Volume 25, No. 7 April 2015 

E-SJI NEWS SJI NEWS

In this Issue 

Page 1 

SJI Awards FY 2015 Second Quarter Grants 

SJI Grantees 

When Tweeting or posting to 

Facebook about your SJI Grant, 

be sure to use the hashtag 

#SJIGrant so the state court 

community can learn more 

about your project! 

You can access our latest posts 

via the Facebook and Twitter

icons below. 

2nd Quarter Grant 

Awards 

1 

Strategic Initiatives 

Grants Address Public 

Trust & Confidence 

2 

Unaccompanied 

Immigrant Children 

and the State Courts 

3 

 

The SJI Board of Directors met on April 13, 2015, at 

SJI Headquarters to make decisions on quarterly 

grant applications and awarded a total of 11 grants. 

Two (2) Strategic Initiatives Grants were awarded as 

part of a national effort to improve public trust and 

confidence in the state courts. The first SIG initiative will enable the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC), in partnership with the Conference of Chief 

Justices (CCJ) and the National Consortium for Racial and Ethnic Fairness and the Courts to establish 

an engagement strategy to bridge the gap between 

minority and low-income communities and the state 

courts through collaborative efforts that will improve 

public trust and confidence. The second SIG will 

support a National Procedural Fairness Education 

and Training Initiative for judges, court managers, 

and court staff led by the Center for Court Innovation (CCI), in collaboration with The National Judicial College (NJC), the National Association of State 

Judicial Educators 

(NASJE), and the 

NCSC. 

Three (3) Project 

Grants were approved: support to 

CCI to adapt a New 

York Domestic Violence Risk Factor 

Guide for Civil Court 

for national use; the NCSC for a model framework to 

support professional development for state court 

judges; and the South Dakota Unified Judicial System for a statewide judicial workload assessment. 

Four (4) Technical Assistance (TA) Grants were 

approved, including: support to develop a Language 

of Justice Institute for the 1st Judicial District of Pennsylvania that will provide an academic course of study 

for court interpreters; assistance for a website redesign 

and planning project for the Kansas Judiciary; a space 

needs assessment for the 10th District Court of Minnesota; and funding to the NCSC to support a collection 

of best practices in appellate courts for expediting 

case resolution. 

Two (2) Curriculum Adaptation & Training 

(CAT) Grants were approved: support to the 

American Judges Association, the NASJE, and 

the Washington State 

Administrative Office of 

the Courts for joint educational sessions; and the NJC for an updated probate 

judges course that incorporates the SJI-funded National Probate Court Standards. 

The next deadline for grant applications is 

May 1, 2015. 
Page 2 

E-SJI News Volume 25, No. 7 April 2015 

During its recent meeting, the SJI Board 

awarded two Strategic Initiatives Grants to 

address public trust and confidence. The 

Board decided to support these projects after 

hearing from justices, judges, court administrators, and other key stakeholders over the 

past several months that SJI should take a 

leadership role on this critical issue. These 

SIG projects are a first step in a new approach 

to improving public trust and confidence in 

our state courts. 

Minority and Economically Disadvantaged 

Communities Engagement Strategy

This initiative will establish an engagement 

strategy to bridge the gap between minority 

and low-income communities and the state 

courts through collaborative efforts that will 

improve public trust and confidence. In partnership with the Conference of Chief Justices

(CCJ) and the National Consortium on Racial 

and Ethnic Fairness in the Court (National 

Consortium), the NCSC will coordinate this 

engagement strategy which includes: 

Establishing an Advisory Committee consisting of minority community leaders, chief justices, the National Consortium, and others to 

provide policy direction. The Advisory Committee will develop best practices to engage 

the target communities and improve understanding and recognition of the state 

courts. The Advisory Committee will identify 

key focus areas and best practices. 

Conducting a parallel minority community 

measurement process that will further explore 

minority perceptions of the state courts, building off the State of the State Courts 2014 survey. 

Holding a Community Leader Convocation in 

partnership with the National Consortium that 

will bring together state community leaders 

and representatives from minority justice comNational Initiatives Will Address Public Trust 

and Confidence in the State Courts 

missions to review the issues identified by the 

Advisory Committee, consider best practices, 

and further refine engagement strategies. 

Selecting six pilot sites from the National Consortium’s membership to test the engagement 

strategies designed to improve public trust and 

confidence, with at least four sites focused on 

minority community engagement. 

