Purpose

To provide training and technical assistance to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) grantees and other selected communities seeking to reorganize and reform their service delivery systems as part of a collaborative effort to prevent and control juvenile crime and victimization.

Background

As the juvenile justice field continues to recognize prevention as central to its mission and to focus its prevention efforts on those factors that place children at risk for delinquent or criminal activity, practitioners are increasingly recognizing that the segmentation and fragmentation of community service delivery systems is a serious obstacle to effective services for at-risk youth in disadvantaged settings (Gerry and Morrill, 1990). In addition, practitioners and policymakers are beginning to recognize the potential of communities and community justice to address problems related to delinquency and crime. In particular, communities have a vital role in making and implementing decisions regarding juveniles already involved with the juvenile justice system, particularly decisions concerning the balance of public safety, juvenile accountability, and juvenile rehabilitation. This potential for what National Institute of Justice Director Jeremy Travis calls a "powerful alignment" of communities and criminal justice (1996) requires rethinking and reorganizing the juvenile justice and related systems and community structures and resources. The Federal Government has a role, not only in reorganizing and restructuring its own activities to promote and facilitate such reorganization on the community level, but also in stimulating community-based systems improvement by providing financial and technical assistance to communities engaged in collaborative reform processes (Conly and McGillis, 1996).

In recent years, community-based efforts to address the needs of children and families, initiated by practitioners in mental health, medical, education, and social services, have taken the lead in acknowledging that coordination of community-based systems of care that are preventive and address multiple risk factors requires considerable reform of the service delivery system. Coordination within communities must occur on two levels, one concentrating on the needs of individual families and another concentrating on the problems of the system itself (Bronheim, Keefe, and Morgan, 1993).

There is broad consensus that current juvenile justice practice is often ineffective. Services are crisis oriented and divide children and families into distinct, often arbitrary, categories. Communication among service providers is often poor, resulting in an inability to treat families holistically, meet their needs, and develop comprehensive solutions (Melaville and Blank, 1993).Service providers have become increasingly specialized and professionalized over the course of the 20th century, even as the needs of children, youth, and families have become more complex, multidimensional, and interrelated.

In contrast, effective service delivery systems are family centered and driven; preventive; integrated; comprehensive; developmental; flexible; sensitive to race, culture, gender, and disability; and outcome oriented (Melaville and Blank, 1993). Successful development of such systems occurs through a variety of strategies, which include collaborative partnerships, sharing and development of resources, provider and family participation in system development, and the planning of broad-based community inclusion coupled with respect for and recognition of differences within the projected system of care. The implementation of a broad-based continuum of prevention, treatment, and support services includes:

. . . techniques such as repositioning or colocation of staff, one-stop shopping centers; case management to ensure children and families receive services they need; focus on the whole family; empowerment of children and families; and evaluation of effectiveness based on impact of services on children's and families' lives, rather than on units of services provided (Melaville and Blank, 1991).

Juvenile justice's collaborative programs arrived late on the scene in the late 1980's, joining systems improvement efforts in mental health, medical, child, and family services; child care; and early education, special education, and education (Kagan and Neville, 1993). In particular, while prevention efforts in other arenas, both publicly and privately funded, had largely included the goals of the juvenile justice field, very few collaborative, integrative initiatives had focused on adjudicated youth (Soler, 1992).

Understanding of the importance of youth, parents, and community members in both the planning and the service delivery processes has increased. In addition, there is consensus among juvenile justice practitioners that training of key leaders, frontline staff, and key stakeholders (youth, parents, and community members) is essential and that training must include both cross-training and facilitation of "buy in" to the process and its philosophy. Also, collaboration and cooperation are required at all levels of government-Federal, State, local, and tribal-for even small projects to be truly effective, and changing the behavior and attitudes of people is often more essential than changing policies or laws (Dunkle, 1994).

While "top-down" approaches have produced some fruitful experiments and some changed practices, real power sharing, program integration, and large-scale implementation efforts have so far proved unsuccessful. At the same time, small "bottom-up" approaches have achieved success in linking services, but these efforts have remained largely outside the major service-providing agencies (Morrill, 1993). A National Center for Services Integration (NCSI) field survey in 1993 determined there is general consensus that "it will take combined efforts, throughout the structure at all levels, . . . 1) to bring one or more of the ongoing broad reforms to sufficient scale, so that important issues of service combinations, governance, financing, performance, and accountability can be explored; and 2) to obtain evidence so that the political system and the public can be confident that different also means better" (Morrill, 1993). Experts contend that service integration, if it is to work, must be both top down and bottom up and must couple systems change and service improvement strategies, with each informing the other.

