Apply NOW to Receive Consultation and Technical Assistance to Undertake a Comprehensive Probation System Review

UPDATE: The application period for this solicitation has closed. For additional information about this project and how the RFK National Resource Center can support your community, please contact John Tuell (Executive Director) at juell@rfkcommunity.org. 

Additional Information:

Overview
The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice (RFK National Resource Center) is excited to invite jurisdictions to apply to become one of three selected sites to receive consultation and technical assistance to undertake a comprehensive Probation System Review. The competitively selected jurisdictions will partner with the RFK National Resource Center, as part of its Dennis M. Mondoro Probation and Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Project, in federal fiscal years 2020-2021. This opportunity is made possible through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Second Chance Act award entitled Ensuring Public Safety and Improving Outcomes for Youth in Confinement and While Under Community Supervision.

Through a dedicated two-year partnership with the selected jurisdictions, the RFK National Resource Center seeks to improve outcomes for “youth placed on community supervision, particularly those with co-occurring disorders, in the interest of reducing delinquent behavior and promoting public safety.” To accomplish this goal, the RFK National Resource Center will rely on the proven framework, articulated in our seminal publication Probation System Review Guidebook, 3rd Edition, and will build on our successful and extensive history of community supervision transformation. The project is designed to achieve the following objectives:

    • Create or enhance a comprehensive juvenile justice system improvement plan in each selected jurisdiction.
    • Identify opportunities in each jurisdiction for improved community supervision/probation performance based on best practice standards that address the needs of both youth with and without trauma and behavioral health diagnoses.
    • Implement the improvement plans in each jurisdiction with the endorsement of local leadership, thus ensuring sustainable and measurable practice enhancement.

In partnering with the RFK National Resource Center, the selected jurisdictions will support a comprehensive analytic review and examination of current probation and juvenile justice system practices during a 10- to 12-month period that includes:

    1. Assessment of individual and aggregate data to inform prevalence, demographics and characteristics, risks and needs, trends, trajectories, and outcomes for juvenile justice youth in their jurisdiction.
    2. Assessment of probation system process and performance in the areas of management, policy, court practices, key decision points and case worker decision-making; and, identification of strengths and opportunities in these domains that enable best practice approaches to be implemented.
    3. Analysis of case-flow and management within the delinquency court, as well as its linkages with the organizations with whom it interfaces as cases move through the system, (e.g. child protection, education, behavioral health).
    4. Identification of system and client outcomes (to include multiple recidivism measures and positive youth development in research-based behavioral domains) that drive evidence-based system and case worker performance.
    5. Identification and assessment of effective community-based resources that match identified service needs through the use of validated screening and assessment tools and methodologies.

Further, the Probation System Review will enable the construct of a long-term plan for comprehensive probation and juvenile justice system improvement that is organized within these primary elements:

    • effective programmatic and fiscal system practices
    • effective and efficient court and probation management performance
    • improved utilization of evidence-based practices and intervention services
    • implementation of interagency approaches that enhance prevention and early intervention for youth and families with risks and needs in multiple domains

This is an exciting opportunity for each selected jurisdiction to benefit from expert and experienced technical assistance to plan and implement policy and practice designed to work within each jurisdiction’s contextual factors and environment to enhance the system performance and youth outcomes consistent with best practice standards. Following the 10- to 12-month analysis, selected jurisdictions will also receive an additional twelve months of technical assistance support for the implementation of recommendations offered within the final Probation System Review report.

Applications will be accepted from local, regional, or Tribal juvenile courts or probation departments. If the applicant is a juvenile court, it must be evident that the leadership of the probation department/agency is aware of the application and is fully supportive and prepared to participate in the review. State level agencies are ineligible to apply for this award.

Application Process
If interested in securing this technical assistance opportunity, the RFK National Resource Center asks that you complete the Application and Readiness Questionnaire on or before October 11, 2019.

We welcome, but do not require, the submission of a letter of interest (LOI) for consideration on or before September 17, 2019.

The RFK National Resource Center and OJJDP will select three jurisdictions based on an analysis of which jurisdictions offer the greatest possibility for sustained collaborative engagement, implementation of identified improvements, and capacity to measure results. The jurisdictions selected to participate will be announced on or before October 30, 2019.

Please direct any question regarding this project or the request for applications to John Tuell (jtuell@rfkcommunity.org).

This project is supported by Grant # 2018-CZ-BX-K002 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this announcement are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.