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Agenda

Please note this agenda is a draft and subject to change.

Sunday

Sunday, August 11

NCJA Advisory Council Meeting
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Grant Writing Crash Course
1:00-4:00 PM

Please note: This session requires a separate registration. Register Here.

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Are you a practitioner who is looking for federal grant funding to address a public safety need in your community? Are you interested in learning where to locate and pursue federal grant funding and how to submit an application that gives you the best chance to win an award? During this Grant Writing Crash Course, we will get right to the point and provide you with the essential elements to complete the application process including useful tips and tools for writing a winning proposal. You will leave this session with your own outline and resources to submit a successful application.

 

NOTE: This session will highlight the award-winning gems from our previous online and in-person grant writing trainings and get you energized to receive your first or next federal award! 

 

Whether you are a new or an experienced grant writer, you will be happy you joined us!

 

The presenter for this training is Valarie Tickle, associate deputy director and grant coordinator for the Delaware Criminal Justice Council. She is a subject matter expert on criminal justice grant writing and has submitted numerous successful competitive grant applications over 26 years, totaling almost $20M to address needs in her state. 

 

The moderator for the training is Tammy Woodhams, NCJA’s director of programs and grants training. Like many of you, she started as an “accidental” grant writer over 30 years ago when she saw an opportunity to bring in resources for her community. She has since written, won and managed numerous federal awards.

NCJA Board of Directors Meeting
3:00-4:00 PM
RSAT Meet and Greet
Evening

Evening Meet & Greet for RSAT grant administrators and program leadership attending the forum to connect with RSAT TTA staff.

Monday August 12

Monday
Exhibit Area Open
7:30 AM - 6:30 PM
Breakfast
7:30-8:30 AM
Welcome/Opening Keynote 
8:30-10:00 AM

Jeremy Travis, former President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice will provide the Opening Keynote to kick off NCJA’s 50th anniversary celebration. He will provide an overview of how the criminal justice system has evolved over the last 50 years and where we may be headed. 

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Speaker:

  • Jeremy Travis, Senior Fellow, Columbia Justice Lab

Break
10:00-10:15 AM
Morning Plenary Session
10:15-11:30 AM

This plenary keynote session will bring together senior officials from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia to discuss issues facing the greater metropolitan area, trends in crime and incarceration and the promising approaches and strategies the three jurisdictions are using to prevent crime and victimization, prevent unnecessary incarceration, treat behavioral health needs, reduce recidivism and provide employment opportunity, mental health treatment and affordable housing for those at-risk of justice system involvement.

Break
11:30-11:45 AM
Lunch: It Can’t Happen Here
11:45 AM-1:00 PM

With unsettling regularity, entire communities across the country are forced to deal with mass shootings and their devastating impact. Leveraging the process and findings of the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston, through its Executive Director Anne Jordan and others involved in responding to the shooting, this special lunch panel will examine the trauma experienced by the entire spectrum of “community” itself and how to help those communities heal – including the trauma experienced by first responders.

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Moderator: Katherine Darke Schmitt, Principal Deputy Director, Office for Victims of Crime

Speaker: Anne Jordan, Executive Director, Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston 

Peer Mentors in Therapeutic Communities in Prisons
1:00-2:00 PM

Peer Recovery Support Specialists (PRSS) offer an evidenced based practice through an innovative approach to address substance use and mental health disorders inside correctional settings and upon community reentry. PRSS’ are recognized as paraprofessionals through a certifying body that follows ethical guidelines and standards of practice. Those involved in the reentry process have helped lower recidivism risk by helping others increase engagement and participation with treatment and court obligations. Individuals involved with PRSS/ self-report reductions in substance use behaviors, including opioid use. Peer support has also shown success helping people reentering the community continue medication-assisted treatment after being inducted on medication for OUD while incarcerated or detained.

