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Partners

The Tribal Law and Policy Institute has partnered with the following United States Department of Justice,  Bureau of Justice Assistance TA providers on the Walking on Common Ground project. All have provided and/or reviewed content on this website:


The American Probation & Parole Association

The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) is an international membership association representing approximately 40,000 pretrial, probation, parole and community-based corrections personnel, in both criminal and juvenile justice systems. Membership comes from federal, state/provincial, tribal and local jurisdictions as well as the private sector. APPA provides individuals and agencies with the most current information on strategies, programs, and approaches to supervising diverse caseloads, facilitating change among the individuals being supervised, and being a proactive prevention/intervention partner in community coalitions. APPA also offers a variety of special issue committee’s designed to identify and discuss the emerging needs of the field, including gender, diversity,, crime victims, technology, juvenile justice, and tribal committees.

APPA also encompasses a Grants Division, which currently manages over 31 research/grant projects totaling approximately $8 million. Through these projects, APPA develops publications, bulletins, audio-teleconferences, guidebooks, and on-line and site-based training; as well as provides on-site and office-based technical assistance. APPA provides training and office-based and on-site technical assistance to tribes on, but not limited to, the following topics:  Pretrial Services;  Probation/Community Supervision Practices; Reentry Planning; Screening and risk and need assessment; Motivational Interviewing;  Developing and monitoring case plans/reentry plans based on evidence-based practices;  Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI’s);  Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards;  Enhanced Sentencing Authority; Indigent Defense; and Tribal Gangs (through Project Safe Neighborhoods).

Contact Information:

American Probation and Parole Association
P.O. Box 11910
Lexington, KY 40578-1910
Phone (859) 244-8015

Email: kcobb@csg.org 
Web: www.appa-net.org

Kimberly Cobb
Project Director


 

Center for Justice Innovation

The Center for Justice Innovation is a non-profit think tank dedicated to justice system reform. Since 1993, the Center has helped design and implement strategies for improving the performance of justice systems nationally and internationally. The Center currently operates more than a dozen demonstration projects, each of which is experimenting with new solutions to difficult problems like addiction, mental illness, delinquency, domestic violence, and community disorder. What unites all of these projects is an underlying philosophy known as problem-solving justice. This is the idea that the justice system should do more than simply process cases, it should actively seek to address the problems that bring people to court. The Center's Tribal Justice Exchange provides technical assistance to tribal communities seeking to develop or enhance their tribal court systems. Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Tribal Courts Assistance Program, the Tribal Justice Exchange has three major

Goals

  • Ensuring that tribal communities have access to training and ongoing technical assistance about problem-solving community-based practices.
  • Encouraging formal collaborations between traditional tribal justice systems and state and local court systems.
  • Identifying and disseminating best practices developed in Indian Country that could help strengthen public safety initiatives elsewhere in the United States.

The Tribal Justice Exchange offers a range of services designed to meet these goals.

Contact Information:

Center for Justice Innovation
520 8th Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Phone: (646) 386-3100

Web: https://www.innovatingjustice.org/areas-of-focus/tribal-justice

Adelle Fontanet-Torres
Director, Tribal Justice Exchange
 


National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College

The National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) is one of the leading national trainers and educators in law enforcement today. Through its criminal justice centers and programs it has been delivering best-practice training and technical assistance since 1983. The programs implemented through FVTC encompass federally funded training and technical assistance programs and services, contract and cost recovery training. Each operation within FVTC specializes in a particular set of issues critical to the criminal justice field. The training and technical assistance programs are dedicated to improving the knowledge, skills, capability, capacity, and leadership potential of our nation's criminal justice professionals and systems.

Contact Information:

Fox Valley Technical College,
National Criminal Justice Training Center

1825 N. Bluemound Drive
Appleton, WI 54914
Phone (888) 370-1752
Fax (920) 831-5400

Email: info@ncjtc.org
Web: www.ncjtc.org

Joell Schigur
Administrator
Email: schigur@fvtc.edu


Justice Solutions Group

Justice Solutions Group (JSG) is a nationally recognized juvenile and criminal justice consulting firm. JSG provides a comprehensive array of services including: justice system and facility needs assessments; master plan development; architectural space programming; facility concept design; staffing analysis; program design; scenario development; policies and procedures; post orders; and transition and operational planning services. JSG members have successfully completed numerous criminal and juvenile justice projects for federal, state and local agencies and institutions throughout the United States. JSG members have worked with over fifty Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages to develop new adult and juvenile facilities and justice centers.

