Expanded Public Defense Services (Holistic Defense) Grant FAQs

Q: If we as the county apply for the grant funds to be used by our contracted public defense firm, we do not need board approval authorizing the application prior to submitting the application. Is that correct?

A: That is correct.

Q: Currently, our office uses outside, contracted social workers to create mitigation, treatment and diversion plans in some cases. If we apply for grant funds to expand this type of mitigation work and bring it in-house by hiring an LCSW on staff, would this violate the rule against supplanting?

A: Supplanting, for these purposes, is the purposeful reduction in the amount of local funds being appropriated to an existing program or activity because grant funds have been awarded for the same purposes. Where grant funding is being used to support new program activities or to augment existing funds that expand current program activities, there is no supplanting.  If grant funding would expand the agency’s currently contracted services by making the services more robust or easier to access or available to more people, etc, AND the money that is currently being used for contracts is not removed from the agency’s budget, then that would not be considered supplanting.

Q: If the submission of our grant application is approved by the Board of Supervisors on 10/28/2025, but the formal documentation is not available until later that week, will our application be considered on time?

A: If the application includes an informal acknowledgment of approval (e.g., an email that it was approved, or a letter asserting that an individual attended the meeting and that it was approved) than any formal letter or authorization can be provided no later than November 3, 2025, and be considered timely. If this will still be a barrier, please let us know at ospd.grant@ospd.ca.gov .

Q:  Do public defender offices that are county agencies/departments need to submit a county authorization letter to apply?

A:  Yes, county-run public defender offices must include a letter of authorization from their county board of supervisors or county’s chief executive/administrative officer with their application.  

Q:  If our office needs more attorneys, an investigator, as well as social workers in order to begin providing holistic defense, are those allowable expenses under the grant?

A:  Resources necessary to provide holistic defense services are allowable under the grant.  If additional staff are necessary to serve client needs beyond the immediate criminal case, those staffing costs are allowable under the grant.

Q: The Request for Applications stated “grantees must be prepared to start work by 2/1/26 and use all funds (in 26 months) by 6/1/28” while “the service term begins 3/2/26 and (services) end 5/15/28’. What’s the difference between “work start day” and the “service term”?

A: The Service Term, meaning the time funds can be used to serve clients, is 3/2/26-5/15/28.  In order to ensure that grantees are available to take full advantage of the service term, we expect that grantees will demonstrate the ability to start the work as they sign grantee contracts in February 2026—recognizing that actual services are not expected to start until March 2026.  The funds are available until June 1, 2028, in recognition that there may be a need to use funds for a short time after service provision ends for reporting or close out purposes (as opposed to client services). Please note that all dates are good faith estimates.

Q: We are a public defender office that wishes to partner with a non-profit to provide in-house client supports.

A: Yes, a public defender office can apply for the grant with a proposed project that creates a subgrant or contract with another entity to embed holistic services within the defense office.

Q: Is the grant target population limited to adults?

A: There is no restriction on the target population.

Q: Can our defense office submit one proposal for a small scope project and one proposal for a large scope project? Alternatively, can we propose a scalable project that has a budget range?

A: There can only be one application per county with one funding selection. This single application can propose funding that will be allocated across multiple indigent defense entities, but a single total grant amount must be requested.

Q: Is there any priority or preference given to counties of a certain size or resource level?

A: Proposals will be evaluated within their self-selected category of small scope, large scope, or multi-county project; however, there is no scoring preference or grant priority based on county size or current resource levels. All scoring criteria are documented in the Scoring Rating Factors .