New Tools: Financing the Future of Local Initiatives

The Council of State Governments Justice Center today released Financing the Future of Local Initiatives, a set of tools that helps jurisdictions maximize federal funding and sustain criminal justice-behavioral health efforts.

Many local leaders struggle to plan for financial sustainability. To address this need, Financing the Future of Local Initiatives leads jurisdictions through the following steps:

1. Getting started
Getting Started: A Guidebook for Sustainability and Scaling takes local leaders through the process of identifying funding to support data-driven strategies. Learn more and download the guidebook.

2. Finding federal funding opportunities
The Find a Federal Funding Opportunity database simplifies the often complex world of federal funding opportunities and is intended to help users pinpoint potential funding resources for their initiatives. Learn more about using the database.

3. Seeing sustainability in action
Jurisdictions around the country are testing out ways to sustain initiatives at the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health. Read more about how leaders in Lake County, Illinois, piloted these tools, and learn about how local communities can access funding through state criminal justice planning agencies.

The tools were developed with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, which seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash