September 2008 V

E-SJI New

ol. 18, No. 12 

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SJI BOARD APPROVES GRANTS FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER 

The SJI Board of Directors met in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 19, 2008, to review applications for the 

fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2008. One (1) Project Grant, 6 Technical Assistance (TA) Grants, and 2 

Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were approved, for a total of $255,779. Grant funding was 

extremely limited for the fourth quarter due to high demand throughout FY 2008. 

Grant awards included a Project Grant to support the New Mexico Justice System Interpreter Resource Project. 

This partnership between the New Mexico courts and numerous justice agencies will improve interpreter 

training and qualifications, and establish a qualified pool of interpreters for use across the state. The project 

also addresses SJI’s Special Interest Program Category: Immigration Issues. Six (6) TA applications were 

approved by the Board, including case management support for the 4th Judicial District in Louisiana; resources 

to improve access to justice in Yuba, Tehama, and Nevada Counties in California; and sentencing 

improvements for the Judiciary of Guam. Two (2) CAT Grants were approved that will allow the Vermont 

courts to provide critical education for judicial officers, and the National Judicial College to expand web-based 

training for judges. 

For FY 2008, SJI awarded 9 Project Grants totaling $760,321; 5 Partner Grants totaling $937,000; 2 Strategic 

Initiatives Grants totaling $448,168; 22 TA Grants totaling $608,184; 8 CAT Grants totaling $117,452; and 134 

Scholarships totaling $183,508; for a grand total of $3,054,633. Total grant and scholarship requests for FY 

2008 was $4,322,398; therefore, SJI supported approximately 71 percent of the total requests. While some 

grant and scholarship requests did not make it through the review and Board approval processes to award, SJI 

also had to limit the number of awards due to lack of available grant funding. SJI anticipates that the demand 

for grants will continue to increase in FY 2009. 

 

LSC and SJI Finalize Third Year 

Partner Grant 2, 3

Inside

USMS and SJI Work to Improve 

Judicial Security 2

Deadlines for New 

Scholarship Applications 4

New Payment Process 

for Grants and 

Scholarships 3

 
U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE AND SJI WORK 

TO IMPROVE JUDICIAL SECURITY 

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) and SJI recently finalized a Partner Grant to support a component of the 

USMS Judicial Security Fellowship Program. This program provides an opportunity for state and local law 

enforcement officers charged with court security to train with the USMS. This includes training on high level 

executive protection and court security operations. During the program, the Judicial Security Fellow (JSF) is 

exposed to all aspects of USMS judicial and court security, and travels to sites of ongoing high-threat trials and 

protective details. JSFs will be full-time sworn officers of a duly constituted law enforcement agency, whose 

responsibility includes judicial and court security in the jurisdiction of the JSF. Furthermore, the JSF is at the 

rank of lieutenant or above, and will have at least five years court security experience. 

The USMS/SJI Partner Grant will directly support a component of JSF program that includes joint training with 

court administrators at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). This training will include coordination of 

public and media relations in high visibility trials, coordinated approaches to policy and procedures, and 

consolidated training for court staff in security awareness and response. Furthermore, the NCSC will help the 

JSF and his/her court counterpart develop close working relationships for analyzing security needs and 

formulating action plans to improve security in the state or location jurisdiction they represent. The JSFs will 

also achieve an understanding of court security needs from a court perspective. 

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION AND SJI FINALIZE 

THIRD YEAR PARTNER GRANT 

LSC and SJI began working to tighten the bonds between courts and legal aid providers in FY 2006. SJI 

provides additional funding for LSC to make awards for projects that have a court component in their 

Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) program. LSC and SJI work together to determine appropriate projects for 

joint funding. (continued on page 3) 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 18, No. 12
Legal Services Corporation and SJI Finalize Third Year Partner Grant (continued from page 2)

In FY 2008, LSC and SJI are continuing these efforts by recently finalizing a Partner Grant totaling $600,000. 

This third year Partner Grant will fund a slate of innovative technology projects designed to promote full access 

to justice through the use of technology. The Partnership uses LSC’s existing Technology Initiative Grants 

(TIG) program to support these innovative projects. SJI’s share, $300,000, is fully matched by LSC, and will 

provide additional resources to develop collaborative efforts between the courts and legal service programs in 

order to better serve self-represented and low-income litigants across the United States. Between FY 2006 and 

2008, LSC/SJI Partner Grants have supported $1.9 million in TIG projects. More information on the FY 2008 

Partner Grant will be available in the future from both LSC and SJI. In the meantime, those interested in LSC’s 

TIG program should visit the program website: http://tig.lsc.gov/. 

