Quarterly Meeting Summary

November 30, 2001

Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh Street NW.
Main Conference Room
Washington, DC

In attendance:

• Terrence S. Donahue, Vice Chair, Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Coordinating Council); Acting Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ);
• Eric Andell, Senior Adviser to the Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education (ED);
  
• Bryant Applegate, Special Counsel, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD);
  
• Robert Babbage, Jr., Senior Managing Partner, InterSouth, Inc.;
  
• Larry Brendtro, President, Reclaiming Youth;
  
• Barbara Broman, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS);
  
• Stanley Carlson-Thies, Associate Director, Cabinet Center on Affairs of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for the White House;
  
• Herb Drake, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), U.S. Department of the Treasury;
  
• The Honorable Adele Grubbs, Judge, Superior Court of Cobb County (Georgia);
  
• Lorenzo Harrison, Administrator, Office of Job Training Programs, Employment Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL);
  
• Bob Hubbard, Special Assistant to the Acting Administrator, OJJDP;
  
• Molly Johnson, Office of Federal Partnerships, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA);
  
• Michael Mahoney, President, John Howard Association;
  
• The Honorable Gordon Martin, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Trial Court, District Court;
  
• Hank Oltmann, Director, Special Programs, Corporation for National and Community Service (CNS);
  
• Daniel Schecter, Deputy Director, Demand Reduction, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP);
  
• Ken Toda, Juvenile Affairs Division, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); and
  
• Jim Wright, Coordinator, Youth Alcohol Programs, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Welcome and Introduction to the Coordinating Council

Bob Hubbard, Special Assistant to the Acting Administrator, OJJDP

Bob Hubbard, Special Assistant to the Acting Administrator, OJJDP, welcomed Coordinating Council members, visiting university students, and other attendees to the quarterly meeting of the Coordinating Council. Mr. Hubbard briefly reviewed the history and statutory authority of the Coordinating Council. Created in 1974 by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the Coordinating Council is an independent body within the executive branch of the Federal Government. Its functions are to coordinate Federal juvenile delinquency programs, Federal programs and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles, and Federal programs relating to missing and exploited children. The Attorney General is the Chair of the Council, and the Administrator of OJJDP serves as the Vice Chair of the Council. The Council has nine ex-officio members: from DOJ, the Attorney General, the Administrator of OJJDP, and the Commissioner of INS; the Secretaries of DOL, ED, HHS, and HUD; the Director of ONDCP; and the Chief Executive Officer of CNS. The Council also has nine non-Federal members who are juvenile justice practitioners.

The Coordinating Council is required to make annual recommendations to Congress. Its quarterly meetings are open to the public, and notices of its upcoming meetings are published in the Federal Register. The Council is a forum for the exchange of information, ideas, and research findings and a mechanism for developing systematic Federal responses to issues in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.

Remarks

Terrence S. Donahue, Vice Chair, Coordinating Council; Acting Administrator, OJJDP, DOJ

Terrence S. Donahue, Vice Chair of the Coordinating Council and Acting Administrator of OJJDP, welcomed the Coordinating Council to its quarterly meeting and focused on a discussion of two new OJJDP initiatives: the Faith- and Community-Based Initiative and the Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative.

In 2002, Mr. Donahue explained, OJJDP will focus on serious and violent juvenile offenders through four broad strategies. In addition to the two new initiatives discussed in detail below, OJJDP will develop a Targeted Community Action Planning (TCAP) effort and enhance partnerships between Federal, State, and local agencies. In the past, OJJDP has focused on comprehensive planning. TCAP is an effort to move communities more quickly into action-oriented activities rather than prolonged planning efforts. OJJDP will enhance program development by assisting in action planning and helping communities achieve specific goals.

OJJDP will emphasize partnerships with State and local counterparts to promote joint ventures and leverage resources. OJJDP will issue competitive initiatives with its State justice counterparts, favoring those in compliance with OJJDP's Act and those interested in partnering with OJJDP and leveraging resources. The Faith- and Community-Based Initiative will be one of the first initiatives introduced under this model. Structuring the initiative in this fashion willencourage sustainability and facilitate a better, more cooperative relationship between Federal, State, and local initiatives.

