FY24 National Community Courts Initiative

Lindsay Price Jackson: All right. Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. We're really happy to be able to present this awesome opportunity to everybody. My name is Lindsay Price Jackson. I am coming from the Center for Justice Innovation and the center provides training and technical assistance on this grant. So, if you are awarded the grant, we, my team and I, would help in your efforts to implement your program, to enhance new aspects of your program and help be partners as you go through that process. So, I'm happy to be here and you're going to get to meet a couple of BJA team members here in just a moment. But I will go ahead and go to the next slide.

These are just some important things to remember as we're going through the webinar today. If you're having any tech issues here are some tips for you. If you can't hear, you may need to click the arrow, the little carrot right next to the microphone to make changes on where your device is routing the sound to. And you can always call in by phone based on the webinar invitation. Everyone here because you had a registration link, was sent the Zoom information individually, so you can refer back to that email that you received to be able to find the phone number in case you need it. We do have both the Q&A, I'm looking on the bottom, we definitely have the chat enabled. And so as questions arise, please definitely put them in the chat. We'll get to as many as we can.

If you do need a transcript of the audio today, that's available. There's live transcript available. You can click on show captions at the bottom of your screen. And again, we are all going to be here to be able to answer questions, so definitely just add them. If you don't see the Q&A, definitely just add them to the chat. We will get to them. As you must have seen, the meeting is being recorded and the recording transcript and this PowerPoint, this slide deck, will all be posted on the BJA website, as well as our website. We'll make sure that that's available to you. So, the next slide. From BJA today, you're going to be hearing from our associates, people we work with. By we, I mean the center at BJA, great thought partners and really leaders on this particular project, the community court grant initiative. And that's Ingrid Lara-Madison, she's the senior policy advisor at BJA on this portfolio, as well as Dr. Courtney Stewart, who's our policy advisor. You will get to know them well as we go through this process.

Next slide. And here's how the agenda's going to look for today. I won't read it all to you, but you're going to get to hear lots of information. Again, the slides will be available afterwards. It's a lot coming at you quickly, but know that we're going to save as much time at the end for Q&A as possible, and we're here for all your questions and of course available, later if it didn't quite get to it. But next we're going to go to a poll just to get an idea of the people in the room, on the next slide. So your first poll for the day, and it's a pretty straightforward question and the question is, it should be popping up on your screen right now for you to be able to click. The question is, you plan to apply for the community court solicitation. So, the grant that we're talking about today, are you here because you are a potential applicant?

So, go ahead and click yes, no or undecided to give us an idea of who is in the room. Okay. I'm seeing on my screen zero nos. Okay. Although, it's a pretty close split, most people are undecided, so hopefully we knock your socks off today. And then 40% of people say they're definite yes, that they're interested in applying. Thank you for sharing. That's helpful for our information. And we'll go to the next slide, which is just to say, I'm going to turn it over to my BJA colleague, Courtney Stewart, to be able to really introduce you to this grant and this portfolio. Courtney.

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Thank you Lindsay, and good afternoon everyone. We are so excited that you are here to learn more about the fiscal year '24 community courts solicitation. So, as we start, we will start by talking about the Office of Justice Programs. Next slide please. So, what is the Office of Justice Programs? The Office of Justice Programs provides grant funding, training, research and statistics to the criminal justice community. As you can see on the right-hand side of your slide, we have several bureaus including BJA, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, OJJDP, which is the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Smart Office. And OJP is one of the three grant making components of the Department of Justice, along with the Office on Violence Against Women and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, also known as the COPS Office.

Next slide please. So, next we'll talk a little bit about BJA. The Bureau of Justice Assistance was created in 1984 to reduce violent crime, create safer communities, and reform our nation's criminal justice system. BJA strengthens the nation's criminal justice system and helps America state, local and tribal jurisdictions reduce and prevent crime, reduce recidivism, and promote a fair and safe criminal justice system. BJA focuses its programmatic and policy efforts on providing a wide range of resources, including training and technical assistance to law enforcement, courts, corrections, treatment, reentry, justice information sharing, and community-based partners to address chronic and emerging criminal justice challenges nationwide.