Building a State-level Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Support Framework 
1:00-2:00 PM

As more states devote resources to Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs, the need to develop state-level support systems grows. This panel will identify common challenges for communities and organizations seeking to establish CVI strategies. It will provide a structured framework for states to ensure opportunities for sustainable, long-term CVI efforts in communities most impacted by violence. States funding CVI approaches will highlight the essential elements core to CVI, which distinguish it from other state-funded safety strategies, lessons learned in funding this work, and how they see CVI approaches evolving.

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Session Objectives:

  • Define CVI, its structure, goals, and key partners.

  • Identify the roles of key stakeholders in successful CVI efforts. 

  • Describe potential challenges to state level coordination and support.

  • Understand how researchers and training and technical assistance providers can support CVI planning and implementation. 

Rural Violence Prevention Programs 
1:00-2:00 PM

This session will focus on preventing violent crimes in rural areas. The workshop aims to address the challenges that rural towns and cities face in the criminal justice system, such as crime trends and barriers that hinder the process. The session will also explore resources and gaps in the system to better serve those in rural communities who are often overlooked and underserved. Additionally, the discussion will cover innovative ways that different states are implementing to combat these problems.

Break
2:00-2:15 PM
Exploring Different Ways SAAs Issue Subawards
2:15-3:15 PM

This session will explore the processes state agencies use to announce and make subawards. SAAs and grant managers from a different states will share information about who, what, when and how they make subawards. They will share how they have changed their practices to address funding fluctuations as well as reach underserved communities that you may want to adopt.

Latest Correctional MAT Research
2:15-3:15 PM

This workshop will summarize current research on the three FDA approved medications for opioid use disorder specifically for justice-involved individuals. It will summarize the research on the effectiveness of the medications as well as the differences among them. Effectiveness will be broken down in regard to recidivism, recovery, retention in treatment, and well-being. The workshop will also present the findings on the impact of when MAT is begun, during or after incarcerations, and with or without concurrent psychosocial treatment. The research will also be described on the diversion of medication in jails and prisons.

Youth Violence What is Working and What Isn’t
2:15-3:15 PM

This session will discuss the trends of violent activities concerning youth violence. The workshop aims to address solutions to this issue and identify the best practices to reduce crimes committed by youth. We will also discuss the practices that have not been successful and the reasons behind their failure.

Break
3:15-3:45 PM
Subrecipient Monitoring
3:45-4:45 PM

How are you ensuring your subrecipients are using federal funds for authorized purposes, in compliance with Federal statutes and performance goals are achieved? What is expected of subrecipients of federal funds should not be a surprise to them. Learn about some best practices for subrecipient monitoring used by other states.

Office for Victims of Crime, Human Trafficking Division: Overview of Services, Support and Trends
3:45-4:45 PM

Office for Victims of Crime, Human Trafficking Division: Services, Trends, Funding, and A Statewide Approach: OVC’s Human Trafficking Division funds jurisdictions to increase their capacity to identify, assist, and provide services to all victims of human trafficking and leads the Nation in supporting victim-centered and trauma-informed programs, policies, and resources that promote justice, access, and empowerment. This session will provide an overview of the services, support, training and technical assistance, trends, and community outreach available to improve the response to human trafficking. This session will also include a speaker from the OVC Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking program to share promising practices and lessons learned from their efforts to improve statewide coordination and systems collaboration.

 

Speakers:  

Alissa Huntoon, Office for Victims of Crime

Natalia Aguirre, Office for Victims of Crime

Practical Strategies for Breaking Down Siloes with Behavioral Health
3:45-4:45 PM

The criminal justice, mental health and addiction treatment systems were not long ago considered separate, wholly unbridgeable structures with their own funding sources, vocabularies and protocols. Today, the bridging of those systems is considered urgent to stopping a needless cycle of incarceration. But how is that done? What are the first steps to take? Come to this workshop to hear from a panel of State Administering Agencies and subject matter experts who will share their strategies, challenges and successes.

