In November, CSG Justice Center staff continued to socialize the guidelines and engage key partners in the field, provide technical assistance (TA) to selected states, further brainstorm outreach strategies, update language for TA requests, review self-assessment tool submissions, develop a one-pager for a BJA-funded event, and identify project next steps.?
The project team reviewed the draft of the communication templates to be used with states to share information about risk and needs assessment instruments, specifically, their use and understanding by the audience. The draft will be further developed and curated in the coming months for each audience group.
On November 27,?CSG Justice Center staff held a call with a senior policy advisor at BJA to discuss updates for the national risk guidelines project. During the call, the project team shared updates about each of the TA states, changes to the TA request language, new self-assessment tool submissions received, upcoming presentations and conferences, an invitation for submitting a journal article, outreach strategies, and a potential peer learning session.
There was one Level 1 TA request from the Washington Department of Corrections (WA DOC) to discuss the national risk guidelines project. The team will be meeting with WA DOC staff in December.
Two self-assessment tool submissions were received, one from Georgia HCF Preventive Services Inc. and one from WA DOC in preparation for our meeting with them next month.
TA requests for the national guidelines project will be available on a rolling basis. While making changes to the language and considering feedback from TA states, the project team worked to improve the TA request process. TA requests will now all be received through the online form, and the project team will assign a TA level and submit it to BJA for review and approval. This is a different process from the previous one, which required people to apply for a specific TA level. Any applicable documentation will be requested from a state after the team has reviewed the TA request.
The project team was invited to submit a journal article for Journal of Community Justice at the International Community Justice Association (ICJA). After discussion with BJA, the team will aim to submit the journal article entry for the summer edition?thus allowing for a 3?7-week review period from BJA.?
On November 30, the required forms were completed to confirm the APPA in-person and virtual conference presentation acceptances.?
?At the end of November, an opportunity became available to share information about BJA-funded initiatives at the 50-State Summit event taking place the first week in December. The project team developed a one-page document to share information about the national risk guidelines project. All language and images for the one-pager were previously reviewed by BJA, as they were taken directly from the website. Additionally, the QR code to the project page was added for attendees to easily access the information. The document was submitted to BJA for final review and approval. BJA noted they would like the BJA logo added. This document was completed at the end of the month in time for the BJA-funded event.
Technical Assistance (TA) States:
Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS)
On November 13, 2023, CSG Justice Center staff received the first draft of the Request for Proposal (RFP) from MPS. Due to scheduling conflicts, the November working group meeting was rescheduled for December 11, 2023.?The?RFP draft is being reviewed by the project team, along with the?president of Policy Research Associates, Inc., to provide feedback, which will be shared with the MPS team during the December working group meeting. CSG Justice Center staff, in coordination with MPS, will finalize the timeline for the RFP and re-validation in the coming weeks.
Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC),?Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), and Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO)?
On November 28, 2023, CSG Justice Center staff attended the monthly virtual working group meeting with the MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO representatives. During the virtual meeting, the group discussed the RFP process and timeline for the validation of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) risk and needs assessment (RNA). The conversation centered on the formulation of the RFP, and the team assigned a secondary working group, comprising representatives from each of the three delivery systems, to concentrate on refining the RFP process. The group reviewed what other trailer tools each delivery system was using in conjunction with the LS/CMI. It was determined that CSG Justice Center staff will need to create a survey to disperse to all supervisors within all three delivery systems to obtain information on which RNA tools they are all using. CSG Justice Center staff concluded the conversation by discussing next steps for validation of the LS/CMI and scheduled a virtual meeting with the president of Policy Research Associates, Inc. on December 19, 2023. CSG Justice Center staff have a meeting scheduled for December 18, 2023, with the Minnesota Tribal Nations to discuss a possible separate validation process for their population. There were 17 attendees at this virtual meeting.?
New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ DOC)
In November, the project team connected with NJ DOC to set up a monthly TA call. NJ DOC put together a packet of information to submit to their commissioner for approval to move forward with the next steps for this project and the work with the associate professor of social work at the University of Utah and director of the Utah Criminal Justice Center. The team was able to connect via email; however, due to scheduling conflicts the next team call will take place in December.
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