SJI Continues To Focus On National Court Issues

The Strategic Initiatives Grants (SIG) program enables SJI to address critical national court issues, and develop solutions to those problems. SJI began using the SIG program in FY 2008 to address immigration issues in the state courts, and is continuing those efforts in FY 2010. In particular, the Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) will build off the very successful criminal bench guide for state court judges on immigration issues, and produce a bench guide focusing on juvenile and family issues. In addition, CPPS will continue providing technical assistance to new pilot learning sites. SJI will provide updates on these activities in future editions of the E-SJI News and on the SJI website, and CPPS has recently launched a new tab on their website devoted exclusively to the initiative.

In addition to focusing on immigration issues, SJI is also continuing to support state court re-engineering and budgeting in FY 2010. The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) will continue their efforts to maintain a clearinghouse of information on state court budgets, and provide technical assistance to a new set of state courts. This second year grant will include the development of a Toolkit for re-engineering that will provide guidance in making policy decisions and implementing changes.