Next slide please. Now, how does BJA support the field? We support the field through investments, sharing knowledge and engagement. Next slide. Next we'll talk a little bit about the community courts initiative appropriations. Next slide. 

The fiscal year '24 community court appropriations will support, I'm sorry, community courts initiative site-based awards. So, we will be supporting, I think it's about 10 site-based awards this year, and also the National Treatment Court Training and Technical assistance program. So, the TTA program is the provider that will provide you with all of the knowledge and training, and webinars, everything that you will need to be successful as a community courts site-based awardee.

Next slide. We have two sets of priority areas that we would like to inform you of today. Next slide. First off, are the OJP priority areas. 1A, applications that propose projects that are designed to meaningfully advance equity and remove barriers to accessing services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequity and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. And we have a priority 1B for OJP, which is applicants that demonstrate that their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed projects are enhanced because they are, or at least one proposed sub-recipient that will receive at least 40% of the requested award funding as demonstrated in the budget web-based form, are a population specific organization that serves communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, adversely affected by inequity and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization. In addition, BJA will give priority consideration to applicants that seek to expand access to services to rural or tribal communities.

Next slide please. Additional OJP priority areas. Again, as I just stated, applicants that propose projects that seek to expand access to services to rural and/or tribal communities and applicants that seek to partner with research experts to facilitate evaluation and assessment activities. These activities may include, but are not limited to, a needs evaluation, identifying the target population, ensuring equity and inclusion in programming, tracking program implementation, and mapping critical resources in the community.

Next slide please. So the BJA community court's initiative priorities include adherence to the principles and practices of community courts and the community justice model, serving individuals who reside in high poverty, persistent poverty areas, ensuring equity and inclusion via collection of retention and access to data, partnerships with law enforcement and the local justice system, partnerships with community-based organizations to provide program participants with support services, supporting veterans and tribal communities and community engagement. So, this is a very important slide that you may want to highlight as you are developing your application because we definitely want to include the priority areas in serving your community. So, please note slide 15 as you are moving forward.

Next slide please. Next I will turn the presentation over to my colleague, Ingrid and she will start talking about the grants categories eligibility and requirements.

Ingrid Lara-Madison: Thank you Courtney. And once again, good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for joining us for this webinar. So, we're going to continue with the program goal. So, the goal of Community Courts Program is to support efforts by state, tribal and local governments to establish and enhance community courts in their jurisdiction. Next slide please. We do this with category one, planning and implementation. The community court solicitation has three grant categories for which applicants can apply under. Category one is planning and implementation grants are available to eligible jurisdictions ready to a six-month planning phase, followed by an implementation phase for community courts program. Our category two, enhancement grants, are available to eligible jurisdictions with an operational community courts program. A few examples on how funding may be used are to scale up the existing court program, improve quality and/or intensity of services based on needs assessments or enhance court operations.

Next slide please. Please note, it's recommended that an eligible entity such as a unit of local government or county applies to categories one and two on behalf of a community court program and attach a fiscal agent memorandum of understanding. Also note, the six-month planning phase requires all new grantees to participate in the BJA sponsored free foundational training if not received in the past 12 months. The foundational training trains court teams on skills necessary to build the program that integrates court and treatment functions and adheres best practice standards.

Next slide, please. In to the entities eligible to apply under categories one and two, public or private entities acting on behalf of a single community court program, through agreement with state, city, township, county or tribal governments can also apply. Next slide, please. Please make sure that you capture these deadlines. There are two different deadlines. The first one is grants.gov has a deadline of June 24th. The second deadline is JustGrants and that's July 1st. Please ensure you have enough time to develop your application. The due date is also listed on the first page of the solicitation. Take into account the time required to register and apply, the time it takes to prepare the application, gather the required attachments and complete any local, state or tribal review process.

Next slide, please. We have our second poll question. What type of community services will you be requesting BJA funds to support?

