In recent years, ASCA members have expressed their need to receive timely, accurate and accessible information from federal justice policy and grant-making agencies.  The barrage of notices, updates, brochures and correspondence that they currently receive from the federal government - both in hard copy and in electronic form - makes it challenging for them to obtain a clear picture of what is forthcoming from the federal agencies and what has the greatest priority, relevance, and importance for them. 

To meet this need, ASCA has received funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to develop a ‘clearinghouse’ that will provide the directors a privileged conduit for receiving the federal information most critical to their operations and their mission.  The clearinghouse will also give the federal partners an opportunity to engage the state directors in open discussions of how best to assist them.  More specifically, the clearinghouse project will:

• Enable correctional agencies to take advantage of available federal funding;
• Provide a forum for sharing agencies’ funding success stories and creative use of funding;
• Build stronger relationships with BJA, BJS, NIJ and other OJP agencies; and
• Reach out to non-corrections focused government agencies.

This project is currently underway at ASCA, with an anticipated website launch in the summer of 2008.  For more information on the clearinghouse project, please contact ASCA program staff (Shaina Vanek and David Marcial) at 860-704-6410.