Contact Information:

Justice Solutions Group
10 McKinley Street, Suite 1
Closter, NJ 07624

Phone: (201) 768-6839
Fax: (201) 768-6855

Email: tta@justicesolutionsgroup.com
Web: www.justicesolutionsgroup.com

Shelley Zavlek
President

Michele Georgio
Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator


National American Indian Court Judges Association

The National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) is a national voluntary association of tribal court judges. NAICJA is a non-profit corporation established in 1969. NAICJA is primarily devoted to the support of American Indian and Alaska Native justice systems through education, information sharing, and advocacy. The mission of the NAICJA, as a national representative membership organization, is to strengthen and enhance tribal justice systems.

Contact Information:

National American Indian Court Judges Association
1535 W. 15th St.
Lawrence, KS 66045
 
Phone: (785) 864-4753
Fax: (785) 864-5054 
 

 


National Center for State Courts

National Center for State Courts is the organization courts turn to for authoritative knowledge and information, because its efforts are directed by collaborative work with the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and other associations of judicial leaders. Consequently, NCSC is able to return expertise to the courts in a variety of forms - from Web resources to hands-on assistance. State assessments pay for the distribution of information from knowledge analysts and online sources, available free of charge to state trial and appellate courts and their administrative offices. To take advantage of tailored benefits, judges and court administrators can register for educational courses or contract with NCSC researchers and consultants for evaluation, assessment, and implementation of court improvement tools and methods. The National Center for State Courts is an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization founded at the urging of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger. He envisioned NCSC as a clearinghouse for research information and comparative data to support improvement in judicial administration in state courts.

Over twenty years ago, the Institute for Court Management merged with NCSC, adding an educational curriculum especially designed for court managers. In the early 1990s, an international division was formed to offer a similar array of research, consulting, education, and information services to strengthen the rules of law in countries around the world. All of NCSC's services - research, information services, education, consulting - are focused on helping courts plan, make decisions, and implement improvements that save time and money, while ensuring judicial administration that supports fair and impartial decision-making.

Contact Information:

National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue
Williamsburg, VA 23185

Phone: (757) 259-1593
Fax: (757) 564-2117

Email: ddancy@ncsc.org
Web: www.ncsc.org

Denise O. Dancy
Research Associate


National Congress of American Indians

Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the nation's oldest, largest, and most representative national Indian organization. NCAI was initially formed as a national body to combat the federal government's detrimental policies of termination and assimilation against Tribes, and to this day, it remains steadfast in its mission to protect and enhance tribal sovereignty. NCAI serves to secure for Indian peoples and their descendants the rights and benefits to which they are entitled; to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of Indian people; to preserve rights under Indian treaties or agreements with the United States; and to promote the common welfare of American Indians and Alaska Natives. It does so by hosting forums to debate and deliberate on pressing political issues and providing Tribes with a platform in the nation's capitol from which their voices can be heard. The NCAI, largely through its 501(c)(3) affiliate the NCAI Fund, has been working for over 10 years to promote intergovernmental cooperation between states and tribes, first through a State-Tribal Relations Project in partnership with the National Conference of State Legislators, and currently through its Tribal-State Collaboration and Justice Capacity Building Project with the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA).

Contact Information:

National Congress of American Indians
1516 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: (202)466-7767
Fax: (202) 466-7797

Email: ncai@ncai.org
Project web: www.ncai.org/tloa

Mark Carter
Legal Fellow
Email: mark.carter@ncai.org


 

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' (NCJFCJ's) vision is to contribute to a society in which every family and child has access to fair, equal, effective, and timely justice. Since its founding in 1937 by a group of judges dedicated to improving the effectiveness of the nation's juvenile courts, NCJFCJ has pursued a mission to improve court and system practice and raise awareness of the core issues that touch the lives of many of our nation's children and families. With the adoption and implementation of a governance structure that creates an expectation that diversity run through all of the Council's work, the NCJFCJ works to partner with tribal courts in a spirit of mutual learning and respect.  The NCJFCJ Board of Trustees believes that tribal courts and state courts are equal and parallel systems of justice. The NCJFCJ includes tribal organization’s and members' insight and guidance on many levels including leadership, advisory committees, and embedding cultural components in all of NCJFCJ's educational opportunities.  The NCJFCJ is honored to work with a strong group of tribal judicial leaders to learn, to listen, to give acknowledgment, and to engage in courageous conversations to strategically approach meaningful and ongoing engagement with tribes.

