DMC Action Network: May 2010 Meeting

The DMC Action Network held its fourth annual meeting in Alexandria, Virginia, from May 12-14, 2010. The meeting focused on strategies that would help Network sites sustain their groundbreaking work to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in their jurisdictions. You can download individual presentations and other materials from the meeting below. Click here to view photos from the meeting.

Contact Lisa Garry, DMC Policy Director, to learn more about the DMC Action Network.

Wednesday, May 12

10:00 – 3:00 pm - DMC Coordinators Meeting
                           
  3:30 – 5:30 pm - Graduated Responses Strategic Innovation Group Working                                  Session                  

 7:00 – 9:00 pm - Network Reception                                               
 

Thursday, May 13

 8:30 – 9:00 am - Welcome and Opening Remarks                                                    
                               Lisa Garry, DMC Policy Director
                               Center for Children’s Law and Policy

                              Candice Jones, Program Officer
                              John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

                              Melodee Hanes, Acting Deputy Administrator
                              Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

9:00 – 10:15 am - Plenary I: “Key Strategies for Sustainability [Download]
                                 Sara Mogulescu, Bennett Midland, LLC
                                 Janet Wiig, Child Welfare League of America

• Presentations will explore key elements and issues to sustain long-term change in system reform. Discussion will also introduce an infrastructure that will sustain successful reform initiatives, such as leadership and support, demonstrated outcomes, administration and practice, fiscal matters, marketing strategies, and law and policy.
  

10:30 – 11:45 am - Site Exercise – Sustainability Framework

 12:30 – 1:30 pm - Keynote: “Hip-Hop Theory of Justice”                                         
                                  Paul Butler, George Washington University School of Law

• Paul Butler is a law professor and former federal prosecutor. He is also the author of “Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Punishment,” which reviewers acclaim as a lively critique that will change the way you think about crime and punishment in the United States. Through the use of the hip-hop genre of music, Butler’s presentation will offer insights about incarceration as seen through the eyes of the accused. For more information, please visit http://letsgetfreethebook.com.

1:40 – 3:00 pm - Workshops                                                                                             

• Faith-Based Partnerships [Download]
  Rev. Romal Tune, Clergy Strategic Alliances, LLC
  
  Presentation will focus on effective methods to successfully engage faith-based communities to broaden support for DMC reduction and other related juvenile justice reforms. Workshop content will introduce theories of faith-based involvement and the value-added of the group’s participation in reform initiatives. The workshop will also introduce technical methods to design and implement faith-based outreach strategies in local communities.
  
  
• Media Messaging [Download]
  Marie Yeager, Roda Creative Services, Ltd.
  
  Presentation will focus on targeted media outreach to maximize audiences who will support DMC reduction and systems reform. Workshop content will help participants build comfort and skills in linking directly with media sources to promote and sustain successful DMC reduction efforts through interactive practice opportunities.
  
  
• Diversion Programs [Download Hague] [Download Robinson]
  Laurie Hague, Deputy Chief, Juvenile Probation Office, Berks County, PA
  Daphne Robinson, Assistant District Attorney, Rapides Parish, LA
  
  Presentation will introduce the Berks County (PA) Community Youth Aid Panels and the Rapides Parish (LA) Neighborhood Accountability Board as diversion programs. Workshop discussion will include useful insights for the design and implementation of diversion programs and proactive methods to ensure youth of color specifically benefit from these                  programs.
  
  
• Community Capacity-Building [Download]
  Marcia Rincon-Gallardo, Site Manager, W. Hayward Burns Institute
  
  Presentation will focus on working in partnership with communities to build leadership capacity at the grassroots level for DMC reduction and other related reforms. Workshop content will demonstrate use of community profiling and quantitative data analyses by the Pima County (AZ) DMC stakeholders to design alternatives to detention.              

 3:15 – 4:30 pm - Plenary II: “Effective Leadership to Change System Culture”
                               [Download Schmidt] [Download Cuthbertson]
                              Rik Schmidt, Court Administrator, Pima County Juvenile Court
                              Judge Frank Cuthbertson, Pierce County (WA) Supervisor Court

• Two executive-level officials who have successfully led system reform   initiatives in local jurisdictions will answer interview questions about their systems change experiences. Panel discussion will include specific leadership activities that have produced system change and helped to reinforce system attention to the elimination of disparate treatment of youth of color. Panel members will also offer insights about overcoming common challenges associated with attempts to change agency cultures.                              

Friday, May 14

  8:30 – 9:30 am - DMC Action Network Achievements, Special                                 Acknowledgements, and Awards
                                Center for Children Law and Policy Staff

 9:30 – 11:00 am - Plenary III: “Peaceful Co-Existence:
                                  Reform and Public Safety” [Download Domville] [Download                                   Yanik]

                                  Lisa Macaluso, Director, The Future Project, Center for                                   Children's Law and Policy

                                  Captain James Domville, Cresskill New Jersey Police                                   Department

                                  Doreen Yanik, Union County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Office

• Panel discussion will include public safety officials from the New Jersey Model State JDAI site. Panel presentations will address the New Jersey detention reform experience and the successful inclusion of law enforcement in the state’s reform model and the role that law enforcement has played in achieving results and sustaining the initiative.

11:00 - 11:30 am - Closing Remarks
                                  Mark Soler, Executive Director
                                  Center for Children’s Law and Policy