20240723-173526-34

62 Phone Calls from Jan-Jun with 252 participants representing 57 agencies.

Objective 3: Expand the adoption of the national guidelines for post-conviction risk and need assessment and support implementation in up to six states.

1/4 – Call with Brian Mirasolo (Deputy Commissioner, Field Services), Mike Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs), and. Dr. Sarah Desmarais (Lead Writer on the National Guidelines; President, Policy Research Associates, Inc.) regarding the RFP draft and to provide feedback for producing the final, long-form version. (3 participants, 2 agencies)
1/4 – Virtual meeting with Minnesota's (MN) Risk and Needs Assessment sub-working group with representatives from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC), Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), and Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO) for drafting the RFP for the validation of the LS/CMI. The discussion primarily revolved around identifying the essential elements to be included in the RFP and outlining the subsequent steps for the project. (6 participants, 3 agencies).
1/4 – Virtual meeting with Wendy Spry (Tribal Liaison, MN DOC). This discussion focused primarily on providing education for the MN Tribal Nations members on the administration and implementation of the selected risk and needs instrument, LS/CMI. The importance of identifying racial and ethnic disparities and addressing current/potential roadblocks and challenges—both internal and external—were emphasized. Members discussed the need for a more tailored instrument, specifically for members of the MN Tribal Nations, versus conducting a separate validation of the LS/CMI to reflect the needs of the demographic more accurately. Members reviewed all communication and interactions between MN DOC and MN Tribal Nations, around LS/CMI specifically, since the previous meeting. Wendy Spry is set to attend MIAC’s first quarterly meeting on February 20–21 to discuss the specifics of identifying demographics of the MN Tribal Nation population in relation to the validation of the LS/CMI instrument and will report back to the group during the next meeting. (5 participants, 1 agency)·
1/16 – Call with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) 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 review of the expected timelines for items requiring BJA review and approval. (1 participant, 1 agency)
1/19 – Virtual meeting with Al Godfrey (Field Service Director, MN DOC). The discussion centered on the details of the MN Request for Proposals (RFP) and the MN subaward application, specifically addressing funding aspects and outlining the subsequent steps for the subaward funding application to support the validation of the LS/CMI. (1 participant, 1 agency)
1/29 – CSG Justice Center staff conducted Minnesota’s monthly working group meeting with representatives from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC), Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), and Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO). During the meeting, CSG Justice Center staff provided a brief overview of the rough draft for the RFP for the validation of the LS/CMI Risk and Needs Assessment Minnesota (MN) and continued discussions about the goals, objectives, and focus of the MN team’s TA strategy. (17 participants, 3 agencies)
1/30 – CSG Justice Center staff participated in the initial round of virtual training for the Minnesota Department of Corrections LS/CMI Introductory Workshop. This comprehensive workshop spans five days, with each session lasting 4.5 hours, concluding in mid-February. The primary goals of the workshop are understanding the purpose and use of the LS/CMI instrument, scoring methodologies, engaging in simulated LS/CMI interviews with normative feedback, collaborating on case planning with clients, exploring quality assurance measures, and mastering the successful scoring of assessments.
1/31 – CSG Justice Center staff participated in the second round of virtual training for the Minnesota Department of Corrections LS/CMI Introductory Workshop.