Lindsay Price Jackson: If you don't see them, it's 100% of people answered. We have received those short answers and we will them to you, Courtney and Ingrid soon.

Ingrid Lara-Madison: Awesome. We look forward to hearing how BJA can support. Moving on to the next slide, please. Treatment court services supported by BJA funding. Here are a couple of examples. Other services that can be funded using this grant are equipment training, evaluation, management information systems, aftercare support, enhancing risk and needs assessment screenings, performance reporting, transportation for program participants, drug testing services and supplies, electronic monitoring such as SCRAM ankle monitors, community court staffing positions, MAT services, temporary housing support, peer support or peer mentors and access to treatment.

Next slide, please. Capacity. So, please determine if your agency has the capacity to do the work or if you need additional resources. Identify community-based organizations and agencies to partner with and to address potential gaps with regard to the capacity. Helpful hint is to identify if you need partners and if so, reach out to them as soon as possible. Next slide. And handing it back to you, Courtney.

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Thank you, Ingrid. Next, we will talk about the application steps.

Next slide, please. Before submitting an application, all applicants must register with the System for Award Management or sam.gov. An applicant must renew their registration every 12 months. An expired registration can delay or prevent application submission in grants.gov and JustGrants. There is a two-step process that begins in grants.gov and is completed in JustGrants. OJP recommends that applicants submit the complete application package in JustGrants at least 48 hours prior to the JustGrants deadline. An applicant will receive emails when successfully submitting in grants.gov and JustGrants, and should maintain all emails and other confirmations received from sam.gov.

So, what happens if you miss the deadline due to unforeseen technical issues? OJP will consider request to submit an application after the deadline when the applicant can document that a technical issue with a government system prevented submission of the application on time. An applicant can submit a waiver after the deadline. The waiver will not be considered unless it includes documentation of attempts to receive technical assistance to resolve the issue prior to the application deadline. A tracking number is the most typical documentation and is generated when the applicant contacts the applicable service desk to report technical difficulties. So, please, again, if you have technical difficulties, please report that to the service desk and please keep track of any correspondence or emails, so that if you need to submit a waiver that you will have everything that you need to submit a successful waiver.

Next slide, please. Next, we'll talk about the basic minimum requirements. Your basic minimum requirements in order to be considered for an award is your proposal abstract, your budget web-based form and your timeline web-based form. Next slide, please. The proposal abstract. A proposal abstract should be no more than 400 words summarizing the proposed project, including its purpose, primary activities, expected outcomes, the service area, intended beneficiaries and sub-recipients. If you know who your sub-recipients are at that time, and must be completed in the just grant web-based form. This abstract should be in paragraph form without bullets or tables, written in third person and exclude personally identifiable information. The abstract should identify the program type, pre or post adjudication, number of participants proposed to receive services, identify the minimum, maximum and average length of program participation and who will be the target population. In addition, whether the program has access to MAT. Abstracts will be made publicly available on the OJP and usspending.gov websites if the project is awarded.

Next slide please. Now we are going to spend a little time talking about the proposal narrative. The proposal narrative should be submitted as an attachment in JustGrants. The applicant may include tables, charts, and graphs as part of the program narrative. These will count towards the page limit, unless included as a separate attachment. For each category, the applicant must provide verified sources for the data that support the description of the issue, which can be the US Census or other federal, state and local data. For all applicable categories, the applicant should explain their inability to fund the program adequately without federal assistance, indicate whether their jurisdiction is leveraging any other federal funding sources, indicate whether the jurisdiction has an active treatment court grant with BJA, SAMHSA, or OJJDP. Describe current resources available in the gaps the applicant seeks to address with grant funding, particularly those that impact the collection of key program, recidivism and treatment related outcome data to assess the efficiency of the program, and define the program target population including criminogenic risk levels.