Break
4:45-5:00 PM
Welcome Reception
5:00-6:30 PM
Tuesday

Tuesday, August 13

Exhibit Area Open
7:30 AM - 4:15 PM
Breakfast
8:00-9:00 AM
Break
9:00-9:15 AM
Deaths in Custody Reporting Act Listening Session
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Inside the Beltway
9:45-10:30 AM

Join us for this annual session to learn about the federal budget and appropriations and hear about happenings on Capitol Hill, a wrap-up of recent legislation and our best predictions for the year ahead.

NCJA 50th Anniversary Recognition
9:15-9:45 AM
Break
10:30-10:45 AM
Language Access What You Need to Know 
10:45-11:45 AM

Do you have a Limited English Proficiency plan, and policies and procedures to comply with federal requirements and prohibit discrimination based on race, color, or national origin (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act)? Do you know about DOJ’s Law Enforcement Language Access Initiative to work with Law Enforcement Agencies and other stakeholders to implement practical strategies to overcome language barriers? Attend this session to learn more about LEP requirements for SAAs and subrecipients and resources available to enhance your LEP policies and procedures.  

Speaker:  Michael J. Mulé  Deputy Director, Office for Civil Rights, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Criminal Justice
10:45-11:45 AM

This session will look at artificial intelligence and law enforcement: AI helps move the field forward and potential areas of concern.

Telehealth: Facilitating Communication with Community Providers Beyond the Wall
10:45-11:45 AM

The research is clear. The more incarcerated persons are able to maintain contact with supportive family and others the less likely they are to recidivate once released. However, promoting in-person contact can be difficult, even telephone contact can be prohibitively expensive depending upon the prison or jail's telecommunication system. In this session, we will describe innovative programs to provide free or greatly reduced video calling for incarcerated individuals in state prisons in Colorado and Iowa and how their impact on the incarcerated, the correctional institutions and the wider community.

Break
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
Lunch and Keynote Crime Trends: Are They Up or Down and Why is the Data so Unclear?
12:00-1:15 PM

This lunch session will help participants make sense of recent trends in crime, incarceration and in the trafficking of drugs. COVID and changes in the economy and in policing impacted crime and who experienced it. Many of those indicators are changing again, made more complex by the fact that some of the data conflicts. Hear from experts who can help make sense of the data.

Speakers:

Thomas Abt, Director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland and Chair, Violent Crime Working Group, Council on Criminal Justice

Delrice Adams, Executive Director, IL Criminal Justice Information Authority

Ernesto Lopez, Research Specialist, Council on Criminal Justice
Alex Piquero, Professor of Sociology & Criminology; Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar, University of Miami

John Roman, Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Public Safety and Justice, NORC at the University of Chicago and Chair, Crime Trends Working Group, Council on Criminal Justice

Equity in Grants Administration 
1:15-2:30 PM

NCJA’s Equity in Criminal Justice Funding and Budgeting Committee aims to holistically address equity in criminal justice funding and budgeting. Over the past year, this committee has developed guidance to create meaningful relationships between community organizations, historically devalued communities, and funders/decision makers to better determine and leverage access and resources to effectively address public safety and achieve equity in the criminal justice system.

 

This session features a panel of subject matter experts and committee members who will share their professional experiences in the field of equity, discuss their current work on the committee, and express their hopes for the future of equity in criminal justice funding.

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Moderator: Joe Thome, Former SAA, Colorado

Rodney Collins, (Ret), Chief Deputy Sherrif, Mecklenburg County (NC)

Kevin Reese, Co-Founder, Until We Are Free

Delrice Adams, Executive Director, IL Criminal Justice Information Authority

Designing Safe and Secure Communities: Implementing Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) 
1:15-2:30 PM

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a strategy that aims to prevent crime by taking into consideration how the physical environment, such as buildings or public spaces, can be designed to minimize opportunities for crime. This session will provide information, resources, and tools for states interested in implementing CPTED, including lessons learned in funding this work and the latest updates in the field.