Evaluation of the few community-based collaborative programs for adjudicated youth has identified necessary features of successful programs, such as clear goals, a well-defined target area or population, sound management, strong leadership, fiscal accountability, outcomes-based planning, and a "full range of services from highly restrictive to those approximating normal family living" (Behar, 1986). These services should be "provided in the children's own communities to maximize family involvement and reintegration into their natural environments," and should be accompanied by "linkages among the various components of the system as well as to other children's services systems, flexibility in funding and decisionmaking, . . . and individualized treatment and educational planning through broadly defined case management" (Behar, 1986). Controls must be appropriately restrictive and supervisory, consistent with the youth's offense and rehabilitative chances, and include ongoing available legal advice (Benjamin, 1995). Case managers must have broad authority, access to necessary services, and the ability to craft solutions where none present themselves (Soler, 1992). Systems-level changes among the necessary features include the elimination of statutory and regulatory barriers, the development of communication processes, and the collaborative involvement of public and private sectors with flexibility in and commitment to funding. Mechanisms for interagency dispute resolution and the facilitation of information collection management and retrieval must be established (literary review cited in Soler, 1992).

Community-based collaborations in juvenile justice, such as those sponsored by OJJDP, must make use of these salient learnings in developing successful reform efforts. "Community human services coordination cannot be achieved without an investment by the state (or federal government) in training, technical assistance, new technologies and service/program evaluation" (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory Report, 1996). Specific areas of technical assistance include the establishment and maintenance of a community governing structure; strategic planning; mechanisms for facilitating collaboration; methods of delivery of reformed services, and training for and implementation of family-centered frontline practices (Cohen and Ooms, 1993a). Community partners must not only have enough "content knowledge to design and implement appropriate programmatic interventions and to create a comprehensive system of supports, services, and opportunities sufficient to produce outcomes," they must also develop skills in developing, managing, and maintaining a collaborative decisionmaking process (Together We Can, 1996). Technical assistance in the collaborative decisionmaking area has been grossly underprovided by Federal program support of comprehensive initiatives (Together We Can, 1996). OJJDP is committed to providing such support and helping communities facilitate reforms of the policies, practices, and services of the justice, child welfare, family services, and other related systems in an effort to promote a comprehensive, responsive, and seamless continuum of care for children at risk of or already engaged in delinquent activities.

OJJDP is soliciting for an organization or consortium of organizations to provide training and technical assistance on systems improvement strategies for communities under a 4-year cooperative agreement. Targeted communities are (1) the six SafeFutures and five Safe Kids/Safe Streets program sites (intensive onsite and cross-site work); and (2) cross-site cluster trainings (one for each of the following three programs per year) for grantees of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression (Comprehensive Gang) Program; the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program, and the Safe Start/Child Development-Community Policing (CDCP) Program. In addition, OJJDP will provide some limited onsite support to other, not yet identified, communities engaged in local systems improvement. This support will include approximately 10 onsite visits to this group of communities. This support will be determined in conjunction with OJJDP and the communities and will be based on need.

Goal

To assist communities to develop, expand, and enhance their skills and capacity to implement system changes leading to an integrated system of care for at-risk and delinquent youth and their families.

Objectives

Phase I (1-6 months)

	Identify and collect existing systems reform resource materials and tools.
	Develop or adapt curriculum modules that are tailored to the specific needs and issues of the OJJDP recipients being supported through this solicitation. The variety of topics-such as fund reallocation, collaboration, team building, integrated case management, conflict resolution, and others-must be based on and meet the needs of the target communities.
	Develop information and technical assistance tools on systems improvement for OJJDP fund recipients and other jurisdictions across the country.
	Prepare manuals, guides, and other written and visual products to disseminate information about systems-improvement strategies.
	Develop assessment/protocol tools to determine a community's needs related to systems reform.
	Assess communities' systems-reform needs.

Phase II (6 months and longer)

	Increase the ability of the multiple systems that interact with children, adolescents, and their families to effectively organize services around the strengths, needs, and challenges of at-risk and delinquent youth and their families in specific communities.
	Increase the ability of communities to mobilize key policymakers to engage in systems-reform efforts and to sustain involvement of key agencies and leaders.
	Increase the ability of communities to mobilize a broad cross-section of community members (youth, parents, faith leaders, businesspeople, informal community leaders, and others) to participate in systems-reform efforts.
	Identify strategies for how current services and resources can be redeployed, public and private funding reallocated, and other resources leveraged to support at-risk and delinquent children and adolescents and their families.
	Develop effective ongoing cross-training programs for the collaboratives, local agencies, and staff.
	Assist communities in systematically identifying and implementing reform strategies at the policy, management, and frontline practice levels.
	Assist communities in implementing program and policy flexibility that fosters the most effective case management practices.