Next slide, please. So, the program narrative will consist of five sections. So, on this slide we will talk about the first two sections and on the next slide we will talk about the next three sections. Description of the issue. The description of the issue respond to key data, points of challenges and those to be served and their needs. See the request for proposal for specific bullet points to be addressed based on the category for which you're applying. The project design and implementation. State the name, location, and address where the proposed treatment court program is or will be operating. Define the type of adult treatment courts for which funds are requested. So, whether you're requesting an adult treatment court or of course in this situation you will be requesting a community court. And describing how applicants will use funding to incorporate the evidence-based program principles included in the all rise 10 best practice standards.

Next slide, please. Under capabilities and competencies, define any research partners or analytical staff members who will support data collection, analysis and research, including their roles and goals. Attach the job description and resumes of key staff members, and attach a letter of support from the local court outlining its commitment to the project. In describing the program's plan for collecting data, all applicants must include their willingness and ability to report the data through BJA's performance measurement tool, also known as the PMT, as well as identifying the person responsible for collecting the data. And I just want to stop here and just reiterate the importance of the data collection, and identifying who is going to be collecting the data. That's a very important part of your grant is the data collection. So, ensure that you have a team member who is able to collect your data. And then the budget is the last piece of your proposal narrative and the budget is worth 5% of your score.

Next slide, please. The timeline web-based form should talk about your goals. You should describe your project's intent to change, reduce or eliminate the problem noted in the proposal. Summarize major activities, expected date of completion and responsible agencies. Indicate the number of program participants to be served quarterly and make sure that you see your solicitation for specific expected deliverables on the category for which you're applying.

Next slide, please. Next I will turn it back over to Ingrid, who will talk a little bit about planning and organizing your budget.

Ingrid Lara-Madison: Planning and organizing your budget. Please make sure you draft your budget early in the process before you make commitments. Make sure you carefully read and understand any required budget expenses detailed in the application, especially required grantee meetings. Also, make sure you read carefully to understand any caps or expenses that are not allowed. The link provided here will provide you additional resources and a financial guide to walk you through the process of budgeting.

Next slide, please. Budget and budget narrative. There should be no expenses in the that are not referenced in the proposal narrative. For example, do not ask for drug testing supplies if you do not have that included as drug testing as a component of your project description. The budget should include adequate funding to fully implement the project, but not more than the amount listed in the solicitation as the available funding amount. The total federal requests entered in the SF-424 should match the total federal request in the application budget for the entire project.

Next slide. Budget and budget narrative. Itemized budgets for each year of the grant is required. A 25% match is required. A match can be a combination of cash and in kind gifts. There is no minimum required amount for the cash match. Do not report any overmatch in the budget. However, you may discuss the overmatch in the narrative. Applicants should estimate the cost of travel and accommodations for up to three categories, one and two or eight category, three, team members to attend up to two conferences and or trainings each year to support ongoing capacity and success in implementation. Prior approval, planning and reporting of conference, meetings, trainings and costs is required.

Next slide, please. How to calculate a match. The application has a link for the application resource guide, which will provide additional information on this match requirement, and step-by-Step instructions for entering match amounts into the budget. So, this slide shows you the formula on how you can calculate that 25% match that's required. And as we continue to move through the presentation, we'll discuss additional resources where you can get assistance with calculating the match. Next slide, please. Match waiver. The required match may be waived upon request by a grantee. To be considered for a waiver of match, a letter of request signed by the authorized representative must be submitted with the application, describing the reason for the request. For example, a financial hardship. A match waiver request must be submitted as a separate attachment to the application through JustGrants.

Next slide, please. Additional attachments. Please don't forget about the additional attachments when you're preparing your application. We have in parentheses indicated what is recommended versus what is required. So, here these are some of the additional attachments that are recommended in order to support your application and strengthen it. Next slide, please. Here you'll find some of the attachments that are required. Items designated as required must be submitted for an application to meet the basic minimum requirements of review. If OJP determines that an application does not include the designated items, it will neither proceed to peer review nor receive further consideration. There is an application checklist within the solicitation that you can refer to.

Next slide, please. Equitable access. BJA requires applicants to describe a plan to collect and examine access and retention data to identify, and eliminate disparities that exist for race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability in admission protocols or elsewhere in the adult treatment court program. The plan may include use of the All Rise and National Center for State Courts Equity and Inclusion Assessment toolkit or incorporate the American University Racial and Ethnic Disparities Program Assessment tool.

