Statewide resource alignment for child, adult and elder victims of crime
“Consilience Group gave constructive insight and pushed a conversation toward a common goal to help service providers and funders see from the other side of the glass, where normally people shut down. People say we’ve been working on this for three or four years, and we’re still in the same place. That’s not an option when you’re working with Consilience Group. They made sure we don’t waste our time and our resources and helped us see opportunities right in front of our noses that we were too busy to see.”
–Victim Services Project Coordinator, State of Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
The State of Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is a statewide body that builds consensus and unity among the State’s diverse and interdependent, criminal justice system components. The CJCC seeks to ensure that all victims of crime in Georgia can access every service needed to recover and heal from crime-related harm. One key responsibility to ensure access is statewide coordination and oversight of program grant allocations from federal victim services formula grants for children and adults.
Beginning in 2016, Consilience Group provided comprehensive planning and support services to equip the CJCC to prioritize its grant allocations and drive alignment among state agencies and organizations to provide services to shared victim populations. Our services included best practice review and recommendations, development of a needs and opportunity assessment informed by primary and secondary research, and development of a comprehensive five-year strategic plan and supporting implementation plan that details accountabilities, performance metrics and timeframes.
Impact
The creation of the five-year plan in 2015 served as the catalyst for intentional cross-sector alignment and continues to guide the work today, with the steering committee and work groups still actively meeting. It provided inter-disciplinary stakeholders with a road map for deliberate service alignment and integration based on the collective vision that “all crime victims in Georgia have equitable access to the high-quality services and support needed to transition from victim to survivor.” The adoption of common goals and measures, supported by a new governance structure, and a robust performance management roadmap, ensures that all partners have a shared understanding of the critical results to be achieved and a standard approach to measuring impact.