Community Responses to People with Mental Illnesses Project

The Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Program: National Initiatives, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), furthers the Department's mission by assisting state and local jurisdictions in improving the criminal justice system and assisting communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. In FY 2008, the program will focus on funding local, regional, and national efforts within five major categories: 1) preventing crime and drug abuse; 2) enhancing local law enforcement; 3) enhancing local courts; 4) enhancing local corrections and offender reentry; and 5) facilitating justice information sharing.

The Council of State Governments Justice Center will implement the Community Responses to People with Mental Illnesses Project under Category 2: Enhancing Local Courts. They will enhance the effectiveness and the national impact of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), and thereby improve outcomes for people with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. The Council of State Governments Justice Center will: 1) expand the technical assistance provided to JMHCP grantees to include one site visit to all grantees and two site visits to planning and implementation grantees, integrating comprehensive technical assistance plans designed to help grantees maximize the opportunity provided by funding from BJA; 2) establish four JMHCP learning sites to identify concrete strategies to help grantees and similar jurisdictions integrate data into the design and implementation of their initiatives; and 3) develop two new resources to translate lessons learned from JMHCP into better policy and practices nationwide.

CA/NCF