Governor Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) announced the availability of state funds to support the FY 2023-24 Indigent Defense Grant Program. This non-competitive, formula-based solicitation is seeking applications to provide grants to all Pennsylvania counties to support the improvement of local indigent defense services.

The goal of this grant program is to improve the capacity and effectiveness of indigent defense services in Pennsylvania through efforts to recruit and retain staff; improve data collection and reporting capacity; obtain necessary training, professional development, and technical assistance; and fill any other gaps identified by the county, in consultation with indigent defense service providers.

A total of $6,750,000 in Indigent Defense Grant Program funding provided by the state budget and allocated to PCCD under Act 34 of 2023 is available for this solicitation. PCCD expects to fund up to 67 grants with budgets not to exceed the maximum county budget allocations detailed in Appendix A.

Awards will have a start date of July 1, 2024 and an end date of December 31, 2025.