Episode 297 | Just Enhancing Grant Outcomes through TTA
Original Release Date: September 6, 2024
In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Pattie Melton, Co-Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Forensics Training and Technical Assistance, or TTA, Program, and Paige Presler-Jur, Associate Project Director for the State-based Awards TTA team on BJA’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use (COSSUP) Program and member of the COSSUP Post-arrest, Pretrial, Defense Counsel, and Courts TTA team, to discuss the importance of TTA – a component of many federal grant programs that helps grant recipients meet their goals and improve program outcomes.
When an agency receives a federal grant, they may be faced with a myriad of challenges including setting scalable goals, tracking important program metrics, and planning for sustainability. As a result, training and technical assistance is built into many federal grant programs, so that experts from a separate organization can provide resources and support grant recipients throughout their period of performance. Listen along as Dr. Melton and Paige describe the strategies that TTA providers use when working with grant recipients, the importance of tailoring TTA to meet the unique needs of a community, and how TTA enhances the impact of important federally funded projects.
This episode is funded by RTI International’s Justice Practice Area.
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Episode Citation
Grimmer, N., Melton, P., & Presler-Jur, P. (2024, September 6). Just Science. Just Enhancing Grant Outcomes Through TTA. [Audio podcast episode]. RTI International Justice Practice Area. https://forensicrti.org/just-science-episode-297/
Guest Biography
Patricia Melton, PhD, is nationally recognized for her work in sexual assault response reform and forensic DNA analysis. She develops and implements training, technical assistance, and educational strategies that promote the derivation of polices focusing on sexual assault evidence to solve violent crimes. Dr. Melton is the project director for the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) Forensics Training and Technical Assistance program, which provides assistance to several forensics programs within the BJA’s Forensics portfolio. In that role, she oversees all project operations and deliverables. As the former co-director of the BJA’s National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) project, she oversaw TTA to implement the SAKI vision in jurisdictions to enhance sexual assault response through a nationwide promotion and education platform and is the author of Enacting an Improved Response to Sexual Assault: A Practitioner’s Guide to Successful Sexual Assault Response Reform.
https://www.rti.org/expert/patricia-melton
Paige Presler-Jur is both a research scientist and a policy analyst. With a diverse academic background in public health, environmental science, and engineering, Ms. Presler-Jur works to understand the challenges and barriers that communities encounter while trying to solve problems in criminal legal and public health contexts. Currently, Ms. Presler-Jur is focused on building bridges across disciplines to provide improved services and support to victims of sexual assault and to facilitate effective responses to illicit substance use and misuse. She is the associate project director for RTI’s Training and Technical Assistance Team (TTA) team on the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP), helping to provide a tailored and consistent response to COSSUP grantees and to jurisdictions working to reduce overdose deaths in their communities through improving access to harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services. She also supports the COSSUP Post-arrest, Pretrial, Defense Counsel, and Courts TTA team.