BJA FY 2023 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program Training and Technical Assistance: 1b Pretrial, Prosecution, Defense Counsel, and Courts

Research Triangle Institute (trade name RTI International) is applying under the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) Training and Technical Assistance Category 1b: Pretrial, Prosecution, Defense Counsel, and Courts under the title name “BJA FY 2023 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program Training and Technical Assistance 1b: Pretrial, Prosecution, Defense Counsel, and Courts” for $1,999,925.00 in funding over the 24-month performance period. RTI’s project partners include the Urban Institute, Center for Justice Innovation, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, AEquitas, Rulo Strategies, and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

RTI’s training and technical assistance (TTA) plan will provide extensive subject area knowledge and a tailored responsive approach to grantees. With a 6,000+ workforce, RTI brings expertise across more than 250 disciplines to offer a deep, diverse team in diversion programs, integrating substance use disorder modalities and community collaboratives into court-based programming in an equitable and culturally responsive way and supporting program performance, evaluation, and sustainability. The proposed TTA team of RTI researchers, subject matter experts, and project partners brings knowledge and experience supporting pretrial diversion models, building rural capacity and stakeholder engagement, fostering multidisciplinary relationships to increase public safety and eliminating disparities in the justice system, providing training and policy and practice advancement for the criminal defense field, and achieving community-based support for the justice-involved population.

RTI has a proven track record of leading large TTA projects that require coordination of national and site-specific TTA. RTI has successfully served as the COSSUP TTA provider for state-based grantees since 2019, which demonstrates the ability to combine evidence-based solutions and practitioner-based strategies to create TTA resources that are practitioner centric, practical, and aligned with national recommendations. RTI has also successfully provided TTA for the Evaluation and Sustainability TTA (ESTTA) and for the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).

RTI’s proposed plan will achieve the COSSUP objectives by providing targeted, high-impact TTA to grantees with a pretrial, prosecution, defense counsel, and courts focus. This TTA is practitioner-centered, allowing for relevant, accessible, and timely response to the needs of grantees, while maintaining the highest level of evidence-based research and practices from RTI experts and partners.The primary activities will be completed using a blended, site-centric TTA approach in addressing grantees needs with consistent engagement, fostering peer-to-peer learning and cross-site communication, and translating knowledge and resources to grantees and the broader field of practitioners.