vaca

"Objective 7: Develop trainings, resources, and communities of practice to implement standards.   In April, CSG Justice Center staff continued planning for the Advancing Data in Corrections Conference for August 2024 by submitting documents to BJA for approval.

"Objective 4: Establish core competencies and standards for developing hiring materials and resources for CAs and DOC leadership to assist in hiring qualified analysts and for trainings CAs in software tools, key methodological topics, and data sharing.    In April, CSG Justice Center staff continued developing the first three self-guided online courses for the Virtual Academy program.

Objective 4: Establish core competencies and standards for developing hiring materials and resources for CAs and DOC leadership to assist in hiring qualified analysts and for trainings CAs in software tools, key methodological topics, and data sharing.   In March, CSG Justice Center staff continued developing courses, such as data quality, with the goal of gathering feedback prior to the summer conference. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff drafted the first lesson for the Virtual Academy program, which is an introduction to R.

Objective 7: Develop trainings, resources, and communities of practice to implement standards.   In March, CSG Justice Center staff continued organizing the Virtual Academy Summer Conference for August 2024. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff spoke with both Correctional Leaders Association (CLA) and the American Correctional Association (ACA) staff to discuss possibly hosting the conference during the ACA conference.

"Objective 7: Develop trainings, resources, and communities of practice to implement standards.   In February, CSG Justice Center staff took proactive steps toward organizing the Virtual Academy Conference in August 2024, including communicating with Correctional Leaders Association (CLA) about the event and establishing internal committees dedicated to the program's key goals and objectives. The committees are August In-person Event, Modules, Core Competencies, Community Forum, Webinars/Seminars/Analyst Forum, Office Hours, Targeted TA, Branding, and Website. "

"Objective 4: Establish core competencies and standards for developing hiring materials and resources for CAs and DOC leadership to assist in hiring qualified analysts and for trainings CAs in software tools, key methodological topics, and data sharing.   In February, CSG Justice Center staff finalized the community forum for internal review. CSG Justice Center staff also selected two courses and a selection of lessons to be showcased first, with the goal of gathering feedback on these courses and lessons before and at the August conference.

"Objective 7: Develop trainings, resources, and communities of practice to implement standards.   In January, CSG Justice Center staff presented at the American Correctional Association (ACA) conference at the National Harbor in Maryland. The presentation focused on further disseminating information on the VACA program for corrections  Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff began preparing for the VACA Conference in August 2024 by establishing multiple committees dedicated to the program’s key goals and objectives.

"9/18/23 - Meeting with Jeffrey Locke (Senior Policy Advisor, BJA) and Ben Shelor (Policy Advisor, BJA) to discuss the engagement questionnaire and the kickoff webinar. Â

In December, CSG Justice Center staff finalized engagement questionnaire results and prepared presentation
materials for the ACA conference presentation on January 6, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland, to further disseminate information on the VACA program for the field of corrections. The final summarized results of the engagement questionnaire were shared with BJA.

In November, CSG Justice Center staff held an introductory webinar for the VACA program. The webinar provided an overview of the services and materials that will be offered to corrections analysts and research directors by the VACA program. Additionally, webinar attendees heard from the research director at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on how he built analytic and research capacity for the states DOC
?The webinar was attended by 154 participants representing 41 states.