Program Strategy

Applicants are expected to conceptualize and present a design for the implementation of systems improvement training and technical assistance (TTA) that meets the needs of OJJDP fund recipients being assisted under this award. The recipients to be served under this award with onsite and offsite, ongoing intensive TTA are the six SafeFutures sites and the five Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites. In addition, grantee cluster (cross-site) training will be provided to the following grantees: Comprehensive Gang program (five sites), Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence program (four sites), and Safe Start/CDCP sites (number of sites to be determined). Also under this initiative, the applicant must include provision of TTA to a select group of as yet unidentified sites. There will be approximately 10 onsite visits to this group of jurisdictions needing support. The number of visits to jurisdictions will vary based on need.

Applicants should provide a detailed plan and recommendations for assisting sites and should demonstrate strong evidence of training and technical assistance expertise in systems change, service delivery improvement, service integration, integrated case management, and management information systems technologies. Knowledge and expertise of the service delivery systems is critical as is strong evidence of organizational capability and expert staffing and management. Applicants also must address how they will provide for the varied geographic/regional factors and other factors related to the cultural proficiency needs of OJJDP grantees. Specifically, at least two tribal sites will be served through this TTA grant. Applicants must demonstrate an ability to work with these communities, including staffing with expertise in tribal governance issues and processes.

The recipient of this award will be expected to work with OJJDP staff, national evaluators, TTA coordinators for the various OJJDP grantees, and other TTA providers working in the sites to coordinate their training and technical assistance. The recipient will also be expected to provide materials developed under this cooperative agreement to all essential parties and share responsibility for developing materials for common use. The recipient will have access to appropriate OJJDP records and staff in performing its duties. Each applicant should provide assurances and describe how this coordination will be managed within the applicant organization as a part of the management plan.

The applicant should address the project office's location, equipment needs, and resources in the application. Applicants are encouraged to be realistic in costing out the deliverables and in developing timelines for implementation.

Applicants for this project should obtain information on each of the identified OJJDP grantees from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) at 800-638-8736 and from the OJJDP Web page. Original solicitations, Fact Sheets, and other materials are available on the Web page or from JJC. Potential TTA needs of the sites will be broad ranging and may include the following: funding reallocation, collaborative decisionmaking, management of collaborative staff, team-building, strategic planning, conflict resolution, management information system design and implementation for case management and service planning, interagency communication, confidentiality issues, resource management, legislation and regulatory reform at all levels, and ongoing "coaching" on systems change.

The tasks involved in delivering the products listed below are consistent with the stated OJJDP goals and objectives. Applicants are encouraged to be creative and innovative in their proposals to implement the overall project.

Products

Phase I (1-6 months)

	Develop a curriculum that is consistent with the needs of the identified OJJDP grantees and that includes components tailored to each site.
	Develop assessment tools for assessing the specific systems change needs of the recipient jurisdictions.
	Conduct assessment work on systems improvement needs for SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites in coordination with the sites, OJJDP, and the TTA coordinator for these initiatives (initial and ongoing assessment with these intensive TTA communities) and provide an assessment report and TTA plan.
	Conduct assessment work with the OJJDP grantees receiving cluster or cross-site training (Comprehensive Gang-five sites, Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence-four sites, and Safe Start/CDCP sites-number to be determined) and provide an assessment report and TTA plan.

Phase II (6 months and longer)

National Training and Technical Assistance Support

	Prepare and present systems improvement workshops at OJJDP-sponsored events.
	Provide information and resources on service delivery reform and systems improvement to jurisdictions as needed through phone consultation or referral by OJJDP.
	Develop and provide written information to be disseminated by OJJDP through JJC, including such publications as OJJDP Fact Sheets, Bulletins, Summaries, and Reports for general dissemination.
	Develop subjects and information for the systems improvement section of OJJDP's Web page with links to the SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites, including a resource list and other general information. Other technologies for general and specific TTA are to be proposed. OJJDP will provide technical development. The recipient is responsible for the content and recommendations for any specific design elements.
	Work with OJJDP on the content development and implementation of an OJJDP satellite teleconference on systems improvement strategies. OJJDP will provide for the production and advertisement services.