2/1 – CSG Justice Center staff attended and completed a virtual training for the Minnesota DOC LS/CMI Introductory Workshop. (12 participants, 3 agencies)
2/6 – CSG Justice Center staff attended and completed a virtual training for the Minnesota DOC LS/CMI Introductory Workshop. (12 participants, 3 agencies)
2/6 – Call with Dr. Andrew Harris (Professor, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, University of Massachusetts- Lowell) to discuss the National Risk Guidelines project. (1 participant, 1 agency)
2/8 – CSG Justice Center staff attended and completed a virtual training for the Minnesota DOC LS/CMI Introductory Workshop. (12 participants, 3 agencies)
2/12 – Call with Dr. Christopher Bavitz (Clinical Professor, Harvard Law School) to discuss the Risk Assessment Tools Database (RiskDB), a project of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. (1 participant, 1 agency)
2/13 – Call with Pamerson Ifill (Commissioner, Massachusetts Probation Service) and Michael Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs) to provide a brief overview of the National Risk Guidelines project and the status of technical assistance with MPS. (2 participants, 1 agency)
2/16 – Call with Dr. Laura Salerno (Director, Office of Compliance and Strategic Planning, New Jersey Department of Corrections) to discuss NJ DOC TA project updates and next steps. (1 participant, 1 agency)
2/16 – Monthly working group virtual meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, MN Tribal Nations, and MACPO. During the meeting, CSG Justice Center staff provided a brief update of the RFP draft outlining the validation details and requests of the LS/CMI Risk and Needs Assessment. Working group members also discussed potential trailer tools to be considered during the validation process, as well as the specific capabilities of MN’s integration systems for data entering and retrieving. Lastly, additional assistance requests from Tribal Nation representatives for CSG Justice Center staff were addressed. (17 participants, 4 agencies)
2/20 – Call with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) 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 review of the expected timelines for items requiring BJA review and approval. (1 participant, 1 agency)
2/22 – Call with Dr. Emily Salisbury (Director, Utah Criminal Justice Center; Associate Professor, College of Social Work) and Charles Robinson (Deputy Chief of the Probation & Pretrial Services Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts) to discuss the overview of the APPA presentation, as well as specific slides and areas of focus for each presenter, and to address any questions or concerns. (2 participants, 2 agencies)
2/23- Call with Minnesota’s Community Supervision Advisory Committee Meeting with representatives from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC), Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO). During the meeting, CSG Justice Center staff provided a brief overview of the National Guidelines project, an in-depth analysis of what TA will look like in Minnesota (MN), and began discussing the goals, objectives, and focus of the MN team’s TA strategy. (19 participants, 3 agencies)
2/29- Call with Julie Rud (Area Director, Field Services, MN DOC) to discuss the potential relevance, and benefits, of the National Guidelines pertaining to juvenile risk and needs assessment implementations. (1 participant, 1 agency)
3/6 – Phone call with Mike Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs, MPS) to discuss an upcoming planning meeting for focus group coordination. (1 participant, 1 agency)
3/8 – Virtual meeting with Mike Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs, MPS) to finalize scheduling and discuss objectives for upcoming focus group meetings. (1 participants, 1 agency)
3/8 – Attended the Learn@WorkLive: How 6 Minnesota Agencies Worked to Get Unstuck, Togetherwebinar hosted by the Alliance for Community and Justice (ACJI). The webinar featured Dr. Alexandra Walker (ACJI) and key leaders from Minnesota's correctional landscape, including Rachel L. Miller (MN DOC), Stephanie Buelow (Scott County Community Corrections), Shawn Trusten (Ramsey County Community Corrections), and Carter Diers (MN DOC). The discussion on the challenge of sustaining change efforts over time, with many initiatives fizzling out or being shelved for future attempts. Additionally, the speakers emphasized the importance of integrating implementation science into every stage of the process to ensure that change is both manageable and sustainable. The creation of a multi-agency implementation-focused community of practice was highlighted, allowing the introduction of implementation science concepts to 70 staff members across six different agencies, further amplifying their impact. (5 participants, 4 agencies)
3/11 – Virtual meeting with Mike Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs, MPS) to discuss the rapid response toward violent crime in MA. (1 participants, 1 agency)
3/11 – Call with Wendy Spry (Tribal Liaison, MN DOC) to conduct a debriefing session following the first quarterly meeting of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) held in February. During the meeting, Spry presented information on Technical Assistance (TA) in Minnesota, particularly focusing on the validation of the LS/CMI tool and its impact on the population of Minnesota Tribal Nations across various delivery systems. (1 participant, 1 agency)