National Faith- and Community-Based Initiatives

James Davids, Deputy Director of the Faith-Based Task Force, DOJ; Stanley Carlson-Thies, Associate Director, Cabinet Center on Affairs of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for the White House; and Terrence S. Donahue, Acting Administrator, OJJDP

James Davids, Deputy Director of the Faith-Based Task Force, DOJ

James Davids, Deputy Director of the Faith-Based Task Force, DOJ, discussed various background issues that led to the development of OJJDP's Faith- and Community-Based Initiative. In January 2001, President George W. Bush issued an Executive order creating special centers to focus on faith-based initiatives in five cabinet departments-DOJ, DOL, ED, HHS, and HUD. These centers were asked to develop initiatives and pilot programs and to answer two basic questions:

• Do barriers prevent faith-based organizations from participating in Federal programs?
  
  
• What opportunities do faith-based organizations have to participate in Federal programs?

Preliminary answers to these questions demonstrate that a funding gap exists between the Federal Government and grassroots organizations. A scant 0.4 percent of available Office of Justice Programs (OJP) funding goes to faith-based organizations. Small groups, faith based and secular, receive very little Federal support relative to the social services they provide. OJJDP's two new initiatives are the beginning of the President's effort to enlist the "army of compassion." Mr. Davids urged the Council's Federal partners to participate in this high-priority domestic program.

Stanley Carlson-Thies, Associate Director, Cabinet Center on Affairs of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for the White House

Stanley Carlson-Thies, Associate Director, Cabinet Center on Affairs of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for the White House, brings his previous experience with the Center for Public Justice, a think tank that focuses on welfare reform and seeks to enlist the compassion and volunteerism of people of faith to help their communities, to his new role. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) and community-based organization (CBOs), Mr. Carlson-Thies said, have been neglected through sins of omission-barriers to participation-and sins of commission-the lack of outreach. A recent report identifies 15 areas in which there are barriers to FBOs' and CBOs' efforts to work with the Federal Government. Barriers range from suspicions about the legitimacy of the Federal Government working with FBOs to the fact that Federal grant programs are very complicated to access and administer.

Based on his experiences as the Governor of Texas, President Bush wants to elevate and honor the multiple faith- and community-based organizations that respond to the needs of their neighbors. The President also wants to encourage and expand private giving through tax law changes.

In spring 2001, HR7, the Community Solutions Act, passed in the House of Representatives, but did not make it through the Senate. New legislation encouraging the expansion of private support will be introduced in the near future and will include tax law changes to promote greater private giving and a significant amount of additional technical assistance for FBOs and CBOs, particularly small and novice groups.

Mr. Carlson-Thies's office is greatly encouraged by the programs envisioned in OJJDP's two new initiatives. It is very difficult to change an entity as large as the Federal Government, he said, but initiatives like these promise quick and concrete action as the government moves to change.

Terrence S. Donahue, Acting Administrator, OJJDP

Mr. Donahue recently visited Fort Wayne, IN, a city with a population of approximately 200,000. Fort Wayne's southeast quadrant is a high-crime area with inadequate services, housing, and infrastructure, but that has a large number of small faith- and community-based organizations. OJJDP's Faith- and Community-Based Initiative will build on the capacity that already exists in Fort Wayne and other areas: local organizations that know the issues, the people, and the communities.

OJJDP's initiative targets small organizations, in particular, because they are a consistent factor in areas with few resources and because they have been underutilized. The idea underlying the initiative is not to create new organizations, but to help small groups across the country with missions they are already performing. OJJDP's initiative recognizes the successes and the unique local capabilities of faith-based and community-based organizations and has created a program designed to build on the organizations' capacity and provide new prevention, intervention, and treatment services to their communities.

Because these FBOs and CBOs are generally small and not equipped to manage grants, OJJDP will partner with designated State agencies to fund a national network to help the organizations in their expanded missions. The network, through designated Centers for Continuous Capacity (CCCs), will assist local organizations through training and technical assistance. The program will start with the basics, training local groups on how to provide mentoring, childcare, shelter, afterschool programs, tutoring, and job training services that will focus on various high-risk populations of youth.

CCCs will be chosen through State justice agency recommendations and could be private, nonprofit, or for-profit organizations; religious or educational institutions; or local governments.Each CCC will identify neighborhood FBOs and CBOs that are attempting to reduce or prevent serious juvenile crime in a particular neighborhood and provide training and technical assistance to the organizations through three or four coordinators. Each CCC will provide management, staffing, organizational support, and financial oversight of grant funds, as necessary. Grant funds to each CCC are anticipated to be about $250,000 annually and will be geared to enhance local capacity rather than to supplant existing funding streams.

