Our Work
National Corrections Staffing
No one thinks of prison as a safe or healthy place to live or work. Whether a state correctional system can help to substantially improve the health and well-being of staff and people incarcerated markedly depends on improvements to a prison’s climate. Truly changing a prison’s climate requires transforming a department’s culture. We have been awarded a federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to work with the Correctional Leaders Association and a broad range of representatives of all the stakeholders in corrections to do just this.
Pennsylvania Corrections Learning Community
We know local jails and prisons in Pennsylvania are facing an unprecedented hiring crisis. We also know this crisis is not going away and that significant change by elected and corrections officials is needed to ensure the safety of both corrections employees and the incarcerated. We will be working with elected and corrections officials to address this crisis and to help them respond to challenging events, such as deaths and escapes with professionalism and empathy.
Behavioral Health Learning Community
Ask any prosecutor to identify the greatest challenges they face in helping to keep their communities safe, and most will identify the area of behavioral health. Indeed, our prisons have become the largest behavioral health treatment facilities. Harnessing the unique knowledge and shared values of Pennsylvania’s district attorneys, we will work with them and others in their communities to identify and implement programs and systems to help create and enhance behavioral health diversion.
Policy Support
Working alongside reform-minded public officials and community leaders, we will help identify, enhance, study, and ultimately celebrate policies that leave no one behind—especially those in distressed and disadvantaged communities. We’re currently supporting the transitional governments in Allegheny County, working with the County Executive, courts, and District Attorney to help them improve the criminal justice system holistically in a manner that is both data-driven and community-engaged.
Public System Innovation
We will be building capacity for leading new thinking around public system innovation and bringing disruptive solutions to pressing issues such as staffing, technology enablement, and food scarcity. In doing so we will work closely with and partner with institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania.
Preventative Solutions
We want to be a strong pillar in communities to stamp out hopelessness – and that means engaging with communities and individuals before they are in the system. We want to promote the foundational building blocks that help keep people out of the system and do it in away that empowers individuals.