House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Key Department of Justice Programs

House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Key Department of Justice Programs July 12, 2013 – On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) approved the fiscal year 2014 bill that funds Department of Justice (DOJ) programs. The bill funds DOJ at $26.3 billion, a decrease of $720 million (3 percent) from the fiscal year 2013 enacted level. The bill included $55 million for the Second Chance Act, the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (created by the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act, or MIOTCRA) received $7.5 million, and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative received $25 million, including funding for a task force on federal corrections spending. The robust funding provided for Justice Reinvestment programs reflects continued congressional support for programs that address rising corrections costs and increasing prison and jail populations. The bill also provides $75 million for a comprehensive school safety initiative to be developed by the National Institute of Justice. Committee approval is only the first step in the appropriations process. The appropriations bills must be passed by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, as well as the full House and Senate.  The Senate plans to release their fiscal year 2014 CJS appropriations bill later this month. A funding summary of key programs:       *Final number after sequestration. For the subcommittee draft text of the legislation, please visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BILLS-113HR-SC-AP-FY2014-CJS-SubcommitteeDraft.pdf

Disparities in Mental Health for Underserved Populations. Trauma, Stress, PTSD July 18, 2013

PRESENTATION TITLE: Disparities in Mental Health for Underserved Populations: Best Practices for Affordable Care

GUEST SPEAKER

Gail Wyatt, Ph.D

Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

Director, Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities

University of California, Los Angeles

DATE/TIME:

Thursday, July 18, 2013

2:00 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.

LOCATION:

NIH Campus

Natcher Conference Center, Balcony A

45 Center Drive

Bethesda, MD

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW:

About 25 percent of all U.S. adults have a mental illness, and nearly 50 percent of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime. In her presentation, Dr. Gail Wyatt will discuss mental health disparities, some of the current concerns and best practices to address these disparities, based on her research at the Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities. She will examine the cumulative effects of lifetime trauma and stress in African Americans and Hispanics that is often overlooked and not addressed in mental health systems as we know them now. She will also describe the screener that her research team has developed to identify those at risk for symptoms of Post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, that can be used in future primary care settings.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Wyatt is a clinical psychologist, board certified sex therapist and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is also director of the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities, the Sexual Health Program and the Phodiso Training Project in South Africa. She also serves as associate director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, and directs the HIV/AIDS Translational Training Program. She was a National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) Research Scientist Career Development Awardee for 17 years. Dr. Wyatt has conducted national and international research since 1980, funded by the NIMH, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, state and private foundations. She has received numerous awards and honors for her scientific accomplishments, mentoring, and teaching. Dr. Wyatt has also testified before the United States Congress eight times on issues related to health policy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

There is limited parking on the NIH campus. The closest Metro is Medical Center. Please allow adequate time for security check. The presentation will not be video cast live. It will be available in the NIH video archives and on the NIMHD website after the seminar. Sign language interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations to participate should contact Edgar Dews at 301-402-1366 or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.

Training Opportunity: July 18th. Smarter Government: Intelligent Law Enforcement & Analytics to Help Keep Communities Safe

Smarter Government: Intelligent Law Enforcement & Analytics to Help Keep Communities Safe

Public Safety agencies are in the midst of a transformation. Cities such as St. Louis are turning analytics into actionable insights, uncovering trends in real time to fight crime and to help keep our communities safe. Despite new technologies, public safety organizations are still challenged to effectively manage the volume and variety of data to improve public safety outcomes. Although challenges remain, the key to safe communities and intelligent law enforcement is grounded in leveraging crime analytics. Join your peers, GovLoop, and IBM on Thursday, July 18 at our free online training to learn more about the challenges public safety agencies are facing and how new strategies can help fight crime, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. Specifically, participants will: Hear from public sector professionals on the current challenges and lessons learned in Public Safety. Hear from Dr. Rick Rosenfeld, Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri and criminologist in residence at the Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department, on how the city of St. Louis used analytics to fight crime, improve safety, and increase productivity. Learn more about Intelligent Law Enforcement Operations and how it applies to your city or state. Leverage the public safety operational and business process lessons learned into other areas of your agency. ...Plus an interactive Q&A session. Keeping our communities safe is a critical factor in their economic viability. Join us and listen to what some of the greatest crime fighters have in common! Date: Thursday, July 18, 2013 Time: 2:00-3:00PM ET

One Voice Can Make a Difference

http://nihrecord.od.nih.gov/newsletters/2013/07_05_2013/story4.htm

Deaf Employee Is Heard NIH Mission Statement Is Amended By Rich McManus

At the suggestion of a National Eye Institute employee who is deaf, NIH recently amended its official mission statement.