Intensive Site Training and Technical Assistance: SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets Sites

Deliver onsite TTA, consultations, and followup activities for the SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets grantees as needed, projecting a minimum of two onsite visits per year for each of the 11 sites and participate in one cross-site meeting for each.

Cross-Site Training for Specific OJJDP Grantees: Comprehensive Gang Program Sites, Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Sites, and Safe Start/Child Development-Community Policing Sites

Deliver cluster trainings for each of the three projects identified above for cross-site training.

General Site Training and Technical Assistance on Systems Improvement for Nonspecified Jurisdictions

Conduct assessment work and provide TTA to the general OJJDP-selected sites (yet to be identified) to receive onsite TTA as needed (approximately 10 onsite visits).

Eligibility Requirements

OJJDP invites applications from public and private agencies, organizations, institutions, and individuals. Private, for-profit organizations must agree to waive any profit or fee. Joint applications from two or more eligible applicants are welcome; however, one applicant must be clearly indicated as the primary applicant (for correspondence, award, and management purposes) and the others indicated as coapplicants. Applicants must have strong, demonstrated experience in delivery of systems improvement TTA.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated and rated by a peer review panel according to the criteria outlined below.

Problem(s) To Be Addressed (10 points)

The applicant must convey a clear understanding of the purpose, the programs, the work requirements, and the related issues addressed in this program announcement. In particular, the applicant must present a clear conceptualization of site-specific systems improvement TTA and general TTA delivery and tool development. The applicant must, therefore, further demonstrate knowledge of both the leading systems-change and service-integration information and the problems they are designed to address, and must convey an understanding of the expected results of these efforts and of possible obstacles to their achievement.

Definition of Goals and Objectives (5 points)

The goals and objectives to be achieved by the project must be clearly defined, measurable, and related directly to achieving this grant's stated goals, and must be consistent with and supportive of the goals and objectives of the OJJDP-sponsored grantees served under this award.

Project Design (30 points)

Applicants must include a project design, indicating a workplan with specific tasks and procedures to be completed, projected performance schedules, expected accomplishments, and products. The performance schedule should include a detailed chart that specifies each milestone, the related tasks, the lead staff responsible, and a timeline with interim benchmark dates and dates for task completion. The design must correspond with the project's goals and objectives, the conceptualization of need, and product achievement identified in this solicitation. Project design elements should directly link to the achievement of specific objectives. Obstacles for achieving expected results should be identified with alternative plans and rationales included.

OJJDP will consider recommendations for modification and enhancement of the products to be delivered to accommodate cost considerations. Where such recommendations are made, justification and alternatives should be proposed. The competitiveness of applications will be enhanced when such modifications and/or enhancements reflect the concept and are sound and innovative.

Management and Organizational Capability (45 points)

Project Management (25 points)

The management and staff structure must be appropriate for the successful implementation and management of the grant. Areas to be considered include reasonableness of the staffing plan, appropriateness of staffing in terms of onsite work, and the specific skills and knowledge of TTA staff in terms of systems improvement and service integration, TTA, juvenile justice and related service delivery, cultural/tribal expertise, and understanding of localities to be served. In addition to expertise in systems improvement, key project staff must also demonstrate at least 5 years of experience in program management, training, technical assistance and consultation, and production development. Résumés of known staff must be included in the appendix. For proposed staff, the applicant must include résumés and letters of commitment in the appendix. For positions that are not designated for identified staff, job descriptions and staff qualifications must be included.

Organizational Capability (20 points)

Organizational ability to administer the project successfully must also be clearly demonstrated in the application. The documentation must include organizational experience in the subject areas described under the program strategy and with projects of the type and scope described.Applicants must also describe and demonstrate an organizational infrastructure that would support the technological and resource requirements of this project. Applicants may find it more cost effective to establish contractual relationships for technical or specialized functions required under the grant.

Budget (10 points)

Applicants must provide a proposed budget and budget narrative that are complete, detailed, reasonable, allowable, and cost effective in relation to the activities to be undertaken. For budget purposes, applicants should plan to conduct at least four onsite consultations or trainings for OJJDP.

Format

The narrative must not exceed 35 pages in length (excluding forms, assurances, and appendixes) and must be submitted on 8½- x 11-inch paper, double-spaced on one side of the paper in a standard 12-point font. This is necessary to maintain fair and uniform standards among all applicants. If the narrative does not conform to these standards, OJJDP will deem the application ineligible for consideration.

