Strategic Initiatives Unit

FY24 Q2 Engagement Activities
Met or corresponded with grantee 5 times between January – April on 3/4, 3/7, /15, 3/18, 3/25, 2024 in addition to invites to participate in grantee cohort call
Summary of Successes
• None identified

Summary of Challenges
• Determine if they need a data evaluator to join the team, temporarily; and
• If the data they are capturing is telling the "stories" that will help get buy-in.
• Create program sustainability through identifying key performance measures

On June 27th, 2024, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) held their annual convening of community partners and data evaluators. The CHJ TA coach for the grantee spent the morning meeting their community EMS partner to discuss their mobile integrated health initiative. They then met with the behavioral health community provider and spoke with their recovery coaches about their community outreach and post overdose response strategy.

RED-T Advisory Board Meeting #2
The Advisory Board members were asked for their thoughts on the second draft of the Racial Equity in Deflection Framework document (part of a larger toolkit, called the RED-T)

Presentation at the National Co-responder Alliance Conference 2024

Title: Connection through Deflection: Obtaining Buy-In and Engagement from Officers, Leaders, and the Community

Work will be beginning this spring to assist the VIDC revamp its training curriculum
July-Dec. 2024: Assisted in identifying speakers for upcoming programs.

Working with Sandstorm marketing firm, we will develop messages designed to resonate with difficult to reach/difficult to engage groups to help promote more diverse and inclusive juries
Juyl-Dec. 2024:Following an open RFP process we contracted with Sandstorm to create a message and conduct related market testing. That messaging and testing is complete, and we are currently working with them to develop the final images and materials that will be a part of a messaging toolkit.

Workload implementation project. We are working with the Travis County courts, local government leadership, the Travis County Public Defender’s Office, and the Travis County managed assigned counsel program to examine current workloads for public defense lawyers and identify future staff needs for both defender groups. This project is being carried out in cooperation with CJI. NACDL is providing support for the project’s initial phases, including meetings with key stakeholders to identify current practices and data resources and establish the goals of our TA assistance.

Provided funding to send 2 representatives from our Santa Cruz Public Defender Office site to a training hosted by the North Carolina IDS on how to develop and launch holistic defense services in public defense communities that previously operated traditional or assigned counsel delivery models. This allowed us to share the expertise and experience of our Santa Cruz project work with another state. The training, Using Social Workers as Part of a Holistic Defense Practice, was held April 25 and 26, in Chapel Hill, NC.

The Restorative Justice Education in Treatment Courts project includes a pilot site collaborating with a mid-coast Maine drug treatment court (Belfast, ME) and a local community-based restorative justice center (Restorative Justice Project Maine) to help the Maine drug court infuse restorative justice principles and practices into the program approach. Robert Sand and Marc Wennberg hosted a three-day planning summit in Maine in late June 2024.

Provided faculty to facilitate two listening sessions on the topic of overdose fatality review teams in Indian country. 33 pre-written questions were prepared, covering a wide range of topics related to the overdose epidemic, OFRs, tribal engagement, cultural integration, and cultural integration, collaboration, data sharing, program effectiveness, and innovative approaches. Outcomes were categorized into two categories: Barriers that Undermine OFR Implementation and Tribal Participation in Neighboring OFRs, and Strategies to Strengthen OFR Implementation in Tribal Participation.