TTA recipients (public defender offices), chosen through a highly selective application process, receive twelve months of intensive, hands-on assistance focusing on those particular aspects of holistic defense identified by the recipient office. Integrating holistic defense into any public defender office is a transformative process and one that often happens incrementally. As such, we expect applicant offices to focus their requests for assistance either on a specific area or on those areas needing the most support and with the greatest potential for change.
Regardless of the focus area identified, we work with each of the offices chosen to create a long-term plan to further develop all aspects of holistic defense well after the technical assistance has formally ended. Our technical assistance work with each office varies. For some, our assistance represents the beginning of a much longer process of transitioning to a more holistic approach. For others, our assistance is simply another step in a process that is already well underway. But in all cases, The Center will leverage the experience of The Bronx Defenders and the other offices with which it has worked over the years to tailor a plan and set of recommendations for next steps beyond the year long technical assistance period.
While the exact type of assistance each office will receive will depend on the precise nature of the request made, services may include, for example:
• A comprehensive evaluation of the current office structure and assessment of existing holistic practices, including site visits by members of The Bronx Defenders;
• Site visits to The Bronx Defenders;
• Strategy sessions with office heads or senior management to identify realistic goals to be accomplished during the course of the assistance;
• Assistance in assessing client needs;
• A community resource mapping exercise to determine existing resources in the community;
• Assistance in identifying new practice areas based on needs assessment;
• Provision of training in these substantive practice areas;
• Training for staff in cross-disciplinary communication;
• Creation of a team-structured office;
• Introduction of an interdisciplinary model of case conferencing;
• Developing strategies for connecting with and beginning to understand the community served by the office;
• Assistance in developing funding strategies for sustaining a holistic practice;
• Development of performance measures.
As part of our on-going one-year grant of technical assistance in all aspects of holistic defense to the Office of the Public Defender for Tulsa County, Oklahoma several members of the Tulsa Office travelled to Bronx, New York to conduct several days of on-site study, evaluation, guidance, and training in various aspects of holistic defense.
Please check the box next to the following questions if the answer is 'yes'.
Please enter the applicable Event Date if there is an Event associated with this TTA.
When entering an Event Date, the Time is also required.
If the TTA is targeted to a particular audience or location, please complete the questions below.
Milestones are an element, activity, work product, or key task associated with completing the TTA (e.g. kick-off meeting, collect data from stake holders, deliver initial data analysis).
Please complete the fields below, if applicable, to create a milestone for this TTA.
Please respond to the Performance Metrics below. The Performance Metrics questions are based on the TTA Type indicated in the General Information section of the TTA.
Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:
- General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
By submitting this application to BJA NTTAC, I understand that upon approval of this application for TTA, the requestor agrees to keep BJA NTTAC informed of any circumstances that may impact the delivery of the TTA, including changes in the date of the event, event cancellation, or difficulties communicating with the assigned TTA provider.
Please call [site:phone] if you need further assistance completing this application.