RPC Newsletter - 1/23/2009
FEATURES
Lansing--The Council of State Governments Justice Center joined Michigan’s leaders to release the results of an unprecedented review of crime and corrections data to determine how the state might reduce corrections spending while reinvesting in measures that will make communities safer and stronger. This work was supported by the Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Center on the States; the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice; and the state.
HILL UPDATE
Congress is continuing to work on an omnibus spending bill for Fiscal Year 2009 and has started working on the spending bills for Fiscal Year 2010. The Second Chance Act is expected to receive funding in both bills, but the level of funding has not been determined. The Department of Justice is scheduled to release the solicitation for the Second Chance Act grants to state and local government (sec.101) on March 23, 2009, with applications due by May 21, 2009. The solicitation for grants to nonprofit organizations (sec. 211) is expected to be released later this spring as well. To help potential applicants prepare for the release of the solicitations, the Justice Center has prepared fact sheets on the state and local grant program and the nonprofit program based on the requirements contained in the Second Chance Act statute. To learn more about the grants to state and local government, click here. To learn more about the grants to nonprofit organizations for mentoring and other transitional programs, click here. For more information about the Second Chance Act, click here.
CSG Justice Center Releases Preview of Employment Blueprint
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, with support from the Department of Labor, recently released A Sneak Peek: Advice for State Policymakers on Designing Strategies That Improve Employment Outcomes and Increase Public Safety. This concise bulletin provides a preview of an upcoming blueprint, which will be made available with additional support from the Joyce Foundation, on how to promote employment opportunities for people returning from prison or jail and others in neighborhoods that struggle with high crime, poverty, and substance abuse. To view the Sneak Peek bulletin, click here.
PEW Center on the States, Public Safety Performance Project, releases Policy Framework to Strengthen Community Corrections
During 2008, the Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Center on the States brought together leading policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to discuss community corrections. From these conversations emerged a package of policy-level actions for state legislators and executives. The measures included in this report are part of the initial framework; others may be added as state and local leaders continue to innovate. To view the report, click here.
The Journal of the American Medical Association publishes Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction in the Criminal Justice System
In this report, researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse report that emerging neuroscience has the potential to transform traditional sanction-oriented public safety approaches by providing new therapeutic strategies against addiction that could be used in the criminal justice system. To find out more about this report, click here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS & EVENTS
2009 NAEH National ConferenceNational Alliance to End Homelessness
February 8-16, 2009
San Diego, CA
Occasional Series on Reentry Research: Incarceration and Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Neighborhood Perspective
Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College
February 27, 2009
New York, NY
Enterprise 2009 National Training Conference
National Correctional Industries Association
April 3-5, 2009
Dallas, TX
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Legal Assistance for Victims Program
The United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, is seeking applications for the Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program. This program furthers the Department of Justice’s mission by strengthening civil and criminal legal assistance programs for adult and youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, who are seeking relief in legal matters arising as a consequence of that abuse or violence.
Application Deadline: January 28, 2009
Evaluation of a Demonstration Program: Drug Testing, Certain and Swift Sanctions, and Treatment Referral for Chronic Drug Users Under Community Supervision
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, is seeking applications for funding research to evaluate the effectiveness of a demonstration program that includes a drug-testing, sanctions, and treatment protocol for chronic drug users under criminal justice supervision in the community. The basic principles of the program must include (1) frequent drug testing; (2) certain, swift, and proportionate sanctions for failed tests; and (3) access to residential treatment, as appropriate.
Application Deadline: February 4, 2009
National Field-Generated Training, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime, has announced that it is seeking applications for funding under the “National Field- Generated Training, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects” cooperative agreement solicitation. This program furthers the Department’s mission by supporting the development of national-scope training, technical assistance, and demonstration project initiatives that strengthen the capacity of victim service and ancillary service providers to serve victims or enhance providers’ ability to support victims in accessing needed services and rights to which they are entitled.
Application Deadline: February 24, 2009
Technology Research and Development for Law Enforcement and Corrections Application
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice is seeking applications for funding to develop information and sensor technologies for application by law enforcement and corrections agencies. This program furthers the Department’s mission by sponsoring research to provide objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the state and local levels.
Application Deadline: March 2, 2009
Family Preservation-Improving the Well-Being of Children Project Implementation
The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announces the availability of Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 funds for projects that implement approaches to improve child well-being by removing barriers associated with strengthening families (including fatherhood, foster parenting, absentee parent activities, and grandparents raising grandchildren) and forming and preserving healthy families, relationships, and marriages (including Traditional Native American and Pacific Basin marriages). ANA's FY 2009 goals and program areas of interest are focused on strengthening children, families, and communities through financial assistance to community-based organizations, including faith-based organizations, Tribes, and Village governments.
Application Deadline: March 25, 2009
REENTRY NEWS
- NY: 1/3/09 Restructuring OMH Sex Offender Management Program can save state dollars (New York Nonprofit Press)
- CT: 1/6/09 Some cities look the other way in hiring former inmates (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- WI: 1/7/09 Governor Doyle announces new initiative to further improve criminal justice, corrections system (press release, Office of the Governor)
- WI: 1/13/09 New ideas surfacing to handle overcrowded prisons (Wisconsin Public Radio, radio clip)
- KS: 1/15/09 Up-To-Date Kansas City’s award-winning public affairs radio program, discusses The Second Chance Act. Includes an interview with Justice Center board member and Kansas State Representative Pat Colloton (KCUR).
PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
- Colorado Commission of Criminal and Juvenile Justice2008 Annual Report (Colorado Department of Public Safety)
- Rethinking Diversion Interventions for Persons with Co-Occurring Mental Illnesses and Substance Abuse (Center for Behavioral Health Services, Criminal Justice Research)) - pdf
- Making Court the Last Resort: A New Focus for Supporting Families in Crisis (Vera Institute of Justice)
In this Issue
Our Publications
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center announced today the release of the toolkit, Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy. With support by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), the kit has been designed as a guide and self-assessment tool for policing personnel and their partners to help reduce repeat crimes and facilitate successful reintegration by the more than 700,000 individuals who return to our communities from prisons each year and the more than 9 million from jails.