Contact Information:


National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
P.O. Box 8970
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, Nevada 89507

Phone: (775) 327-5303
Fax: (775) 327-5306

Email: cduarte@ncjfcj.org
Web: www.ncjfcj.org

Crystal Duarte, MPA
Program Director
Coordinated Policy and Practice
 

National Criminal Justice Association

Based in Washington, D.C., the NCJA is a nonprofit membership organization representing state, tribal and local governments on crime prevention and crime control issues. Its members represent all facets of the criminal and juvenile justice community, from law enforcement, corrections, prosecution, defense, courts, victim-witness services and educational institutions to federal, state and local elected officials. The NCJA is a national voice in shaping and implementing criminal justice policy since its founding in 1971. As the representative of state, tribal and local criminal and juvenile justice practitioners, the NCJA works to promote a balanced approach to communities’ complex public safety and criminal and juvenile justice system problems. The NCJA recognizes the importance of interrelationships among criminal and juvenile justice agencies and between these agencies and the community and the strong, steady advocacy necessary to achieve comprehensive planning and policy coordination goals.

Contact Information:

 
The National Criminal Justice Association
720 7th Street, NW, Third Floor
Washington, DC 20001
 
Phone: (202) 628-8550
Fax: (202) 448-1723
 
 
Cabell Cropper
Executive Director
 

 


National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College

The National Judicial College sets the benchmark for training judges and began training tribal court judges in 1976. Since its foundation in 2002, the National Tribal Judicial Center (NTJC) at the National Judicial College (NJC) has served as a significant resource for tribal judges and other related court personnel who seek to improve their professional skills and court management practices. It is among the first institutions to address the distinctive needs of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal law practitioners and remains one of the few to do so. Judges, peacemakers, and court personnel from many nations from across Indian Country come to the NTJC to learn with and from each other. Since 2002, the NTJC has trained more than 3,000 judges and court personnel. It continues to grow and evolve to meet the tribes' emerging needs for judicial education. The NTJC staff collaborates with its advisory council and partner institutions providing training in Indian Country to develop relevant, practical curricula and programs. Faculty members, many of them tribal judges, are nationally recognized experts actively practicing in their fields. The faculty receives extensive training through NTJC/NJC's faculty development program, which teaches best practice methods in adult learning adapted to the distinct learning styles of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Contact Information:

The National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College
Judicial College Building/Mail Stop 358
Reno, NV 89557

Phone: (800) 25-JUDGE
Fax: (775)784-1253

Email: registrar@judges.org
Web: www.judges.org/ntjc

Christine Folsom-Smith
Director
Email: cfsmith@judges.org


Tribal Judicial Institute, University of North Dakota School of Law

The University of North Dakota (UND) School of Law established the Tribal Judicial Institute (TJI) in 1993 with an award from a private foundation, to provide training and technical assistance to twenty tribal courts in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. The University of North Dakota School of Law is a leader amidst law schools in the advancement of tribal legal studies through established curricula and through the implementation of an Indian Law Certificate Program that is offered to J.D. candidates. Since its inception and with the support of the School of Law, the Institute has expanded to become a national institute and has conducted over 500 local, regional and national training sessions. In 1998, the Institute became one of the initial grantees of the Bureau of Justice Assistance under BJAâ??s Tribal Court Assistance Program (TCAP).

In 2001, the Institute was asked by BJA to coordinate the Tribal Court Assistance Program and since that time has served as the primary technical assistance provider to the over 250 Indian tribes that have received funding under the Tribal Court Assistance Project. The TCAP program was conceived under DOJâ??s Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative and its primary focus has been assuring safety for native communities by providing funding to Indian tribes to improve the collaboration between law enforcement and the courts and to assist local tribal initiatives to respond to crime in Indian Country. Under the TCAP program the Institute helped coordinate two "Listening" conferences where tribal leaders in Alaska and the lower 48 were able to come together with federal and state policy makers and express their concerns about crime in their communities. In addition the Tribal Judicial Institute has actively collaborated with several BJA funded agencies to offer training opportunities on indigenous justice programs and methodology.

Contact Information:

University of North Dakota School of Law,
Tribal Judicial Institute

215 Centennial Drive, Stop 9003
Grand Forks, ND 58202

Web: http://web.law.und.edu/tji

BJ Jones
Executive Director
Phone: (701) 777-6192
Fax: (701) 777/0178
Email: jones@law.und.edu