NEW PAYMENT PROCESS FOR GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS 

Beginning in FY 2009, SJI contracted a significant portion of its financial processes to the General Services 

Administration (GSA). This includes payments for awarded grants and scholarships. SJI will no longer issue 

checks directly; rather, electronic fund transfers (EFTs) or hard checks will be issued directly from the U.S. 

Treasury. 

The process for requesting reimbursement for grants and scholarships remains the same; however, SJI has 

recently updated some of its forms. For grants, a SJI Form R-Request for Advance or Reimbursement must 

be submitted to request awarded funds. The only change to this form is that the Employee Identification 

Number (EIN) also known as a “Tax ID” is required on the Form R. For scholarships, a SJI Form S3-

Scholarship Payment Request/Financial Report must be submitted to request scholarship reimbursement. 

The only significant change to this form is that the individual who received the scholarship must include his/her 

Social Security number. Payments from the U.S. Treasury can only be made if an EIN or Social Security 

number are included on these forms. Failure to include these numbers will result in delays receiving payments. 

GSA will be responsible for processing payments from the U.S. Treasury on behalf of SJI. SJI has an 

agreement in place that, once the proper documentation is received, GSA will process these payments within 

two weeks. 

Current and future grantees and scholarship recipients can also choose to receive payments via EFT. This is a 

faster method of receiving payment from SJI. To participate in EFT, SJI will need a completed SF 3881-

Automated Clearing House (ACH)/Miscellaneous Payment Enrollment Form. 

Updated forms are available on the SJI website: http://www.sji.gov/forms.php. Please feel free to contact SJI if 

there are questions regarding this new payment process. 

Page 3 E-SJI News – Vol. 18, No. 12
Board of Directors

Chairman

Robert A. Miller 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of South Dakota 

Pierre, SD 

Vice Chairman

Joseph F. Baca 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

New Mexico Supreme Court 

Santa Fe, NM 

Secretary

Sandra A. O’Connor 

States Attorney of Baltimore 

County (Ret.) 

Towson, MD 

Executive Committee Member

Keith McNamara, Esq. 

McNamara & McNamara 

Columbus, OH 

Terrence B. Adamson, Esq. 

Executive Vice-President 

The National Geographic Society 

Robert N. Baldwin 

Executive Vice President and 

General Counsel 

National Center for State Courts 

Carlos R. Garza, Esq. 

Administrative Judge (Ret.) 

Round Rock, TX 

Sophia H. Hall 

Administrative Presiding Judge 

Circuit Court of Cook County 

Chicago, IL 

Tommy Jewell 

Presiding Children’s Court Judge 

(Ret.) 

Second Judicial District Court 

Albuquerque, NM 

Arthur A. McGiverin 

Chief Justice (Ret.) 

Supreme Court of Iowa 

Des Moines, IA 

Janice Munsterman 

Executive Director 

Jonathan Mattiello 

Deputy Director 

The State Justice Institute is a 

private, nonprofit corporation 

established by Federal law in 1984 

to improve the quality of justice in 

state courts, and foster innovative, 

efficient solutions to common 

issues faced by all courts. SJI is 

governed by a Board of Directors 

appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate. 

DEADLINES FOR NEW 

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS 

This year, SJI permanently aligned the application deadlines for both new 

grant and scholarship applications. These deadlines, November 1; February 1; 

May 1; and August 1, correspond with the federal fiscal year quarters. The 

SJI Board meets on a federal fiscal year quarterly basis to make funding 

decisions because SJI is 100 percent federally funded. This structure allows 

SJI to start awarding new grants and scholarships once its budget is provided 

by Congress each fiscal year, and allocate the grant funding across four fiscal 

quarters. 

For the 4th quarter of FY 2008, SJI continued to receive scholarship 

applications after the due date of August 1. Potential applicants are 

encouraged to review the deadlines prior to submitting scholarship 

applications, and to plan their courses accordingly. 

More information about SJI grant and scholarship deadlines can be found on 

the SJI’s website: http://www.sji.gov/deadlines.php. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 

3⁄4 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: November 1, 2008 

(1st QTR, FY 2009). 

3⁄4 The NCSC’s Guide for Continuity of Operations (COOP) planning for 

courts has been updated with a new online course that augments and 

reinforces the information provided in the COOP Planning Guide. 

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/coop/index.html. 

 

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