3/12 – Virtual meeting with Dr. Laura Salerno (Director of the Office of Compliance and Strategic Planning) and Helena Tomé (Assistant Commissioner of Women’s Services) at NJ DOC. The TA team provided updates regarding next steps for hiring staff to conduct the assessments, having a technology platform to collect the assessment results, and upcoming meetings. Due to the process in NJ, the Human Resources team must find a suitable title for the hires and develop matching job descriptions. Additionally, all titles must be approved by one person in the Governor’s Office. (2 participants, 1 agency)
3/12 – Virtual meeting with the research partner for NJ DOC, Dr. Emily Salisbury (Director, Utah Criminal Justice Center; Associate Professor, College of Social Work, The University of Utah) to discuss general updates for the TA state team as well as any next steps regarding the validation and training strategy. (1 participants, 1 agency)
3/13 – Virtual peer meeting uniting all participating TA states. The meeting commenced with a comprehensive project overview, detailing aspects relevant to each TA site. A significant portion of the session was dedicated to collaborative discussions centered on three key areas: (1) prioritized guidelines in the TA process and the current status of TA initiatives, (2) addressing encountered TA challenges and strategies for overcoming them, (3) identifying future discussion topics for upcoming peer meetings. Valuable insights and feedback were exchanged among the project team and representatives from each TA site. (24 participants, 5 agencies)
3/15 – Virtual meeting with Michael Coelho (Deputy Director of Programs, MPS), Brian Mirasolo (Deputy Director of Field Services, MPS), and the project team members of a different Massachusetts initiative to discuss how another grant, for NIJ RNR Readiness, intersects with ours. (8 participants, 1 agency)
3/18 – Call with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) to discuss updates for the National Risk Guidelines project. During the call, the project team shared updates about each of the TA states, strategy updates for the dissemination of marketing materials, upcoming items for BJA review, BJA feedback and ideas for moving forward, and feedback received for the APPA winter institute presentation. (1 participant, 1 agency)
3/20- Call with Tracy Hudrlik (MN DOC) to discuss the RFP process and subaward submission details. (2 participants, 1 agency)
3/21 – Call with Will Cooley (Project Lead, Minnesota Justice Reinvestment Center) to discuss plans for virtual and in-person trainings to include a small panel with lived experience and local stakeholders in the field. (1 participants, 1 agency)
3/21 – Call with Carter Diers (MN DOC) to discuss ACA Proposal with MN DOC for the National Guidelines Project to gauge his interests in participating. He was interested and expressed wanting to be included on the proposal. (1 participants, 1 agency)
3/25 – Monthly working group virtual meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, MN Tribal Nations, and MACPO. During the meeting, CSG Justice Center staff provided a brief overview of MN’s TA application focusing on National Guidelines 5, 6, 7, and 9. Subsequently, updates on subaward requests and RFP finalization were shared, indicating progress in validation work and phase 2 related to Justice Reinvestment. The timeline for RFP responses review and scoring was outlined, followed by a discussion on the CSG Justice Center’s senior policy advisor’s involvement in the process. (16 participants, 4 agencies)
3/27 – Virtual focus group meeting with line-level probation officers representing the Boston Municipal and Quincy District court jurisdictions. The project team and MPS representatives extensively discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the ORAS tool, along with the challenges associated with administering the assessment and implementing the results through case planning. (5 participants, 1 agency)
3/29 –Virtual focus group meeting with line-level probation officers representing the Western MA jurisdiction. The project team and MPS representatives extensively discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the ORAS tool, along with the challenges associated with administering the assessment and implementing the results through case planning. (4 participants, 1 agency)
4/3 – Virtual focus group with line-level probation officers representing the Fitchburg District Court jurisdiction. The project team and MPS representatives extensively discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the ORAS tool, along with the challenges associated with administering the assessment and implementing the results through case planning. (5 participants, 1 agency)
4/3 – Call with the Moss Group and Dr. Emily Salisbury to introduce the rest of the team, discuss any new updates, identify areas for collaboration, and any next steps to best support the NJ DOC TA Team. (3 participants, 2 agencies)
4/15 – Call with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) to discuss updates for the National Risk Guidelines project. During the call, the project team shared updates about each of the TA states, strategy for the dissemination of marketing materials, upcoming items for BJA review, BJA feedback and ideas for moving forward, and upcoming and current items under BJA review. BJA has requested an update about TA requests received. (1 participant, 1 agency)
