SPA faculty and staff maintain a portfolio of multi-year projects, as well as smaller, short-term engagements, where our expertise can be of significant benefit. Recognizing the value of collaboration, we often partner with other organizations to provide the most comprehensive services to the field.

Color in the Court: Racial and Ethnic Disparities Initiative (REDI) Program Assessment, Training and Technical Assistance
Housed in the School of Public Affairs (SPA) at American University (AU), the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Initiative (REDI) is a multi-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. The project’s mission is to use research, policy development, and training and technical assistance (TTA) to work with justice system stakeholders to rectify racial and ethnic disparities in treatment courts. Below is a list of the project’s overarching goals based around creating content (e.g., fact sheets, webinars, and issues briefs), delivering mid-level TTA to treatment court teams, developing an online module curriculum, and evaluating project components. REDI’s goals include: (1) raising awareness about RED in treatment courts and assisting courts identify RED in their systems and processes, (2) rectifying RED within treatment courts and assisting with implementation of RED Program Assessment Tool recommendations, and (3) conducting a program evaluation of REDI.

Learn more about REDI.

Assessing Racial and Ethnic Disparities within Drug Treatment Courts in Ohio
As treatment court professionals adhere to best practice standard Equity and Inclusion, it is vital that programs are examined for disparities. To support this effort, the Racial and Ethnic Disparities Program Assessment Tool (RED tool) was created to identify and rectify racial and ethnic disparities that may exist in programming. The goals of this project are to: 1) provide training and technical assistance on the RED tool to local treatment court professionals, 2) analyze and report data from RED tool submissions, and 3), create and deliver racial and ethnic diversity training based on regional and statewide needs identified from our analyses.  

The RED Tool team at American University is providing training and technical assistance to local treatment court administrators in the State of Ohio on assessing racial and ethnic disparities within treatment courts. As part of this initiative, we assist treatment court administrators in completing the online RED tool which assists treatment courts professionals in identifying and rectifying racial and ethnic disparities that may exist in programming. The RED tool team will also create and deliver racial and ethnic diversity training based on regional and statewide needs identified in the statewide aggregated report.

For more information, please contact the RED tool team at redtool@american.edu. 

Racial and Ethnic Disparities Assessment within Drug Treatment Courts 
SPA faculty and staff, in partnership with the Center for Court Innovation is providing training and technical assistance services to state and local drug court administrators on assessing racial and ethnic disparities within treatment courts. As part of this initiative, we assist drug court administrators in completing an online Racial and Ethnic Disparities Program Assessment Tool (RED tool), results from which will assist treatment court professionals identify and examine areas where racial and ethnic disparities may exist in their court programs. During the project period, we are working with treatment courts in three states on completing the RED tool, aggregating statewide data, conducting data analysis and producing a statewide assessment report for select states.