Tennessee's Strategy for Recovery and Reinvestment Under the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Byrne JAG Program

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars. Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.

The JAG Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.

The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Criminal Justice Program's (OCJP) primary goals of the FY 2009 Recovery Act JAG award are job creation and preservation in Tennessee's criminal justice system. OCJP will provide Recovery Act JAG funding for drug courts, correctional programming, crime victim and witness programs, multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task forces, criminal justice professional enhancement training, pretrial service delivery, technology improvement, and community crime prevention. OCJP estimates that over 200 jobs will be created or retained. Grant recipient agencies will be required to use the Recovery Act JAG funds for the retention and creation of criminal justice jobs. OCJP will continue to coordinate with all national, state, and local stakeholders in the implementation of the Recovert Act JAG Program and will report performance measures as prescribed by the grant.

NCA/NCF