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The Ohio Team funded by The Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council
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In the spring of 2000, Ohio was invited to send a multi-disciplinary team to the first national Partners In Justice conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Temple University's Institute on Disability. The Ohio team was assembled and their travel funded by The Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council.
For several years counties across the state, including Cuyahoga, Hamilton, and Summit have met to address the needs of offenders with disabilities in the criminal justice system. The Partners In Justice Project was Ohio's first attempt at developing a coordinated statewide effort. One of the outcomes of the team that attended the national conference was the commitment to conduct cross-training between DD and criminal justice personnel. The Cincinnati Children's Division of Developmental Disabilities was selected by the Ohio DD Council as the grantee to provide the training, under the direction of the Action Team.
The Action Team has conducted two statewide conferences in November, 2001, and April, 2004, at the Orient Correctional Institution's Training Academy, donated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Thirty-four county/regional teams attended the complimentary two day conferences. Each county team was comprised of criminal justice, law enforcement, and DD personnel. In addition, self-advocates and parents were encouraged to participate. In exchange for this complimentary training, local teams committed to continue to work as a team and provide similar trainings to address the needs in their communities. The Ohio Partners In Justice Project has also provided 20 county/regional teams with mini-grants to conduct local training.
The Action Team has been active presenting at local, state, and national conferences about the successes of the project. In September, 2002, the Action Team was invited to participate in the third national Partners In Justice conference in Philadelphia. The Ohio team was proud to report the many positive happenings in our state. The report given at the national conference included information about the statewide conferences, local trainings, presentations, brochures/literature, and the development of an Ohio Partners In Justice website. The Ohio PIJ Chair and Director were invited to a national summit on criminal justice in June of 2004, presented by Temple University. Ohio was one of 13 states represented at the summit and was able to report about our successful Ohio PIJ II Conference earlier that year.
In 2006 the emphasis shifted to youthful offenders with developmental disabilities. A national conference was presented in October 2007 with 100 participants from seven states from the disciplines of developmental disabilities, education, juvenile probation, children services, mental health and treatment providers. A white paper resulted which can be found on this web site on the training page.
In 2008 the group divided into 3 committees representing those interested in adult issues, juvenile issues and victim issues. The oversight committee continues to support and guide these 3 committees. Training has been conducted and continues to be planned for each of these interest areas. To learn more about current training, see the training page on this web site.
Ohiopartnersinjustice.org allows Ohio citizens as well as family and others across the world to easily access local, state, and national resources and events. We welcome your suggestions and comments. Please contact the project coordinator, Barbara Brown Ph.D., via phone or email with your suggestions or to request more information.
Barbara Brown Ph.D., Project Coordinator
(740) 797-0352
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