Enlightened Justice: Advancing Treatment

November 14-16, 2018 | Hyatt Regency – Jersey City, NJ

Call for Proposals

Deadline to submit: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at Noon Eastern Time
 
Thank you for responding to the AAJ 2018 Call for Proposals.  We are thrilled that you are interested in sharing your expertise with other members. This document aims to answer the most frequently asked questions about the Call for Proposals process. Please take a minute to review it before you submit your final proposals.

Basic information

Who should submit the proposal?
The person submitting the proposal will act as the session organizer. They will serve as the primary contact with AIA staff. The organizer may be the primary speaker, a logistical contact for the primary presenter or a planning committee volunteer. The organizer will be responsible for following the submission guidelines and meeting deadlines for preparation and delivery. The organizer will be responsible for communicating with their entire speaker panel.  

Conference theme
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, it is estimated more than 2 million arrests in the US involve people with serious mental illnesses.  The National Conference of State Legislatures acknowledges an important and intersecting area of criminal justice and health policy is how to better handle a person with a mental illness who becomes involved in the criminal justice system. People who are experiencing a mental health crisis are more likely to encounter police than get medical help, again, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  As a result, 64% of jail inmates have a mental health problem, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Agencies and officials at many stages of the criminal justice system face the challenge of responding effectively to these needs. State legislatures are interested in how policies can achieve better results for individuals and both systems.

The 2018 Academy of Architecture for Justice Conference will provide a venue for us to rethink and reassess.  We will carry on and integrate what we have been exploring at our national conferences the past several years up to this conference focusing on collaborative inter- and transdisciplinary design.  Just as we want our politicians to cross the aisle and work together, we need to tear down silos and partner with our fellow knowledge communities, such as the Academy of Architecture for Health and other allies, for their expertise.  Together, we can disrupt and redefine how we as architects, owners and affiliates address our mental health crisis with our justice facilities.

The theme for the 2018 conference builds on previous conference themes (social justice, challenging the status quo, transdisciplinary justice) and focuses on the mental health crisis in the justice system.   The conference will continue to highlight traditional justice building types (corrections/detention, courts and law enforcement), but we highly encourage presenters to focus on innovative solutions / concepts that address the mental health crisis through a lens of community engagement, treatment, and operations that transcends building type. Collaborating with other AIA Knowledge Communities such as the Academy of Architecture for Healthcare (AAH) is encouraged. Additionally, collaborating with other subject matter experts including but not limited to policymakers, healthcare practitioners and community advocates is encouraged.

Discounts and travel
The AIA will offer a reduced registration fee for all presenters. Please note: No reimbursement is available for travel or lodging costs.

Timeline
02/15/18              – Call for Proposals Released
05/01/18              – Due Date
05/17/18              – Proposal Decision Communicated

Submission and Review Process

Proposals will be assessed by a group of peer reviewers comprised of subject matter experts in the justice architecture industry and evaluated according to the criteria below.

• Proposals are rated, ranked and selected based on the following criteria:
• Topic discussed is an objective best practice
• Relevance of the content to the conference theme
• Solutions that are innovative and/or an emerging practice trend

Title: The title should be a short, benefits-oriented statement of no more than eight words. The AIA reserves the right to edit and adjust the title to meet AIA/CES requirements. Once a proposal is accepted, session titles may not be changed except by the AIA.

Session summary:  This is essentially an elevator pitch. Speaking directly to the prospective attendees, briefly state what the session is about; what they will gain by attending; what new information or emerging trends will be addressed. Provide a snapshot of your session from the beginning to the end, if possible.

Learner outcomes
In this section, we are looking for measurable results that will come from your presentation ‐‐ what the learner (attendee, participant, etc.) will be able to do after attending your presentation. Please list four (4) measurable outcomes; proposals will not be considered without valid Learner Outcomes.

Learner Outcomes are best expressed by using active verbs such as: identify, discover, practice, describe, chart, define, list, etc. For example: “By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to identify key skills needed to influence change”.