Next slide, please. Our third poll question, does your community court currently collect data to identify and eliminate access and retention disparities in your program?

Lindsay Price Jackson: All right. So, many of you are unsure. So for yes, the answers were 10%. For no, it was 19% and unsure was 71%. Thank you.

Ingrid Lara-Madison: Thank you everyone for answering that poll question. Moving on to the next slide. BJA will offer technical assistance to grantees to build or expand their capacity to provide access to medication assisted treatment. For information regarding BJA's provisions on medication assisted treatment or MAT, please review the solicitation and go to the link provided.

Next slide, please. Controlled Substance Act. Award recipients are prohibited from using federal funds to support programs or activities that violate the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of local or state practices or laws. Programs or activities funded under a BJA adult treatment court award must ensure that participants are tested periodically for the use of controlled substances including medical marijuana.

Next slide, please. Violent offenders prohibition. A person who is presently charged with an offense as described in 34 USC would be ineligible to participate. Disqualifying convictions are only those convictions indicated in 34 USC that occurs after the initiation of proceedings that led to the person's consideration for participation in the drug court program, whereas 34 USC only speaks to those convictions that occurred prior to the initiation of those proceedings.

Next slide, please. Grantees may use and are encouraged to use other funds for their treatment court programs and serve these participants using those other funds. Grantees must be able to track these expenditures to ensure the separation of funds. Documentation must be maintained to show an auditor if necessary. Applicants may qualify for funding under Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program, which provides formula funds to implement state crisis intervention court proceedings and related programs or initiatives. Including but not limited to, extreme risk protection order programs that work to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others, mental health courts, treatment courts and veteran treatment courts. Not included in the violent offender definition are charges that are dropped or reduced to a nonviolent offense, or charges prior to a person's participation in the program, or convictions punishable by less than one year of incarceration.

Next slide, please. National Treatment Court Resource Center. The National Treatment Court Resource Center has created a helpful tool to assist participants, I'm sorry, to assist applicants through the solicitation application process. Depending on the category you are applying under, the National Treatment Court Resource Center has created checklist to simplify the process. We highly encourage you to visit their website. In addition, BJA may require grantees to participate in the, Painting The Current Picture survey, a national report on treatment courts in the United States.

Next slide, please. Now Courtney will discuss tips for applicants.

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Thank you, Ingrid. And as we are going through the presentation, I see a few questions regarding community courts being treatment courts. And just to clarify for everyone, funding for community courts falls under the adult treatment court appropriations. That's why sometimes you see it a little interchangeably. But yes, this is for community courts and community courts are funded through adult treatment courts. Although, they are not an adult treatment court, we are able to use the funds for this program as well. So, I just wanted to clear up that confusion. You are in the right webinar and this is for community courts.

So, as we move forward, I just want to give some tips for the applicants. 

JustGrants, please carefully read how to apply instructions linked in the solicitation and give yourself plenty of time to complete the grants.gov and JustGrant submissions by the established deadline. In regards to your SF-424, UEI and SAM, be sure the correct UEI number is entered into the SF-424 and that it is registered in SAM. The specific agency registered under this UEI number and SAM will be responsible for submitting the full application in JustGrants and administering the award, if it is funded. The federal request amount is the total grant award you are requesting, and it must be reflected in the just grants applicant information and budget. The total project costs entered in the budget must include federal and non-federal costs. And please do not include any of the prohibited costs. So, in terms of your JustGrant and your SF-424, just take a moment to give it a little extra care and attention to ensure that you are entering in all of the correct information.