A CCC must demonstrate that its approach can be sustained beyond the 3-year Federal and State funding period and will be required to collect and report basic data on services and outcomes. The CCC will be expected to produce written guidelines for identifying, selecting, and supporting FBOs and CBOs; program materials that describe the CCC and the communities and organizations it serves; and annual progress statements.

The solicitation for OJJDP's Faith- and Community-Based Initiative will be issued in January 2002. An independent, national evaluator will be selected, and a technical assistance provider will train the CCCs and provide ideas for implementation. Performance will be measured according to how many people in FBOs or CBOs have learned about, participated in, or delivered services under this program. OJJDP will also measure FBOs' and CBOs' capability and capacity to help with high-risk youth and determine whether the organizations themselves believe that they can do this work.

Discussion

Hank Oltmann, Director, Special Programs, CNS, suggested that OJJDP coordinate with CNS programs, AmeriCorps and VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), which has full-time volunteers at offices and commissions in every State.

Lorenzo Harrison, Administrator, Office of Job Training Programs, Employment Training Administration, DOL, noted that various DOL programs, including Job Corps, the Workforce Development System, and the Youth Opportunity Grant Program, can participate with OJJDP. DOL's Leadership Institute has trained 1,500 youth workers in best practices in engaging young people in the Empowerment Zones and/or Enterprise Communities.

Larry Brendtro, President, Reclaiming Youth, said that Reclaiming Youth and Straight Ahead Ministries are partnering to establish faith-based mentoring programs in 11 States. Eastern Kentucky University is developing a Web-based course on effective mentoring.

Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative

Terrence S. Donahue, Acting Administrator, OJJDP

In 2002, OJP will roll out the Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, which will provide funding to State, local, and tribal jurisdictions to strengthen established reentry strategies andprograms. In its focus on the juvenile component of OJP's initiative, OJJDP will identify, implement, and/or enhance reentry strategies that prepare serious and violent juvenile offenders to return successfully to their communities and seek to build the knowledge base on best practices for successful reentry.

Serious and violent juvenile offenders need to be prepared for the successful return to their communities when they leave correctional institutions and training schools. The juvenile justice system is loaded with services and structures as young offenders enter the system but provides very little as offenders are released from institutional settings. The reentry period is a risky time for offenders and their communities. Offenders reoffend at a rate of 63 percent in the year following release. Probation and parole staff have caseloads of as many as 125 offenders per officer and limited resources to handle them. Juvenile offenders reentering the community need health services, education, job training, life skills training, and housing. Many are not welcome at home, where they may have victimized their families or where parents may fear the offenders' influence on siblings.

Serious youthful offenders are likely to be 16 or 17 years old and to have been involved repeatedly in Part I and Part II crimes. They are likely to be school dropouts and to have been in and out of training schools or data reporting programs. Serious youthful offenders are also likely to become part of the 18- to 24-year-old serious young adult offender population, a predatory group responsible for a large percentage of crime in the United States. OJJDP wants to intervene in the lives of serious youthful offenders before they move into that hardcore group of young adult offenders. A reentry program should bring offenders back into their communities through a controlled process that is monitored by a clear authority. The reentry program should assess the needs of offenders and develop a structured plan for reentry that provides access to a range of services and creates positive peer group and community connections for offenders through FBOs and CBOs.

The target populations of OJJDP's Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative are juvenile offenders ages 14 to 18 and juvenile sex offenders. The initiative's bottom-line goals are to reduce recidivism, enhance community safety, and encourage returning offenders to become productive, law-abiding citizens. OJJDP wants to leverage existing State programs and activities and provide assistance, in particular, to those States that have begun the process of establishing reentry programs. Eventually, OJJDP would like at least one juvenile reentry program to exist in every State.

OJJDP's Serious, Violent Offender Reentry Initiative will include three phases. The first phase will include institution-based programs. Some States begin the reentry process within their correctional institutions by establishing cell block areas for soon-to-be-released offenders, linking offenders to services in the community, and preparing offenders psychologically for leaving the structured environment of the institution. The second phase will focus on offenders' actual reentry and the transition to community-based programs. Current reentry programs often consist of nothing more than a bus ticket home. Without a plan to reintegrate offenders into thecommunity or to alter the lifestyles of young offenders, they will reoffend. The third phase of OJJDP's initiative will focus on community-based, long-term support for offenders and the stabilization of the reentry population.

