April Shapley

Louisiana Gaming Control Board Issues Over 40 Cease & Desist Orders to Online Sweepstakes and Offshore Casinos. The move follows the Governor's strong statement regarding continued enforcement against illegal gaming. Board Chairman Christoper B. Hebert said: "Louisiana will not tolerate illegal operators who put our citizens at risk and undermine the fairness and integrity of our gaming industry."

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Graphic by RWJF describing a few of the ways in which recent policy changes will impact families and communities. Local organizations such as DataHaven have published reports and maps showing how some of these changes impact individual towns and legislative districts. #nnip

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This is from the executive director of the 18F, the digital services agency within the General Services Administration (GSA) that develops open-source tools to improve digital services across the federal government. "I am the Executive Director of 18F and 18F’s longest running employee- I have been at 18F for 10 years. You may not have heard of us, but last night proved that we are powerful. The way the administration ran to get rid of us under the cover of night and shut us down without warning proves that they were scared. They are too afraid to even speak to us. We, like our many allies, had the “radical” idea that the government should be responsive to the needs of real people. We assembled amazing teams of technology professionals from different specialities who could work together and learn from each other. We shared what we learned with everybody. I saw, time and time again, where we stood up for partners who were getting taken advantage of by vendors, or just needed help turning a vision into reality. We could make a simple website or a complicated system, we would do what we needed to best serve the mission and the public. We didn’t upsell anyone, we tried to teach our partners how to do what we did. I see them still prospering years after working with us. We have proven methods that could be replicated, so we helped even more people through guides and writing. Those people are still going. And I am cheering them on. We were living proof that the talking points of this administration were false. Government services can be efficient. You can work with agencies as they are now and work with them to better manage their services. This made us a target. People who own skyscrapers are afraid of 100 people who made websites better. Not because of the latest tech fad, but because we proved that the government can be fixed, the government can be made better and the government can work for the people." https://lnkd.in/g9Q7KbKN

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🚨 Big news for Oklahoma youth and families! 🚨 Oklahoma Human Services is proud to partner with the Office of Juvenile Affairs to support First-Time Offender Programs (FTOPs) through TANF funds. This innovative approach frees up more than $500,000 in state dollars while ensuring critical prevention and diversion services remain available for our youth. FTOPs give young people the tools to make better choices through classes on communication, problem solving, decision-making, and more — helping protect futures and prevent deeper justice system involvement. Together, we’re building a safer, stronger Oklahoma. 💙 👉 Read the full release here: https://lnkd.in/gpPC9HBG

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We have transitioned to a new model to better equip state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments to strengthen shared responsibility nationwide. go.dhs.gov/iPB Direct support for SLTTs includes: ✅ Access to Grant Funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), available through CISA in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This funding is provided via the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP). ✅ No-cost services and tools such as Cyber Hygiene scanning, phishing assessments, and vulnerability management ✅ Cybersecurity Performance Goals and the Cyber Security Evaluation Tool to prioritize and measure progress ✅ Regional Cybersecurity Advisors and Cybersecurity State Coordinators delivering hands-on, local and virtual expertise ✅ Professional services including vulnerability assessments and incident response coordination ✅ Bi-monthly SLTT Security Operations Center calls providing timely cyber defense updates Learn more about how this will help your organization: go.dhs.gov/iPB

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It is critical to understand that the "public" is not a homogeneous group when considering public policy issues. Within the public there are subsets of "publics".One of my pet peeves with some delivering public services, especially at the execution phase, is the scant regard for appreciating different publics. In the realm of public policy, it is important to recognize that you cannot reach everyone with the same approach. In a competitive and often adversarial policy environment, some who are the loudest or have the most influence will crowd out others with less access and power. Appreciating your diverse publics means tailoring communication and messaging, making allowances for the challenges different segments of the population face, and ensuring inclusivity drives much of what you do. We lose people when they feel they are not being catered to or understood.

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The U.S. federal government has long used cooperative agreements to fund collaboration across the federal system. Used like grants, cooperative agreements involve a more "substantial staff" role for federal employees, promoting collaborative design and implementation across tiers of government. This approach has offered federal agencies a bit more involvement in and oversight of the delivery of federally funded programs when they are devolved to lower levels of government. Whether it is due to cuts in federal personnel, the overall reduction in inter-governmental transfers, or both, spending on cooperative agreements has dropped dramatically, particularly in the third quarter of FY2025. Compared with FY 2024, Q3 spending on cooperative agreements has been slashed by 94.3 percent. What are we losing here? The biggest projects being cut are transportation infrastructure, medical research and public health initiatives, watershed protection programs, and local food purchasing agreements. The federal government is divesting resources and leaving its seat at the table in these policy spaces.

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Despite four challenging months, I’m so proud of our team at the CSG Justice Center for releasing a steady string of data analysis, smart strategies, and inspiring examples to fuel the efforts of leaders across the country advancing safety and justice. ICYMI: 💥 Our data team turned 70+ data sources into 50 state snapshots of justice, health, budget, and workforce trends with interactive data visualization. 💥 We launched the Collaborating for Youth and Public Safety Initiative in partnership with six states: California, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. 💥 Our Expanding First Response Commission is releasing recommendations for how state leaders can strengthen local community responder programs. 💥 Nearly 800 reentry leaders joined us in July to hear from members of congress working to reauthorize the Second Chance Act, review the latest data on reentry outcomes, and hear how Missouri and North Carolina are working to achieve bold goals by 2030. 💥 Our latest round-up of data on supervision violations found that 110,000 people went to prison for technical violations in 2023, costing taxpayers an estimated $3 billion. 💥 We celebrated a decade of learning through Stepping Up what works to tackle the shared crisis of meeting the behavioral health needs of people cycling through county jails. 💥 Our policy analysis equipped leaders in Alabama to design and enact a bipartisan workforce law to remove employment barriers for people with criminal records, all part of the state’s Reentry 2030 goal to connect more people leaving prison to employment. 💥 Reentry success should be measured by more than just not returning to prison. Employment, housing and health are among the areas for broader metrics we suggest in a new brief. 💥 Our Advancing Data in Corrections Academy launched a series of self-paced courses for corrections analysts to learn skills like calculating recidivism rates, data quality fundamentals, and more. 💥 More behavioral health resources are available for local criminal justice systems thanks to Medicaid Reentry waivers, opioid settlements, and more state and local investment. The opportunities and risks at stake with how these services are deployed are “once in a generation.” We estimated how many people could be eligible for new Medicaid-billed services across 19 states.

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Our team at Policy Research Associates, Inc could not be happier to finally hard launch our Systems Mapping and Training Center (SMTC), an innovative technical assistance hub that includes our full array of Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) and other systems mapping workshops! Check out our press release and SMTC site to find: -an interactive map of where we've conducted systems mapping and training events (over 650 events in more than 450 sites!); -an explanation of systems mapping, including how it can be used as a catalyst for change; and -a platform for certified trainers and facilitators to access resources. #SequentialInterceptModel https://lnkd.in/eubETDTR

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