Following several occasions in late 2017 where the NCJA provided information about training and technical assistance available to under the new Strategic Planning TTA Program to help states meet new Byrne JAG strategic planning requirements, the Hawaii Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division (the state's SAA) contacted the NCJA Program Manager to request strategic planning TTA.
The first request was made informally by email on January 8, 2018 and followed-up later with a formal request submitted through the NCJA's online TTA request form.The SAA indicated that they were looking for a multifaceted approach to TTA, to include onsite training for staff and decision makers, facilitation of onsite focus groups and coordination with staff during planning, evaluation and final presentation of plan to governing board. The NCJA Project Manager responded to the request and arranged conference calls to gather further details about state need and potential scheduling for onsite visits.
On January 22, 2018, the Hawaii SAA participated in a conference call with member SAAs in the western region to discuss potential locations for regional strategic planning trainings to be held in 2018. Hawaii offered to host one of these meetings in order to make travel more convenient for SAAs located in far western areas (Alaska, American Samoa, Guam and Hawaii).
On February 8, 2018, the NCJA Project Manager held a conference call with the Hawaii team in which they discussed hosting a regional training in Hawaii to serve HI, AS, GU, AK, and Michigan. The Hawaii JAG Advisory Board was meeting on March 20 to review upcoming planning requirements, how to act on new plan, engagement strategies, and utilizing an evidence based approach to resource allocation. The team requested information about implementation of evidence-based practices and requested sample focus group questions for its advisory group. The NCJA Project manager and Hawaii SAA also discussed the development of an online stakeholder survey. The NCJA team would help Hawaii refine the questionnaire and build the survey. Hawaii would distribute the survey via its various listservs. And the NCJA would analyze the data and report on findings. Finally, the Hawaii team requested onsite TTA for both a regional training with the other states/territories and also a full week of TTA support to conduct focus groups on each island/county.
On March 14, 2018, the NCJA Project Manager and HI SAA team held a conference call to discuss meeting location for the regional training, since inquiries were made at potential locations. Regional training dates for 2018 were also confimed (there would be one held in Tampa in April; one held in Ft. Worth in July; and one held in Minneapolis in September). There was also a discussion of focus groups, scheduled for week of June 11, 2018. The six-day schedule would include five focus groups and interisland travel. TTA provider will offer train the trainer to SAA staff prior to commencing focus groups to minimize the length of time for TTA provider to be onsite. Envision 2 - 3 days onsite support and then handing over facilitation to the SAA alone.
The NCJA Project manager reached out to the HI SAA on March 19 to determine if the SAA needed any further information prior to their March 20 Advisory Meeting. The NCJA Project Manager followed-up again on March 29, 2018 to discuss the stakeholder survey and schedule onsite visits.
During March and April of 2018, Working with the NCJA, CPJAD staff created a 29-question survey, which was distributed to CPJAD’s stakeholder groups through the CPJAD listserv, professional coalitions, and through individual email messages beginning May 1, 2018. The survey closed on May 18, 2018 with 231 responses from around the state and across all elements of the justice system, including: Law enforcement; Prosecution; Parole/probation/community corrections; Victims services/assistance; Corrections; Education/youth programs; Social services (housing, employment, childcare, insurance benefits, etc.); Courts; Substance Abuse; Juvenile Justice; Forensic Science; Defense; Mental Health; and more. The survey was designed so that responses could be sorted by respondents’ roles within the criminal justice system, and areas served by respondent agency.
The NCJA staff analyzed the data and submitted a report summarizing findings in preparation for the Hawaii focus group meetings in June 2018. Analysis focused on finding consensus around state and federal Byrne JAG purpose areas in greatest need of limited funds and determining which initiatives in each purpose area were viewed as most critical to Hawaii’s state and local criminal justice systems. In addition, the State of Hawaii has adopted eight State Priority Areas and determining if changes needed to be made to this list was also desired.
On May 24, 2018, the NCJA Project Manager and HI SAA team exchanged emails to review and provide input on the planned agenda for the focus groups, which werre scheduled June 12-19.
The following day, the teams held a conference call to review final draft of agenda and discuss goals for the meeting. In addition, there was a diiscussion about new technology that may be used for the focus group to integrate responses in real time. A preliminary draft analysis of stakeholder survey data distributed to SAA and TTA team members for discussion/planning for focus groups was sent on this date.
From June 12 - 20, 2018, the NCJA staff collaborated with the Hawaii team to develop an agenda for facilitated focus groups to be delivered for each county. The first day of the onsite visit included staff training, moderator prep, agenda reveiw, integration of cellphone polling technology. TTA team facilitated focus groups in Hawaii counties to incl: Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii East, Hawaii West. A planning meeting was held on June 14 to review progress to date for two focus groups completed. The HI team facilitated a final focus group without facilitators on June 20, 2018 in Oahu. A report was being developed regarding data collected from cell phone polling and facilitated focus group discussions at the first three sites.
On July 25 and 26, the Hawaii SAA team attended the second of three regional trainings that were held in 2018, this one being in Ft. Worth, TX immediately following the National Forum on Criminal Justice. The purpose of this training was to provide SAAs with hands-on TTA on the elements of effective strategic planning, data analysis for policy and program evaluation, implementation of evidence-based practices, and coordination with other components of the criminal and juvenile justice system in order to meet the new FY2019 requirement of a comprehensive statewide strategic plan. The training was hosted in partnership with
with the National Governors Association (NGA), the National Association of Counties (NACo), and SEARCH.
On August 6, 2018, the NCJA Project Manager followed-up with the Hawaii team regarding TTA needs while NCJA staff prepared a final report on the previously mentioned stakeholder survey. On August 20, 2018, a summary of materials from the Kona/Hilo sessions as well as session facilitated by the SAA were provided to the NCJA team.
On August 27, the NCJA and HI SAA teams participated in a conference call to discuss follow up to the Focus Group series. Through the survey and focus groups, the following priorities were identified: behavioral health treatment, assessment, housing, and community collaboration. Because these were new priorities, the SAA team is considering ways to approach them in the planning process. The NCJA staff recommended using the summary from survey and focus group to narrow focus before posing the question to their advisory group when they met on September 11. It was advised that they use the council meeting to further refine the message and narrow scope of identified priorities even more. The SAA team would develop and review draft agenda for follow-up meeting with the Hawaii planning council.
On August 29, the NCJA team provided the HI SAA team with a copy of the JAG spending profiles for several states in order to compare how states allocate their Byrne JAG funds. It was also intended to demonstrate ways that the SAA can narrow priorities and release funds to specific categories or desired programs or evidence-based practices.
Analysis of findings from the focu group began on September 28 when the SAA provided feedback, notes and questions to the draft summary report. The NCJA staff would review and respond. On October 11, th NCJA team requested additional clarification from the SAA regarding their notes and comments to the report. There was a delay in obtaining request information, however, as the staff person with the notes was out of office on maternity leave.
On October 16, the NCJA and SAA team reviewed and edited the draft report. On November 7, the final summary report was completed for stakeholder survey as well as the June focus groups. General feedback is positive and these edits were intended to improve the ability for a layman to read and understand the process that occurred to lead up to plan development.
The Hawaii SAA is participating in the first cohort of the Leadership Academy (class of 2019).
March 27, 2020 - check in call with the Hawaii team. Review of 2018 & 2019 state plans as submitted to BJA and discussion of progress towards implementation. The SAA has not yet begun implementation of their 2019 plan that resulted from the onsite conducted previously. They may request additional TTA to engage the participants of previous focus groups for ongoing and sustained engagement.
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