Next slide, please. So, for your budget and your sub-awards, there's usually a lot of questions about sub-awards versus procurement contracts. So, you should carefully review the OJP grant application resource guide. Also linked in the solicitation, sub-section title information on proposed sub-awards and proposed procurement contracts to insure that you determine whether you have a subaward versus a procurement contract, and that you are putting them in the correct place within your budget. In your budget match, every line item in the budget should be identified as either federal or non-federal. All non-federal, which are match cost items, must meet the same allowability guidelines as federal costs. As noted earlier, do not include excessive match over 25% required in the budget. In the application attachments and just general additional information, follow the instructions exactly in the application and submission section. It is helpful for reviewers if you upload each required attachment as a separate file, named and numbered to match the solicitation. If you combine files, please include a table of contents.

Next slide, please. The disclosure of pending applications is required for all applicants and is completed in JustGrants. So please, let us know in JustGrants if you have any pending applications with any other federal agency. The research and evaluation independence and integrity statement attachment is required if you are proposing to use federal funds to pay for an outside evaluator. And the timeline web-based form must indicate the number of program participants to be served quarterly, to demonstrate how the total number of anticipated participants will be served before the end of the grant period. This is also completed in JustGrants.

Next slide, please. And the following slides will just give you some additional community court resources. Next slide. So, all of these will be live links to additional resources to help you complete your application. Next slide. We also have the BJA grant application education series where you can access previous webinars, transcripts, and additional information to help you complete your application. Next slide. The OJP Grant Application Resource Guide, again, these will all be live links when you receive this slide deck. And this starts at how to apply and just takes you all the way through an application process.

Next slide. This information will help you to learn about the Department of Justice Grants and payment management system. So once you receive your award, it'll help you determine how you get paid, how you submit your documents and your approvals to draw down funds.

Next slide. Application assistance. We have assistance for both grants.gov and JustGrants technical support. Here, of course, you have your customer service hotline numbers for both, your web and your email addresses and everything you need to contact someone to get help. And I just want to make sure that everyone knows that we are here to help. You all will have my email address. If you have any questions, please ask sooner than later, so that we have time to get you all of the information that you need. We really want you to receive an award and we really want to help. I know this can feel like a daunting task. I know a lot of you may be new to writing a federal grant, and don't hesitate to reach out for support.

Next slide. Staying connected. We have our Facebook, our X and our YouTube sites, links to those sites. So, if you would like to keep abreast of what we're doing with community courts and all of our other programs, these are your resources to do so. Next slide. Technical assistance, again, if you need technical assistance, please, sooner than later. Contact grants.gov. Your information is right here. Contact JustGrants or the OJP response center as soon as possible so that we can get you the help that you need. And last, but of course not least, I see a lot of questions coming through the chat here, so if you have any questions, please put them in the chat box and we will answer them and also provide you with the answers to the questions along with the slides, probably later on today or tomorrow.

Lindsay Price Jackson: Courtney, I can read some questions from the chat if that's helpful?

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Thank you.

Lindsay Price Jackson: Sure. So, this is from Chelsea. She says we are a nonprofit behavioral health center, excuse me, I lost it now. We are a nonprofit behavioral health center who partners with our community mental health court for client services. Would the court need to lead this application with us as a partner/sub-recipient or would we be able to lead with them as a sub-recipient, with the court as a sub-recipient? Ingrid or Courtney?

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Can you hear me? I'm sorry. I think I was [inaudible 00:44:05].

Lindsay Price Jackson: Yep. I hear you now. Yes, hear you now.

Dr. Courtney Stewart: Okay. I think that I was muted. Let me just go back here. I was having a little bit of technical difficulty. I'm sorry everyone.

Ingrid Lara-Madison: I'll take the question, Courtney. I was also speaking and didn't realize I was on mute. Yeah. So, for this question, a memorandum of understanding needs to be included in the packet, in the application packet, indicating that there is a partnership with the court, but it can be led by the mental health, I can't recall if it was a nonprofit, but it can be led by them, as long as they are in partnership with the court. And it's clearly indicated in the MOU.

Lindsay Price J...: Great. All right. Jessica asks, we are a local government that works with community services to provide mental health and substance use, I guess, treatment. Can we expand to domestic violence misdemeanor cases so long as they qualify and do not violate the violent offender policy, BJA's violent offender prohibition?

