In October, CSG Justice Center staff continued to socialize the guidelines and engage key partners in the field, provide technical assistance (TA) to selected states, further develop outreach strategies, update language for rolling applications for TA, and identify project next steps.?
The project team submitted two proposals for APPA?s 2024 Winter Training Institute, taking place February 25?28, 2024, in Seattle, WA. One proposal is for an in-person workshop session that aims to describe the benefits of adhering to the national guidelines, discuss submissions to the supplementary self-assessment tool, identify the first group of states receiving technical assistance and their areas of priority, and hear from a group of panelists who are prominent leaders in the field on related research, specific challenges agencies have encountered, and efforts to adopt the national guidelines. Originally, the in-person presentation would have been a plenary; however, APPA told the CSG Justice Center team that they had completed the plenary agenda, and this presentation would have to be a workshop. The second proposal was submitted for a virtual session, which, if accepted, will be pre-recorded and will live on the APPA app throughout the duration of the event. The virtual session aims to provide an overview of the national guidelines project, describe the benefits of adhering to the national guidelines, discuss the supplementary self-assessment tool, provide information about how agencies can apply for technical assistance, identify the first group of states receiving technical assistance and their areas of priority, and hear from a group of panelists who are prominent leaders in the field on related research, specific challenges agencies have encountered, and efforts to adopt the national guidelines. The proposal drafts were shared with BJA on October 9 for review, and BJA approved them on October 13. Additionally, the CSG Justice Center team has been asked to speak at the APPA New Leaders group during that time.
The project team is starting to draft ideas for the communication templates to be used with states to share information about risk and needs assessment instruments, specifically, their use and understanding for different audiences. A draft is being developed and will be curated in the coming weeks for each audience group.
TA applications for the national guidelines project will be available on a rolling basis. Edits are being finalized to the language and will be shared with BJA for updating.
Technical Assistance (TA) States:
Massachusetts Probation Service (MPS)
On October 9, 2023, CSG Justice Center staff conducted a phone call?with the deputy commissioner of Field Services of the Massachusetts Probation Service to discuss updates to the completion of the RFP.
On October 30 and 31, CSG Justice Center staff conducted an in-person site visit with MPS in Boston, MA, to conduct focus groups with interagency staff. During the focus groups, CSG Justice Center staff provided an extensive overview of the National Guidelines project and MPS?s TA application request to all focus group participants. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff discussed, in-depth, the current challenges and barriers to the use of the agency?s risk and needs assessment instrument and solicited vital feedback from MPS staff members. In concluding the site visit, CSG Justice Center staff held a debrief session with the MPS core team on the current findings, along with action items and next steps to focus on going forward in the TA process.
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Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC),?Minnesota Association of Community Corrections Act Counties (MACCAC), and Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers (MACPO)
On October 9, 2023, CSG Justice Center staff attended a virtual meeting with the MN DOC, MACCAC, MACPO, and the Minnesota Tribal Nations representative. During the virtual meeting, the group discussed the decision to move forward with implementation, validation, and next steps of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) risk and needs assessment (RNA) instrument across all three delivery systems. Discussion focused on the education for MN Tribal Nations regarding the LS/CMI, emphasized the importance of the examination of race and ethnicity, identified current roadblocks and challenges?both internal and external?and if a separate risk and needs assessment instrument needs to be developed specifically for MN Tribal Nations or if a separate validation of the chosen instrument will suffice. The group reviewed what further communication regarding the chosen RNA instrument has occurred, if any, between the MN DOC and MN Tribal Nations concerning the LS/CMI. CSG Justice Center staff concluded the conversation by discussing barriers to prior efforts to develop a uniform approach to assessing and determining risk level, as well as next steps for validation of the LS/CMI. CSG Justice Center staff will contact the president of Policy Research Associates, Inc. for potential dates for virtual working group meetings in November to discuss next steps for the validation and drafting of the RFP for the LS/CMI. There were 22 attendees at this virtual meeting.?
On October 30, 2023, CSG Justice Center staff held a phone call with the Field Services director of the Minnesota Department of Corrections to discuss a potential site visit in November 2023 and validation process of the LS/CMI.?
New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ DOC)
In October, CSG Justice Center staff developed an overview of the technical assistance services that the CSG Justice Center will provide to the NJ DOC. This overview is being finalized by the project team and will be shared with the NJ DOC team. The purpose of this overview is to have the team review what additional services may be needed through a consultant.
In October, NJ DOC met with an associate professor of social work at the University of Utah and director of the Utah Criminal Justice Center to further discuss NJ DOC and her team?s needs regarding the validation, training, and implementation of the WRNA. NJ DOC is looking into hiring social workers to deliver the WRNA. Her team will work to provide cost estimates for the validation as they receive additional information from NJ DOC.
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