4/17 – Call with the San Diego County Public Defenders Office’s Post Conviction Relief (PCR) Team, Monique Carter (Chief Deputy, Training & Development, County of San Diego's Office of the Public Defender), Reem Khalil (Public Defender, County of San Diego's Office of the Public Defender), Kaitlyn McCarthy (Deputy Public Defender, County of San Diego's Office of the Public Defender), and Lacey Golling (Public Defender, County of San Diego's Office of the Public Defender), to discuss TA opportunities through the National Guidelines for Post-Conviction Risk and Needs Assessment project. San Diego County staff provided a brief overview of their team and recent changes to California state law as it pertains to those who are eligible for a sentence review under Penal Code section 1172.1. CSG Justice Center staff discussed several screener instruments that can be used for those eligible for sentence review. The project team will follow up with next steps for this TA request. (4 participants, 1 agency)
4/17 – Call with Phil Nunes at the International Community Justice Association (ICJA) to discuss opportunities for collaboration and to communicate about the project to their members. The project team shared a copy of the promotional toolkit for partners to distribute. ICJA will also work with our team on other speaking opportunities to connect with their members. (1 participant, 1 agency)
4/19 – Minnesota’s Community Supervision Advisory Committee (CSAC) Meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO. During the meeting, Minnesota CSAC discussed the specific capabilities of MN’s integration systems for data entering and retrieving and the Request for Information process for MN’s workload study. (19 participants, 3 agencies)
4/22 – Call with Mike Coelho (Deputy Commissioner, Programs, MPS) to discuss an upcoming planning meeting for focus group coordination. (1 participant, 1 agency)
4/22 – Call with Whitney Doody (Strategic Operations Manager, Center for Law Enforcement Safety and Wellness, Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR)) regarding the new National Prison Partnership (NPP) website, a project funded by BJA. As part of their content development efforts for the new website, they were interested in learning more about our project to be featured on the website. On April 22, the project team held a 30-minute call to share project goals, trainings, resources, future plans, logos, design guidelines, etc. Following the meeting, the project team shared links, PDF resources, and organizational logos. (5 participants, 1 agency)
4/26 – Monthly working group virtual meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, MN Tribal Nations, and MACPO. During the meeting, the working group discussed various pre-screening tools used by different systems, including Wisconsin pre-screeners, home-grown versions of assessment tools, and gender-informed risk need assessments. CSG Justice Center staff discussed the need for consistency in risk assessment practices and possible validation of screening tools, including considerations for statewide validation efforts and recognized the need for broader discussions on risk assessment tools' use, especially for sexual violence, domestic violence, and DUI cases. (17 participants, 4 agencies)
5/1 – CSG Justice Center staff attended Minnesota’s Corrections Services Technology Solutions (CSTS)working group meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO, where the CSTS Data Committee discussed their current project to enable recidivism reporting for CSTS clients, starting with individual agencies and potentially expanding to statewide reporting. Initially, agencies will run recidivism reports for their clients, using search filters or importing Excel lists of client IDs. This process will replicate existing recidivism reporting practices from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, utilizing MNCIS data integration. (14 attendees, and 3 agencies)
5/3 – Call with Julie Rud (Field Services Area Director, Minnesota Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation) to discuss Hennepin County RNA screener and trailer instruments. We discussed the validation process and results for Hennepin County’s LS/CMI RNA. (1 participant, 1 agency)
5/17 – CSG Justice Center staff attended an in-person Minnesota Phase II Working Group meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO monthly meeting to review and discuss updates to the case plan recommendations based on additional feedback from the master trainer group. (13 attendees, 3 agencies)
5/17– CSG Justice Center staff attended Minnesota’s Community Supervision Advisory Committee (CSAC) in-person meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO. During the meeting each working group within MN provided updates on each project and next steps. MN Data Committee provided a PPT on newest updates and questions for the committee surrounding MN’s data and case management system. (11 participants, 3 agencies)
5/20– Call with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) and Luis Diaz (Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Justice Assistance) to discuss updates for the National Risk Guidelines project. During the call the project team provided updates about each TA state, upcoming presentation and conference attendance, and upcoming and current items under BJA review. BJA has requested an update about TA requests received, the project team will develop a form to provide requests for BJA review (2 participant, 1 agency)
5/30– Call with the Montana Department of Corrections to provide a project overview and discuss potential TA opportunities based on the agency needs, with the team primarily interested in discussing the topics of interrater reliability and fidelity. (3 participants, 1 agency)
