Community-based organizations

CHJ Office Hours take place every 3rd Friday of the month. These Office Hours are meant for sites to come and ask any questions or concerns that they may have. There will be members of the CHJ team, with appearances from various subject matter experts or other COSSUP TTA providers, present for the duration of the call to assist with any topics/questions that are brought up. Any site can join throughout the hour to speak with the CHJ team.

The Deflection Mentoring Initiative provides communities interested in starting deflection programs the opportunity to learn from established or innovative programs that have shown success in meeting the treatment needs of individuals with a substance use disorder, and in some cases an overdose. During site visits, mentors will provide opportunities for observation and peer-to-peer exchanges, including opportunities to observe the law enforcement/first responder diversion or referral program in action and allowing mentee sites to engage with program personnel.

NCORJ hosted an information session for the subaward solicitation to support the development of new restorative justice programs or the expansion of existing restorative justice programs. The goal of the program implementation subaward is to increase access to restorative justice opportunities and services across different points of the criminal legal system continuum.

During this reporting period, IIR received approval from DOJ to proceed with hosting the Hate Crimes Grantee Conference that was held on September 23-25, 2024, in Birmingham, Alabama. More than 250 participants attended the 2½-day conference, which was comprised of multiple plenary sessions as well as more than 22 breakout sessions for Shepard/Byrd, Emmett Till, Collaborative Approaches, and Community-based Approaches grantees representing community-based organizations and law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies from around the country.

NCORJ hosted a webinar about restorative justice legislation and the key components for establishing legal frameworks that support the implementation, expansion, and sustainability of restorative justice in the criminal legal context.

NCORJ is hosting a webinar focusing on how restorative justice approaches are adapted and implemented to meet participants’ needs related to neurodiversity and mental health. By integrating principles of trauma-informed care and recognizing the diversity of human experiences and abilities, restorative justice can offer a more holistic and compassionate approach to addressing harm, promoting accountability, and supporting the mental health and well-being of individuals within communities.

NCORJ is hosting a webinar series that highlights restorative justice work in different geographic regions across the United States. Attendees are invited to listen and learn about different implementation models from restorative justice practitioners, researchers, community-based organizations, and system actors.

The TA Center participated in the 2024 SCA. All 13 of the TA Center's FY24 grantees were in attendance. In total, in addition to 67 community-based and Smart Reentry grantees. The TA Center facilitated the following conference sessions: “Culturally Responsive Behavioral Health Care Access in Reentry,” and “The Importance of Effective Corrections and Community-Based Organization Relationships.” Additionally, TA Center staff and subject matter experts (SMEs) hosted three breakout sessions.

In December 2024 the TA Center met with 19 grantees (before and after the national 2024 Second Chance Act conference in Philadelphia).

Amidst calls for police reform, states, municipalities, and law enforcement agencies across the United States are adopting new policies and practices to track and regulate officers’ engagement in traffic stop and enforcement activities. While the thorough collection of stop and enforcement data is critical for examining the equity and effectiveness of police practices, the examination of these data requires methodologically robust analyses that can be challenging for agencies to manage without specialized training in data analysis and statistical strategies.