Convening a National Public Trust and Confidence Summit to share the lessons learned 

from the pilot sites with state teams using the 

successful convening models from the SJIfunded National Summit on Limited English 

Proficiency (LEP) and the State Courts. The 

objective of this summit will be for state teams 

to learn innovative approaches to engage minority and economically disadvantaged communities, and develop or strengthen state court 

action plans to improve public trust and confidence. 

National Procedural Fairness Education 

and Training Initiative 

The Center for Court Innovation (CCI) has 

worked to improve procedural fairness in the 

state courts through demonstration projects, 

research, education, and training both locally 

and nationally. CCI has piloted procedural 

fairness training in four jurisdictions over the 

past few years as part of larger efforts in those 

locations. There is a national demand for 

more education and training on procedural 

fairness. CCI received dozens of highly qualified applications from jurisdictions for a national training solicitation issued in 2013, for 

which there was only enough funding for three 

slots. In addition, CCI receives numerous 

unsolicited requests for education and training 

each year. 

To address this demand, CCI will develop 

education and training resources for judges, 

court managers, and court staff. These include: 

A speakers bureau of judges, researchers, and 

court system professionals who have expertise 

in procedural fairness and help present at local, state, and national training events. The 

speakers bureau will work with CCI to develop a standard curriculum for these presentations. CCI will partner with the National Judicial College (NJC) and the National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE), and 

the NCSC’s Institute for Court Management

(NCSC/ICM) to identify speakers, develop the 

curriculum, and respond to requests for education and training. 

Direct trainings for up to five in-person events 

and webinars, in collaboration with project 

partners. Each training event will be specific 

to the needs of the jurisdiction. 

Online learning modules based on the curriculum and available free of charge to all state 

courts. These modules could include videotaped demonstrations of court proceedings, 

virtual site visits, and interactive skill-building 

workshops. CCI will partner with NCSC/ICM 

to develop these modules. 

Interviews with practitioners who are leading 

voices on procedural fairness to examine the 

impact at the local level, and how these local 

initiatives can be replicated across the U.S. 

SJI will continue to provide updates on both of 

these high priority initiatives, including resources available to all state courts. 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chairman 

James R. Hannah 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Arkansas 

Little Rock, AR 

Vice Chairman 

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

Principle 

Bird Marella P.C. 

Los Angeles, CA 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of the State of New York 

New York Court of Appeals 

New York, NY 

David V. Brewer 

Justice 

Oregon Supreme Court 

Salem, OR 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Executive Director 

Legal Policy Strategies Group 

Bloomfield, CT 

John B. Nalbandian 

Partner 

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 

Cincinnati, OH 

Isabel Framer 

President 

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello 

Executive Director 

The State Justice Institute is a federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

E-SJI News Volume 25, No. 7 April 2015 

The Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) 

and the National Center for State Courts

(NCSC) are increasing state court capacity to 

address the increasing number of immigrant 

children likely to appear in state courts by: 

1) Preparing and distributing an information 

card and an Action Guide for state courts on 

cases involving unaccompanied immigrant 

children, also known as Unaccompanied Alien 

Children (UAC) in federal immigration law; 

2) Developing a basic curriculum for state 

court judges, administrators, and practitioners 

about: why and how the upsurge in the numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children 

entering the U.S. will affect the state courts 

both now and in the future; the appropriate 

role state courts play in providing findings and 

other legal materials as part of their traditional 

role in protecting the best interest of children, 

that can also be used in concurrent and subsequent immigration matters; and the mechanics 

involved and tools available to state courts 

when working with unaccompanied immigrant 

children; and 

3) Conducting a series of webinars, and individual state court and court support organization educational sessions using the curriculum. 

To date, CPPS/NCSC has hosted a national 

webinar on the UAC issue, which is available 

online, and created a webpage for additional 

resources. In addition, CPPS/NCSC recently 

released an information card for judges and 

Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Update 

court practitioners on federal Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). SIJS provides 

unaccompanied immigrant children with a 

temporary right to remain in the U.S. and apply for permanent resident status. In cases 

where the UAC wants to apply to the U.S. 

Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) 

for SIJS, the juvenile must supply USCIS with 

a state juvenile court order with certain findings. The information card also provides details on the types of findings required, and the 

types of cases where these juveniles will most 

likely end up in state courts. 

The Action Guide is currently in the final 

stages of drafting, and will be released 

soon. The action guide contains more detailed 

information about UACs and the state court 

findings required as part of the SIJS application process. A curriculum on this issue will 

follow shortly after publication of the Action 

Guide.