Dr. Courtney St...: I'll take this question. Yes, absolutely. What you want to do is tailor your community court to the needs of your actual community. So, if domestic violence services is a need for your community and you have some data to support that, absolutely, as long as you are not violating the violent offenders prohibition.

Lindsay Price J...: And [inaudible 00:45:43] asks, we have five community courts, do we only complete one application?

Dr. Courtney St...: Do you have five community courts in one jurisdiction or are you thinking about another one or are they in the same city? Just need a little bit more information.

Lindsay Price J...: Here's a similar question from Sol Yun, who says that we are a municipal court with a community court department with multiple programs. Are we able to apply for this grant to be used for all of our programs or will we need to choose one? So, it sounds like they're within the same municipal court system.

Dr. Courtney St...: They're in the same municipal court system. Yes. Just present that information in your narrative and yes, you can definitely apply. It sounds like you would be looking for expansion in order to expand the programs that you already have, and you can list your programs. And that they're all in the same municipal court and that you would like to apply for expansion for your program. So yes, absolutely.

Lindsay Price J...: Great. And Ashley's asking about in kind matching, can county paid personnel costs of existing staff that will be dedicated to the proposed community court program? Expansion activities count as a match?

Dr. Courtney St...: Yes. In kind definitely counts as a match. Yes, that's correct.

Lindsay Price J...: Okay. And I'll read from Janita. We are a state court program partnered with Department of Corrections to assist currently incarcerated inmates with resolving their misdemeanor and civil traffic matters. We assist inmates who could potentially have a combination of drug offenses and violent offenses, would we be eligible to apply?

Dr. Courtney St...: Absolutely eligible to apply.

Lindsay Price J...: Say that Courtney. You cut off a little.

Dr. Courtney St...: Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, they would be eligible to apply.

Lindsay Price J...: Okay. All right. This, I think, it may be going to the clarification that you had made, Courtney. Many references are made in the presentation to treatment court elements, such as the all rides best practice standards and criminogenic risk assessment. Do they actually apply to the community court under this solicitation?

Dr. Courtney St...: They can. If that's in your community and you feel like you need to do a risk assessment based on the needs of your community, then yes, you can interweave treatment court practices because the funding does come from adult treatment court appropriations. So, yes, if you can weave those in, absolutely.

Lindsay Price J...: And I will add that, although risk assessment, pretrial type risk assessment tools are not required under the grant, traditionally risk need responsivity assessment has been required under the grant. And that's something that we give technical assistance and training on as the TA providers, and we have a in-house developed tool that's often helpful to folks. I've also just put in the chat a link which is to a publication, a joint publication between BJA and the Center for Justice Innovation called Community Justice Today. And it's sort of the counterpoint, maybe, to the treatment court standards and it shows what are really the guiding principles of community justice, and of community courts that I would say fall more in line with this grant generally.

Again, like Courtney said, depending on what your local focus is going to be, but generally are more applicable as the equivalent of best practice standards for community courts. Okay. Eileen says she thinks, maybe Eileen's question was skipped. Thank you. Appreciate that. I run a pre-filing diversion court that has restorative justice practices. A number of our clientele do not have or do not report mental health or substance use needs. Will we be able to still apply for the grant. Additionally, since we are pre-filing, this means that we do not have a formal court or judge watching over the court. Does that mean we cannot apply? So, thinking of a pre-filing model.

Dr. Courtney St...: Doesn't mean that you can't apply. You can definitely apply and if your clients do not report substance use or mental health issues, there could be some other problems that you may deal with in your community such as homelessness or legal problems or things of that nature. So, yes, there are some other needs that you can address. So, absolutely.

Lindsay Price J...: And I'll say that we're seeing pre-filing programs pop up a lot. I think that's a really innovative approach that's very person-centered in helping someone avoid having any effect on their record. So, two thumbs up for me. And Nicole adds in a similar vein, we use restorative practices led by trained community facilitators and panelists to resolve cases, rather than a traditional judge or courtroom. This is outlined in Community Justice Today, that I put in the link, guiding principles, but not clear in the grant language. Are we eligible to apply?