 
Delivery style: To deliver engaging and interactive learning, AIA will give preference to proposals that promote audience participation and engagement over lecture‐style and/or one‐way panel presentations. Examples of such formats include:

• Panel Discussion: Group of experts discussing emerging trends or innovative topics; engaging the audience in peer-to-peer discussion. *Incorporating AIA emerging professionals in panel discussions is preferred.
• Case Study: A single or short shortlist of projects presented with facts, problems, and data with questions to generate discussion and solutions. * Incorporating Project architects, owners, users, and/or subject matter experts in panel discussions is preferred.
• Workshop: An AAJ committee may request a space/time for a working session.
• Plenary / Keynote (internal use only)
• Tour (internal use only)

Speaker leads: Demonstrate to the peer reviewers that you have identified who has the expertise necessary to present the content you have outlined. Due to the complexity of most topics presented, the peer reviewers expect many viewpoints to be represented.  We would like to get a sense of who are you engaging to join your panel. We encourage you to include names where known and roles for all. Identify qualifications and expertise of each presenter.

Editing your submission
Please note, if you wish to begin completing the form and plan to edit your answers later, you will receive an “edit link” in a confirmation email after you press [Submit]. If you wish to add a required item in later, you will still have to enter some text (such as "edit later") into the field to submit. We will not check final submissions until after the due date.

We also highly recommend writing your answers out in a text or Word document and pasting them into the form in case there are any errors with submission.

Submissions

Notifications 
All submitters will receive an automated email confirmation of their submission was received. If you do not receive an email confirmation, contact Bruce Bland at bbland@aia.org or 202-626-7557.

Get started now! 

Deadline to submit: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at Noon Eastern Time

We are pleased to announce that our 2018, and first since its inception, Warren J. Ferguson scholarship recipient will be Precious Bedell. 

UMass Medical School created the Warren J. Ferguson Scholarship to honor its namesake’s contributions to the field of criminal justice health. The scholarship was announced March 16, 2017 at the Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, which Dr. Ferguson founded 11 years ago.

Ms. Bedell works as a Human Subject Research Coordinator in the Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Rochester with the Women’s Initiative Supporting Health, (WISH). WISH is one of 21 clinics of the Transition Clinic Network (TCN) that provides health care to individuals recently released from jails and prisons. Bedell was certified at City College in San Francisco as a Post Prison Health Worker (PPHW) Certificate, a 21-unit course of study that prepares students to work with formerly incarcerated clients and community members. Currently she is training community health workers with The Health Profession Opportunity Grant with WISH and Action for a Better Community. She is also a doctoral student at The Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester. Her vision is to engage community members in improving their lives spiritually, mentally and physically.

Bedell is devoted to improving the lives of people affected by incarceration.  She is a specialist in providing resources and helping those reentering from prisons and jails on how to navigate complex medical, social and reentry services. She founded and directs the Turning Points Resource Center, a nonprofit that supports the families of those incarcerated, which is a prison ministry at the Episcopal Dioceses of Rochester, NY. She worked on behalf of Rochester’s “Ban the Box” campaign, which aims to prevent employment discrimination against those with criminal records. They won the support at the local level. Their advocacy continues for support at the state level.

Bedell’s community service is wide-ranging. She volunteers with the Monroe County Reentry Task Force, is a Board Member of the Safer Monroe Area Re-Entry Team and the Academic Consortium of Criminal Justice Health, member of the Steering Committee for Ticket to Ride, (fundraiser to purchase bus passes for individuals with mandated court appointments)  the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network, is a member of the African American Health Coalition at Common Grounds Health Association, Facing Race Embracing Equality, and she is on the planning committee of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. She continues to be a guest lecturer in the University’s Department of Political Science, and has spoken about addressing health disparities at a summer brown bag series hosted by the Department of Psychiatry Department Diversity and Inclusion Action Team, which she is also a member.

Our previously announced hotel, the Omni Houston Hotel, suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Harvey and will not reopen in time for our conference. We have fortunately found a wonderful alternate space in the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria, in close proximity to the Omni and other Galleria-area attractions, at a lower rate!

An online reservation site will be available in early December.

Hotel Information