Award Period

This project will be funded for a 4-year project period in four 1-year budget periods. Funding after the first budget period depends on grantee performance, availability of funds, and other criteria established at the time of award.

Award Amount

Up to $560,000 is available for this cooperative agreement for the first 1-year budget period.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number

For this program, the CFDA number, which is required on Standard Form 424, Application for Federal Assistance, is 16.541. This form is included in OJJDP's Application Kit, which can be obtained by calling the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800-638-8736 or sending an e-mail request to puborder@ncjrs.org. The Application Kit is also available online. (See the Introduction for more contact information.)

Coordination of Federal Efforts

To encourage better coordination among Federal agencies in addressing State and local needs, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is requesting applicants to provide information on the following: (1) active Federal grant award(s) supporting this or related efforts, including awards from DOJ; (2) any pending application(s) for Federal funds for this or related efforts; and (3) plans for coordinating any funds described in items (1) or (2) with the funding sought by this application. For each Federal award, applicants must include the program or project title, the Federal grantor agency, the amount of the award, and a brief description of its purpose.

"Related efforts" is defined for these purposes as one of the following:

	Efforts for the same purpose (i.e., the proposed award would supplement, expand, complement, or continue activities funded with other Federal grants).
	Another phase or component of the same program or project (e.g., to implement a planning effort funded by other Federal funds or to provide a substance abuse treatment or education component within a criminal justice project).
	Services of some kind (e.g., technical assistance, research, or evaluation) to the program or project described in the application.

Delivery Instructions

All application packages must be mailed or delivered to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, c/o Juvenile Justice Resource Center, 2277 Research Boulevard, Mail Stop 2K, Rockville, MD 20850; 301-519-5535. Note: In the lower left-hand corner of the envelope, you must clearly write "Systems Improvement Training and Technical Assistance Project."

Due Date

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the original and five copies of the application package are received by 5 p.m. ET on August 17, 1998.

Contact

For further information, contact Kristen Kracke, Program Manager, Special Emphasis Division, 202-307-5914, or send an e-mail inquiry to krackek@ojp.usdoj.gov.

References

Behar, L. 1986. A State model for child mental health services: The North Carolina Experience. Children Today 15:16-21.

Benjamin, M. 1995. Effective Collaboration as the Key to Understanding and Reducing Youth Violence: A Mental Health Perspective. Washington, DC: National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health.

Bronheim, S.M., Keefe, M.L., and Morgan, C.C. 1993. Building Blocks of a Community-Based System of Care: The Communities Can Campaign Experience. Vol. 1 of Communities Can. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center.

Cohen, E., and Ooms, T. 1993a. Training and technical assistance to support family-centered, integrated services reform. Washington, DC: The Family Impact Seminar.

Conly, C., and McGillis, D. 1996. The Federal role in revitalizing communities and preventing and controlling crime and violence. National Institute of Justice Journal 231:24-30.

Dunkle, M. 1994. Linking Schools with Health and Social Services. Washington, DC: The Institute for Educational Leadership.

Gerry, M., and Morrill, W. 1990. Integrating the delivery of services to school-aged children at risk: Toward a description of American experience and experimentation. Octopus Times 1:61-66.

Kagan, S., and Neville, P. 1993. Integrating Human Services: Understanding the Past to Shape the Future. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Melaville, A., and Blank, M. 1991. What it Takes: Structuring Interagency Partnerships to Connect Children and Families with Comprehensive Services. Washington, DC: Education and Human Services Consortium.

Melaville, A., and Blank, M. 1993. Together We Can: A Guide for Crafting a Profamily System of Education and Human Services. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Morrill, W. 1993. Seeking better outcomes for children and families. NCSI News (Spring) 1-2.

National Center for Services Integration Consortium Conference. 1993. Going to Scale with a Comprehensive Services Strategy. New York, NY: National Center for Services Integration.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory Report. 1996. Specific Issues States Need to Address. Policy Briefs Report 1 (1996). Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

Soler, M. 1992. Interagency services in juvenile justice systems. In Juvenile Justice and Public Policy (134-150) edited by I. Schwartz. New York: Lexington Books.

Together We Can. 1996. Coordinating Federal Technical Assistance to Comprehensive Community-Based Initiatives: A Report of the Together We Can Initiative. Washington, DC: Together We Can.

Travis, J. 1996. Communities and criminal justice: A powerful alignment. National Institute of Justice Journal 231:2-3.