Dr. Courtney St...: Yeah. Absolutely [inaudible 00:51:20].

Lindsay Price J...: You cut out a little. I think you said, yes, definitely eligible to apply. Yep. We have a current grantee now that has restorative justice as a focus and also one of the original community courts, that's the Red Hill Community Justice Center also focuses on restorative justice in part of their programming. All right.

Norma, you might need to maybe come off mute and ask your question, but the first part of your question was, is risk assessment required? And I think the way that you're maybe thinking of it, I'm making an assumption here, Norma, is no in the sense of standard, like I said, mostly pretrial, but risk assessment can occur at any point in the case, even sentencing.

But in the past, and I'll refer to Courtney and Ingrid on this, in the past, risk need responsivity assessment was required and the focus of that is not on really looking at a person's risk score, but actually finding out a person's needs and seeing how you can be most salient in your recommendations and your resources that you are offering to a participant. Talitha says, I'm a behavioral health counselor for our sheriff's office. Can we apply? Once inmates are being released, some need aftercare housing or mental health services. We are not a court, but screen offenders to assess needs. So, that's with the sheriff's office.

Dr. Courtney St...: Yeah. You would be eligible to apply. You would need to have a memorandum of agreement with a court in order to apply. But yes, absolutely, you're eligible to apply.

Lindsay Price J...: Okay. We've gotten some questions that maybe Courtney and Ingrid will have to take offline. It's maybe too detailed to get in now, but some duplicate questions in the narrative that folks are seeing.

Dr. Courtney St...: Okay. Yes, we can address those offline and as we provide all of the questions and answers, we will add those in.

Lindsay Price J...: And thanks to those duplicating their questions to the bottom ,so that we make sure they all get seen.

Ingrid Lara-Mad...: And what we can do also is, any questions that come in between now and when the solicitation closes, we'll keep a running list and answering them and then we'll make sure that we share this list with CJI so that they can post it on their website as an additional resource.

Lindsay Price J...: Oh, one more from [inaudible 00:54:26]. I think you've answered to a similar court, but just to make sure, she says we have five courts throughout the city of Dallas. Are we completing just one application? So, it sounds like within the same city, five separate courts.

Dr. Courtney St...: Yes. You would be able to complete one application. Just outline each of your court programs and what type of enhancements you would like to do for each. Or if you want to do the same enhancements for all, just outline that in your narrative.

Lindsay Price J...: And she follows up with, would it be one budget if it's with five different courts?

Dr. Courtney St...: Yes. It would be one budget. What she can do also is, since you're applying for five different courts and your budget may be a little bit different, please send me an email and we can set up an opportunity to have a conversation to make sure that we walk you through what that budget can look like. Because I understand the budgets get complicated, especially with the match.

Lindsay Price J...: Great. I think that's all from the chat for now. A few items to follow up on or folks who may be following up with you, but appreciate that.

Dr. Courtney St...: I think I saw a question about category three and that may have just been a typo. There is no category three. There's category one and category two. No category three.

Ingrid Lara-Mad...: Yes. Absolutely. We will be providing our emails for follow-up questions. And one last tip to provide is, if at any point in time you have any tech issues, any glitches with grants.gov, please make sure you reach out to the help desk and get a ticket number, that you called them to address whatever issue you had. In the event that your application does not go through and you need to file an appeal, you will need that ticket number from the help desk. So, we've had several appeals, but we can't move forward if you do not have that ticket number from the help desk. And as Courtney mentioned, please make sure you are completing these applications with plenty of time, so that you can avoid any glitches or difficulties that you may have with the system. Courtney has provided her email, but within the application, there's also help desk numbers, help desk emails, and this webinar also provides those emails and those numbers for you as a resource.

Dr. Courtney St...: Yes. Please don't hesitate to contact us. We're here to help. We want to see you be successful and we really want to have some new community court programs. This is a great program and we would love to see more programs, and love to see them expand. So, please don't hesitate to shoot an email, to contact us so that we can assist.