The one-sentence statement had said, “NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.”

But because David Rice, a management analyst at NEI since October 2009, felt that his particular disability was not a burden, he wanted to know if NIH director Dr. Francis Collins would be willing to modify the mission statement so as not to offend people who do not consider their disabilities to be burdensome.

Recently, the phrase “the burdens of” was removed from the statement, which now reads, “NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life and reduce illness and disability.”

According to Debra Chew, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management, this was a lesson in NIH compassion and responsiveness.

“This was a very important event from a diversity perspective,” said Chew, who arrived at NIH last July. “It shows that an individual employee can raise concerns that Dr. Collins will take seriously and address. I think that’s good. NIH has no wish to have a mission statement that offends people…It just goes to show you that we all have different perspectives.”

NEI’s David Rice objected to NIH’s mission statement and took his concerns to NIH leadership, who ended up agreeing with him.

Chew met Rice last fall at a “meet and greet” and mentioned that he had a problem with the mission statement. As she recalls, “He told me, ‘We don’t consider ourselves to be burdens, nor do we consider our disability a burden…Would you ask Dr. Collins to consider a change?’”

Chew broached the issue with Collins, “who was immediately agreeable to a change,” she said. “No one had really looked at [the statement] this way. David really raised a good point.”

Chew took the suggestion to Kim Kirkpatrick, OEODM’s disability program manager, who also chairs NIH’s disability committee. “Once we realized that Dr. Collins was open to a change, we got input from the disability committee on proposed language,” said Chew. Two versions were proposed and the three-word change was adopted.

“This is a symbolic moment for NIH,” said Chew. “It’s really about [Rice’s] courage. He did a great thing for the NIH.”

Rice, who became deaf at age 4, recalls the “grace and integrity” with which his parents dealt with his removal from the school system once he became deaf; they found a school better equipped to handle his needs. “It was the fire that my parents had that led me to want to become an advocate not only for the deaf community but also for all those who have a disability,” he said.

“I know it was not the intent that NIH had [to offend people with disabilities],” Rice continued, “but it could look to some as though, in trying to improve the health and life of American citizens, NIH is only looking for cures to reduce disability because [people with disabilities] are a burden on society. The new mission statement takes out that stigma that we are a burden and conveys the message that NIH’s goal is to reduce illness and disability because it can improve the livelihood of American citizens and not because we are a burden on society.”

Rice said he didn’t think his suggestion had much chance of being taken seriously at first. “To be honest, I did not expect much,” he said. “All I wanted was for them to listen, which they did. Debra told me that she spoke to [NIH principal deputy director] Dr. [Lawrence] Tabak, who wholeheartedly agreed. At that point, once I knew Dr. Tabak was in the picture, I knew that something was going to come of this.

“Let me tell you,” Rice continued, “there was no greater feeling than when Dr. Collins used the new mission statement on Capitol Hill. I take no credit for the new mission statement. All I did was raise questions and concerns. But I felt that my small change made a difference, and that alone is my lifelong goal—making small changes to create big impacts.”

He concluded, “I can only imagine that the change will be a positive one. The biggest reason why NIH was so appealing to me was its ability to be open to change as well as moving forward, a lot quicker than some government agencies do. That is a product of the vision that Dr. Collins has for NIH. But like anyone who has a large responsibility, it is hard to envision everything—that’s where everyone else comes into play. [We can all] make NIH [a] leader in science as well as a great work environment where everyone can feel they are making a small but important impact on the American public.”