The NCJA Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 23: Engaging Tribal Communities: A New Mexico Perspective Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

This episode of The NCJA Podcast focuses on how to meaningfully engage with tribes, how to build trust, and other important components for consideration in working with tribal nations. As tribes are all diverse, and not monoliths, the main intention of the episode is not to generalize too broadly but rather to serve as a starting point for individuals who want to intentionally engage with tribes. Join Program Manager Amanda Blasko, Melody Delmar, special projects coordinator for the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department and Interim Chair for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives task force and Reycita Billie, PSAP supervisor for the Navajo Police Department and temporary MMIP Liaison for this engaging conversation.

Episode 22: Oklahoma’s Youth Mobile Crisis Response System: A Promising Model of Crisis Intervention May 16, 2023

Show notes

In Episode 22 of The NCJA Podcast, NCJA Senior Program Manager Simone Greene speaks with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services' Senior Program Manager Terrence Spain and Kelly Perry, Senior Manager of Child and Adolescent Crisis Services. Learn about Oklahoma’s youth mobile crisis response system: how it started, how it functions, and how the state responds, even in rural counties, within one hour. Additionally, Kelly and Terrence discuss how the youth mobile crisis system feeds into the larger network of Oklahoma Systems of Care and provide advice on where to start in the creation of a crisis response and stabilization system of this scale.

Episode 21: Setting Priorities for Strategic Planning Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

In this episode of the NCJA podcast, Program Manager Amanda Blasko discusses priority setting with Allison Badger, program director for the Center for Justice Planning. This conversation highlights the importance of setting priorities within the strategic planning process, pinpoints the integral components of stakeholder engagement and data, and provides advice on navigating board and stakeholder dynamics and the impact of long-term grantees on this stage of the strategic planning process.

Episode 20: Community Engagement: A Guide to Meaningful Relationship Building Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

NCJA Program Managers Amanda Blasko and Amir Chapel discuss community engagement: what this phrase really means, and how to engage individuals and organizations meaningfully. Topics covered in this episode include challenges and barriers to engaging the community in terms of process and thinking outside the standard box of practices, how to engage individuals and/or organizations from marginalized communities who have been historically shut out of grant and government processes or were not engaged in a productive way and engaging those with lived experience.

Episode 19: New York's Project Rise with Joseph Popcun Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Joseph Popcun, Executive Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services discusses the state of New York’s new violence reduction initiative Project Rise: Respond, Invest, Sustain and Empower.

Project Rise is a $28 million statewide community violence prevention and community empowerment program to reach the people and places most impacted by the increase in pandemic-era violence. A unique program and funding model, Project Rise brings together community stakeholders to respond to gun violence, invest in solutions, sustain positive programming, and empower communities. Project RISE is meant to be a “grassroots” or “bottom-up” strategy to listen, learn from, and lift up the communities by directing resources where they are most needed.

To provide context, this episode also discusses the history of violence prevention and reduction efforts in New York as well as how Project Rise fits into the larger scope of work to help communities build capacity to implement and sustain programming to address the underlying factors contributing to violence in the community and enhance responses to violence within the community through increased community partnerships and programming with a healing lens.

Episode 18: Trauma Recovery Centers: A Comprehensive Response for Victims of Violent Crime Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, NCJA Program Manager Gillian Caplan speaks with Shakyra Diaz, Chief of Federal Advocacy for the
Alliance for Safety and Justice and Stephen Massey, Director of the CitiLookout Trauma Recovery Center in Springfield, Ohio about the innovative and life-changing work of Trauma Recovery Centers and how they are providing critical resources to victims of violent crime.

Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) are a transformational model of care for survivors of violent crime that removes barriers to health and stability in order to heal communities as well as interrupt cycles of violence and connect underserved and vulnerable populations to needed services and resources quickly and efficiently. The TRC model is specifically designed to reach those who have fallen through the cracks of traditional support services.

By the spring of 2020, 35 TRCs were implemented nationwide from California to Georgia and this episode discusses the different components and strategies to building the centers to better support victims of violent crime.

Episode 16: A Conversation with BJA: Program Areas and the Byrne JAG Solicitation Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

Following the release of the Byrne JAG Solicitation, this episode will feature Tarasa Napolitano from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) who will discuss the Byrne JAG areas of emphasis and priority areas for this administration and how these should be considered by SAAs as they develop their Byrne JAG strategic plans and applications for potential subawards. This episode will provide insight into the development of the solicitation as well as helpful information on new areas of criminal justice states can explore as they conduct their strategic planning process. Finally, this episode will discuss new requirements to the application process and resources for states as well as additional funding and projects SAAs can engage in through BJA such as Project Safe Neighborhoods and the National Public Safety Partnership in an effort to encourage and promote braided and blended funding.

Episode 15: An Overview of Pretrial Justice Programs with Spike Bradford Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, NCJA Program Manager Simone Greene speaks with Spike Bradford, also a program manager at NCJA with subject matter expertise in pretrial justice. Spike provides an overview of some of the most impactful pretrial justice program types, all of which can be funded, in whole or part, with Byrne JAG dollars.

The pretrial stage of the criminal justice process is critical because decisions about arrest, diversion, detention and more, have lasting impacts on each case and on each accused individual. Effective pretrial justice programs can help jurisdictions make more informed decisions that reduce costs and strain on their justice systems while increasing fairness for accused individuals.

Organizations and initiatives referenced in this episode include Law Enforcement-Assisted Diversion, Advancing Pretrial Policy & Research, the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies and the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association.

Episode 14: The Tennessee Family Justice Center (FJC) Statewide Initiative with Daina Moran and Heather Brack May 09, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, NCJA Program Manager Gillian Caplan speaks with Daina Moran, deputy director of Tennessee’s Office of Criminal Justice Programs, the state administering agency for Tennessee, and Heather Brack, NCJA’s grants accounting manager and former program director of the Johnson City/Washington County (TN) FJC about the FJC programs in their state.

FJCs are multiagency, multidisciplinary centers where staff from public and private agencies provide services to victims at a single location. This reduces the number of times victims must tell their story, reduces the number of places victims must go for help, and increases access to services and support for victims, their children and families.

With the initial three years of programming funded through Byrne JAG awards, Tennessee has funded 11 FJCs across the state, 13 of which have been successfully launched since 2012.

Episode 13: The 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline with Dr. Abigail Tucker and Elizabeth Pyke Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

In this episode NCJA Program Manager Simone Greene speaks with Dr. Abigail Tucker and NCJA’s director of governmental affairs, Elizabeth Pyke about the 988, the new 3-digit phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline that will roll out in 2022.

Dr. Tucker is a Denver-based psychologist whose work includes working directly with first responders, veterans, criminal and juvenile justice entities and behavioral health providers. She is also a passionate advocate for eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders and their treatment. Learn more about Dr. Tucker’s work at www.sheconsulting.co. Elizabeth works tirelessly to monitor congressional developments related to criminal justice spending, ensuring that state administering agencies (SAAs) are up-to-date on, and have a voice in, relevant legislation and policy. Learn more at https://www.ncja.org/investing-byrne-jag.

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