
Your agency applies directly— it's an eligible applicant. Recent cycles offered awards up to $175,000 each with no local match, over a two-year project period.
Why this platform fits
It maps to the grant's own funding categories.
CPD Microgrants are awarded against named topic areas. A community-story platform lines up with three of them directly.
Uplifting the Image of the Law Enforcement Profession
Capturing and amplifying authentic community stories about your officers is, almost word for word, what this topic area funds.
Officer Recruitment, Hiring & Retention
Community-sourced content is the most credible recruiting asset there is — a measurable, novel recruitment method this topic rewards.
Open Topic Area
If your community-trust priorities are locally specific, the Open Topic Area exists for innovative solutions that don't fit the other buckets.
The math that makes it easy
One award funds the whole program — for years.
The platform itself is a few thousand dollars a year. A single CPD microgrant can cover the platform, a managed community-engagement program, and the staff time around it across the full two-year period — with budget to spare. That's what makes this an easy “yes” for a chief: the cost is small, and the funding to cover it already exists.
- Platform license for the full 24-month project period
- A managed program for departments without a full-time PIO
- Staff time, training, and reporting built into the award
Illustrative — single CPD microgrant
Illustrative only. The grant funds a broader community-engagement project, of which the platform is one line item. Amounts vary by cycle and award.
How to apply
Your agency applies — we make it easy.
- 1
Watch the cycle
CPD Microgrants run on an annual cycle (the FY25 window closed June 30, 2025). The FY26 solicitation posts on the COPS Office grants page; we'll flag it the day it opens.
- 2
Build the project around engagement
Frame the application as a community-engagement and trust-building initiative under the matching topic area — with the platform as the tool that delivers and measures it.
- 3
Submit as the eligible applicant
Your agency is the applicant of record. You apply through Grants.gov / JustGrants; there's no local match to find.
What we provide your grant writer
A head start on the narrative.
Program-fit language
Ready-to-adapt copy mapping the platform to the CPD topic areas and community-policing goals.
Project-narrative starter
A draft outline for the application's goals, activities, and outcome measures.
Sample budget line
How to position the platform and managed program as a clean, defensible line item.
Cost-recovery documentation
The reporting structure that keeps the award audit-ready.
If CPD isn't the right fit this cycle
Other paths that work
Edward Byrne Memorial JAG
The largest, most flexible federal criminal-justice grant — explicitly supports technology that improves transparency and information-sharing between law enforcement and the community. In Utah, administered through CCJJ.
CPD Law Enforcement Products & Resources
A sister COPS track that funds projects to uplift the image of the profession and support community policing through engagement.
State & local community-trust funds
Many states and cities carry community-relations or transparency line items the platform fits cleanly within.
Get the grant kit for your department.
Book a 15-minute call. We'll show the platform and hand your grant writer the CPD-fit language and budget line for your jurisdiction.
Program details reflect the COPS Office FY25 cycle and are subject to change; award amounts, topic areas, and deadlines vary by cycle and jurisdiction. Bulletin is not a grant administrator and does not guarantee any award. Confirm eligibility and current terms with the U.S. DOJ COPS Office (cops.usdoj.gov) and your agency's grant office.