The SJI Board of Directors met on June 5, 2017, at SJI Headquarters in Reston, Virginia, to make decisions on quarterly grant applications, and awarded a total of ten (10) new grants.

A Strategic Initiatives Grant (SIG) was awarded to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), in partnership with the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ), the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL), the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ), the Center for Children’s Law & Policy (CCLP), the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), and the RFK National Resource Center (RFK-NRC), to advance juvenile justice efforts through developing national resources and technical assistance for state courts.  The project will build on the CCJ/COSCA regional juvenile justice summits and state team work, and be informed by the Models for Change Initiative.  A SIG was also awarded to the NCJFJC to update the Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines, which will be linked to the work of the broader effort on juvenile justice reform.  SJI remains committed to improving juvenile justice in the state courts, and these two major initiatives will further advance those efforts.  A SIG was also awarded to the NCSC to develop a Leadership Academy for presiding judges and court administrators to promote a new approach to judicial leadership based on previous work, such as the Harvard Executive Session for State Court Leaders in the 21^st Century.

Two (2) Project Grants were awarded: 1) a collaboration between the NCSC, the American Judges Association (AJA), NCJFCJ, and the National College of Probate Judges (NCPJ) to develop judicial response protocols to guide judges in taking preemptive steps to address allegations or evidence of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation in guardianship cases; and 2) a project to provide guidance to state courts on how to respond to requests for accommodations related to disabilities in the jury setting.

A Technical Assistance Grant was awarded to the 2^nd Judicial District Court of Nevada plan and develop a shared Self-Help Center for self-represented litigants accessing the District Court and the Reno Justice Court.  Four (4) Curriculum Adaptation and Training Grants were awarded including: support to the National Judicial College (NJC) to adapt Probate Courts: Contemporary Issues using the highly successful SJI-funding curriculum Probate Matters, with an emphasis on the National Probate Court Standards; an Institute for Court Management training program for the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; and a faculty development workshop for judges and court staff in New York.