The FY 2024 3rd Quarter State Justice Institute SJI Board Meeting was held on June 3rd, 2024, at the Michigan Supreme Court in Lansing, Michigan. Members of the SJI Board, Executive Director, Jonathan Mattiello, and Senior Program Advisor, Michelle White, were joined by Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement and State Court Administrator, Tom Boyd, of the Michigan Supreme Court.
SJI received 14 grant applications requesting a total of $2,169,020 for the 3rd quarter of FY 2024.
The Board awarded three (3) Strategic Initiatives Grant to: 1) LaGratta Consulting for the Fairness Challenge Pilot Project, which will employ emerging innovations in diverse pilot courts to improve and measure procedural fairness; 2) the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to formalize and sustain a national juvenile justice training and resource center; and 3) the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, in partnership with the Center for Justice Innovation to develop a Blueprint for Adjudication for use by judicial officers and adjacent system actors before, and during, initial hearings to help facilitate access to mental health treatment and decrease the amount of time people with mental illness spend in jail.
Six (6) Technical Assistance Grant applications were awarded: 1) the Supreme Court of Nevada to develop an online guardianship portal that will enable online submission of guardianship filings and identify potential issues with guardianships; 2) the Alaska Court System for a caseflow management workshop; 3) the Nebraska Administrative Office of the Court and Probation for a self-help center pilot project in Douglas County, Nebraska; 4) the National Association of Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers for educational programming; 5) the Unified Judicial System of South Dakota for a strategic planning project; and 6) the Kansas Supreme Court for court clerk organizational assessments in three (3) counties.
Three (3) Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants were awarded: 1) the Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal for educational programming during the 2024 annual meeting; 2) the National Judicial College (NJC) for podcasts on judicial independence and the rule of law; 3) and the NJC for training for judges on restorative justice practices.
The next deadline for grant applications is August 1, 2024.