Although there are a few reentry models (e.g., drug courts or courts for lesser crimes), courts have rarely addressed the reentry needs of the serious, violent offender. Mr. Donahue and others visited a promising model reentry court in Fort Wayne, IN. Under the model, offenders returning to the community initially live in a structured, quasi-secure residence and are linked to an FBO or CBO that provides them a sense of belonging in the community. Under the leadership of a judge, offenders and community service providers actively participate in the reentry program and are bound by their obligations to the court. Indiana's reentry court, funded by redeployed resources of the Superior Court, housing assistance from the State Department of Corrections, and evaluation assistance from DOJ's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), includes the following essential elements:

• A clear and present authority as offenders return to the community. In Indiana, the authority is a Superior Court judge who leads reentry court on Fridays, but the authority could also be a parole commission or similar group.
  
  
• A detailed assessment process. Assessments range from substance abuse treatment needs and education levels to employment readiness and life skills.
  
  
• A concrete, integrated reentry plan, based on the assessment process.
  
  
• The utilization of community resources, including housing.
  
  
• Levels of graduated sanctions.
  
  
• The involvement of local law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies should be informed about offenders returning to the community-not to track or harass them, but to monitor them and help them succeed.
  
  
• The utilization of FBOs and CBOs.

As for its Faith- and Community-Based Initiative, OJJDP wants to work with and encourage existing programs and efforts but does not want to supplant existing funding streams from its own formula grants or from those of its sister agencies.

Discussion and Closing Remarks

Terrence S. Donahue, Acting Administrator, OJJDP

Mr. Donahue polled the Council for comments and interest in partnering in OJJDP's two new initiatives. Mr. Donahue will visit each of the agencies to discuss OJJDP's initiatives in more detail and to develop partnership plans.

Bryant Applegate, Special Counsel, HUD, called the initiatives a great effort and noted that HUD is very involved with FBOs and CBOs.

Robert Babbage, Jr., Senior Managing Partner, InterSouth, Inc., said that the Faith- and Community-Based Initiative's CCCs could have a powerful effect as a multiyear endeavor and supports both of the initiatives.

Larry Brendtro, President, Reclaiming Youth, called the efforts a science-based, positive step for youth development and a wonderful opportunity to awaken the sleeping giant of the FBOs.

Barbara Broman, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy, HHS, noted the initiatives' strong linkages with HHS's programs on substance abuse. HHS also supports a faith-based initiative and is very interested in OJJDP's plans.

Herb Drake, ATF, U.S. Department of the Treasury, offered his personal commitment to develop these initiatives in conjunction with Treasury programs.

The Honorable Adele Grubbs, Judge, Juvenile Court of Cobb County (Georgia), supported both initiatives, calling them productive and helpful.

Michael Mahoney, President, John Howard Association, supported the initiatives, saying that it is time to pay attention to the forgotten community at the back end of the criminal justice process.

The Honorable Gordon Martin, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Trial Court, District Court, said the initiatives are based on sound plans, which need to be worked out in detail.

Hank Oltmann, Director, Special Programs, CNS, called the initiatives great public policy and said the Coordinating Council is a good vehicle for staying involved in this issue.

Daniel Schecter, Deputy Director, Demand Reduction, ONDCP, supported both initiatives and offered the participation of ONDCP's Community Anti-Drug Coalitions.

Ken Toda, Juvenile Affairs Division, INS, said that the initiatives are a positive direction and noted that INS's church-based services are another opportunity to link.

Jim Wright, Coordinator, Youth Alcohol Programs, NHTSA, DOT, said that OJJDP's initiatives are reasonable and the right thing to do.

Eric Andell, Senior Adviser to the Secretary of Education, ED; Lorenzo Harrison, Administrator, Office of Job Training Programs, Employment Training Administration, DOL; and Molly Johnson, NEA, left the meeting before Mr. Donahue polled the Council.

Mr. Babbage introduced a motion suggesting that the Coordinating Council offer its formal support of OJJDP's efforts to date in the area of faith-based initiatives and the ongoing involvement, especially in the areas of reentry and Centers for Continuous Capacity, in other programs that might be developed. The motion was seconded by Dr. Brendtro and unanimously passed by the Coordinating Council.

The next meeting of the Coordinating Council will take place in March 2002. Mr. Donahue thanked the participants for their work and adjourned the meeting.

Back to Meeting Archives

Home | About the Council | Member Information | Meetings | Resources
Contact Us | Site Map | Important Notices