6/3 – CSG Justice Center staff conducted a monthly working group meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO. During the meeting, the working group explored various risk assessment screening instruments used across counties, with representatives from Hennepin and Ramsey County sharing their respective approaches. General questions arose about the universal application and validation of these instruments. Specific county practices were highlighted, such as Aitkin's and Isanti's handling of DWIs and misdemeanors. Key points emphasized the importance of effective, equitable instruments and local validation. The RFP for the validation of the LS/CMI closed with five proposals submitted, and representatives from all three delivery systems will create a second working group to review applications, with an expected turnaround time of 2-3 weeks. (17 participants, 3 agencies)
6/4 – CSG Justice Center staff held a virtual meeting with MPS core team members, Brian Mirasolo (Deputy Director, Field Services) and Mike Coelho (Deputy Director, Programs), along with Dr. Sarah Desmarais (President, Policy Research Associates, Inc.), to discuss the three RFP proposals and to provide recommendations for the most appropriate choice for their re-validation work. (3 participants, 2 agencies)
6/5 – CSG Justice Center staff held a virtual planning session with Patti Gavin (Director of Training, Massachusetts Probation Service) and Jason Patrissi (Regional Supervisor, Massachusetts Probation Service) to prepare for the second virtual peer session focused on the topic of race equity. (2 participants, 1 agency)
6/11 – CSG Justice Center staff held a virtual meeting with Dr. Emily Salisbury (Director of the Utah Criminal Justice Center; Associate Professor, College of Social Work) to discuss contract development. (1 participant, 1 agency)
6/12 – CSG Justice Center staff attended Minnesota’s Community Supervision Advisory Committee (CSAC) virtual meeting with representatives from MN DOC, MACCAC, and MACPO. During the meeting each working group within MN provided updates on their project and next steps. Members of CSAC voted to move forward with the recommendations from the Minnesota’s Corrections Services Technology Solutions (CSTS) working group. CSTS Data Committee’s recommendations include their current project to enable recidivism reporting for CSTS clients, starting with individual agencies and potentially expanding to statewide reporting. Additionally, agencies will run recidivism reports for their clients, using search filters or importing Excel lists of client IDs. This process will replicate existing recidivism reporting practices from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, utilizing Minnesota Court Information System data integration. (14 participants, 3 agencies)
6/24 – CSG Justice Center staff conducted a virtual meeting with Brian Mirasolo (Deputy Director of Field Services, Massachusetts Probation Service) to provide an update on the status of the event page for the National Association of Probation Executives (NAPE) presentation taking place in July. (1 participant, 1 agency)
6/25 – CSG Justice Center staff attended a virtual planning session with the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP) to discuss the timeline, planning calls, and deliverables for the webinar scheduled in September. (3 participants, 1 agency)
6/26 – CSG Justice Center staff, along with Dr. Sarah Desmarais (President, Policy Research Associates, Inc.), conducted a virtual meeting with Brian Mirasolo (Deputy Director of Field Services, Massachusetts Probation Service) and Mike Coelho (Deputy Director of Programs, Massachusetts Probation Service) to discuss evaluating the three RFP proposals submitted for their revalidation project. A scoring sheet was provided to all attendees to complete and send back to MPS for scoring. MPS will determine the top two selections and begin conducting virtual proposal presentations to finalize their vendor selection. (3 participants, 2 agencies)
6/26 – CSG Justice Center staff, along with Dr. Sarah Desmarais (President, Policy Research Associates, Inc.), held a virtual working group meeting with the Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS) to discuss all recent updates on the revalidation process, debrief completed focus group meetings, strategize logistics for the remaining focus group meetings, and discuss additional instruments that could be implemented and tailored for specific supervision populations. (7 participants, 2 agencies)
6/26 – CSG Justice Center staff hosted the second virtual peer meeting session, uniting all participating TA states. The session was dedicated to collaborative discussion centered on the topic of race equity, in relation to the administration and implementation of risk and needs assessment instruments and organizational culture. The session featured guest speakers, which included a senior policy advisor from our organization to discuss what cultural change looks like in an organization, and members of the MPS training division to discuss approaches to improving race equity in your work. Valuable insight and feedback were exchanged among the project team and representatives from the TA states. (10 participants, 5 agencies)
6/27 – CSG Justice Center staff held a virtual meeting with Dr. Emily Salisbury (Director of the Utah Criminal Justice Center; Associate Professor, College of Social Work) to discuss contract development. (1 participant, 1 agency)