California Community Reinvestment Funding
California Opens $48M Funding Round for Reentry, Treatment and Employment
California’s FY2026–27 Community Reinvestment Grants round makes $48 million available for community-based services including job placement, mental-health and substance-use treatment, system navigation, legal services addressing reentry barriers, and linkages to medical care.
California has opened the FY2026–27 application cycle for its California Community Reinvestment Grants Program, with $48 million available for eligible community-based nonprofit organizations and local health departments delivering services in communities disproportionately affected by past federal and state drug policies.
The program is administered by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz. Its eligible service categories overlap directly with several areas of the reentry and community-support ecosystem: job placement, mental-health treatment, substance-use disorder treatment, system navigation, legal services addressing barriers to reentry, and linkages to medical care.
$48 million is available across a three-year grant term
The FY2026–27 solicitation states that a total of $48 million is available. Applicants may request between $600,000 and $3 million for the full three-year grant term, which is expected to run from June 2027 through May 2030.
Swipe horizontally to review the full table.
| Funding element | FY2026–27 structure |
|---|---|
| Total available | $48 million |
| Minimum request | $600,000 |
| Maximum request | $3 million |
| Grant term | June 2027–May 2030 |
| Small-CBO reserve | 50% of available funding |
GO-Biz defines the small-CBO reserve for this solicitation as organizations with average annual total revenue of $5 million or less over the previous three tax years. The remaining 50 percent is available to other eligible community-based nonprofit organizations and local health departments.
Reentry sits inside a broader service framework
The program is not solely a reentry initiative. Instead, reentry-related services are one component of a broader state funding structure that connects employment, treatment, navigation, legal assistance and medical-care linkage.
Swipe horizontally to review the full table.
| Eligible service area | Operational focus |
|---|---|
| Job placement | Employment assessment, planning, preparation, navigation and placement into full-time, long-term work. |
| Mental-health treatment | Eligible mental-health services delivered within program requirements. |
| Substance-use disorder treatment | Treatment services meeting applicable program and licensing requirements. |
| System navigation | Services that help participants navigate and connect with systems and supports. |
| Legal services addressing barriers to reentry | Legal assistance directed toward barriers that affect successful reentry. |
| Linkages to medical care | Connections to medical services and related care access. |
Formerly incarcerated people and job placement are explicit FY2026–27 priorities
The current solicitation identifies proposals from organizations serving formerly incarcerated individuals as one of the FY2026–27 program priorities. It also identifies organizations led by individuals directly impacted by past drug policies and organizations placing people in jobs. GO-Biz states that preference points will be allocated to proposals matching current program priorities.
That makes the current cycle particularly relevant to organizations operating at the intersection of reentry and employment, while still requiring applicants to satisfy the program’s population, geographic, organizational and service requirements.
Eligible applicants are limited to local health departments and qualified community-based nonprofits
The program is open to California local health departments and qualified community-based nonprofit organizations. For nonprofit applicants, GO-Biz requires organizational good standing, federal and California tax-exempt status, appropriate state registration, current or exempt charitable-registry status, necessary licenses or certifications where applicable, and a physical California location open to the public.
Services must also be delivered within qualifying California counties or census tracts identified under the program’s geographic criteria. The solicitation identifies 29 counties that qualify under the county-level drug-arrest-rate criterion and provides additional census-tract pathways for geographic eligibility.
Eligibility is more specific than simply operating a reentry, treatment or employment program. Organizations should review the official FY2026–27 solicitation and geographic criteria before relying on the funding opportunity.
Phase 1 closes August 24
Phase 1 applications must be submitted through the state’s online application portal no later than 4:59 p.m. Pacific Time on August 24. Only applicants that pass the Phase 1 evaluation will be invited to submit a Phase 2 application. The solicitation lists December 2 as the anticipated Phase 2 release date, subject to change based on application volume.
Aug. 21 status check: The official GO-Biz program page continues to show the application portal open and the August 24 deadline in effect. OACRA found no official deadline extension in the state materials reviewed for this update.
GO-Biz expects to evaluate applications and make awards between August 2026 and May 2027, with award announcements expected in May 2027.
The funding model places substantial weight on direct service personnel
The solicitation requires at least 75 percent of awarded grant funds to be used for direct personnel costs — wages and benefits for W-2 employees of the applicant providing the proposed services. Those personnel costs are reimbursed at 100 percent. Other eligible direct costs, including training, equipment and materials, are generally reimbursed at 50 percent of the expenditure under the solicitation.
GO-Biz also cautions applicants to consider organizational cash flow and administrative capacity because the program is primarily reimbursement-based, although advance payments may be available in qualifying circumstances.
The program is financed through California cannabis-tax revenue
The California Community Reinvestment Grants Program originated in Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act approved by California voters in 2016. The program is funded through state cannabis excise and cultivation tax revenue and is intended to support communities disproportionately affected by prior federal and state drug policies.
The broader statutory funding level reached $50 million annually beginning in FY2022–23, subject to sufficient tax proceeds. The current FY2026–27 solicitation makes $48 million available for award.
Why this matters for the reentry and service ecosystem
The FY2026–27 round is notable because it places services associated with successful community reintegration inside a broader health and economic framework rather than isolating reentry as a single program category. Employment, behavioral health, substance-use treatment, systems navigation, legal-barrier removal and medical-care linkage appear within the same funding structure.
For California service organizations, the immediate lifecycle point is the August 24 Phase 1 deadline. For agencies and institutional partners monitoring implementation, later Phase 2 invitations, award announcements and the June 2027 start of the grant term will show where new or expanded service capacity is ultimately funded.
Official sources
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Institutional Sponsorship →Editorial note: OACRA News & Policy Review is published by OACRA LLC, an independent private organization. OACRA is not a government agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the State of California or the organizations covered. Funding amounts, eligibility information, service categories and application status in this article are based on official California GO-Biz and California Grants Portal materials reviewed August 21, 2026. Applicants should rely on the official FY2026–27 solicitation and application portal for current requirements and deadlines.