Missing or Murdered Indigenous People: State Examples
1:15-2:30 PM

This session will provide an overview of common barriers and challenges that states face when working to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person (MMIP) crisis.  States will share how they successfully collaborated with a variety of systems partners to address and overcome these barriers.

Break
2:30-3:00 PM
Measuring Efficacy of Programs
3:00-4:00 PM

How do you know if the programs you are funding are working? What are some of the ways you can determine or measure efficacy of programs, in particular, Evidence Based Practices? Attend this session to learn more about some tools and resources that can help you make those determinations.

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Speakers:

Susan Howley, Project Director, Center for Victim Research, Justice Information Resource Network

Lynn Langton, Director of the Victimization and Response Program, RTI International

Roger Pryzbylski, RKC Group

Firearms, Domestic Violence and Byrne SCIP
3:00-4:00 PM

In the U.S., two public health crises intersect, threatening the health, safety, and equality of women: intimate partner violence (IPV) and gun violence. More than half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner, and 96% of murder-suicide victims are female. Firearms are used in more than 50% of these IPV-related homicides. This session will focus on the intersection of intimate partner violence and firearm lethality. In addition, this session will introduce the benefits of the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program (Byrne SCIP) and how funding can be diversified to combat this epidemic.

Jail and Prison Substance Use Disorder and Suicide
3:00-4:00 PM

Suicides constitute the highest category of non-"natural" deaths in jails at 29.9%.  While a lower percentage of persons in prison die from suicides (8.1%), that number is increasing. From 2001 to 2019, the number of suicides increased 85% in state prisons. These deaths do not include the disproportionate overdose death rate for persons recently releases from prisons and jails. Experts advise that there are no validated suicide risk assessment instruments that accurately identify all persons at risk for suicide.  In this session, we will reveal the major gap in most prison and jail suicide prevention programs, namely the failure to understand role of substance use disorder in suicides. Further, we will reveal the remedy, namely withdrawal management in jails, and MAT and post-release MAT in both jails and prisons.  The discussion will include the use of contraband drugs in prison and jail suicides and the remedy.

Break
4:00-4:15 PM
Closing Keynote with ONCDP Director Rahul Gupta 
4:15-5:30 PM

Dr. Rahul Gupta (invited) will speak about trends in drug trafficking and public health efforts to address the addiction crisis, including the Biden Administration’s whole-of-government approach in supporting states, local governments, and community-based organizations to interdict drugs and make quality, affordable treatment available to all who need it.

Wednesday

Wednesday, August 14

BJA and RSAT TTA Annual Meeting
9:15-10:15 AM

BJA will present grant announcements and program updates. RSAT TTA will share recently published curricula and toolkits, program successes and future training opportunities. The team will also highlight the Promising Practices Guidelines (PPGs) and the Fidelity Assessment process to assess Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program adherence to these guidelines.

Following the meeting there will be an open networking session for grant administrators and program leadership amongst themselves and with BJA and RSAT TTA staff.

Grants Management Training Day
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Please note: This session requires a separate registration. Register now.

 

This training is designed for new and experienced grant managers who administer federal grant programs, including the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) and the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners (RSAT) programs.  

 

The agenda is expected to include presentations from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Leadership Team, Office of Chief Financial Officer, DOJ Office of Civil Rights, regarding federal priorities, Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program implementation updates, top monitoring findings and getting ahead of them, changes to the 2 CFR 200 and the Federal Financial Guide. This training will also provide plenty of time for networking with your peers and feature best practices in states around subrecipient monitoring, grant reviewer selection and training, equity in grant making, preparing for audits, and financial management, using artificial intelligence to assist grants management practices as well as important policies and procedures.  

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This is your chance to spend time and network with your peers across the country and get your grant administration questions answered.   As a bonus, participants who attend both the grant administration track at the forum and grant management training day will receive a certification of completion.

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