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CJA subcommittee approves full funding for three child‑forensic training projects
Summary
The Children's Justice Act subcommittee voted to fully fund three grant applicants — Washoe County Human Services, Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, and the Southern Nevada Children's Advocacy Center — to support forensic‑interview training and coordinated responses for child abuse and CSEC victims; recommendations go to the full CJA Task Force on April 7 for final approval.
The Children's Justice Act subcommittee voted unanimously March 19 to recommend full funding for three Nevada applicants seeking training grants to improve forensic interviews and multidisciplinary responses to child abuse and commercially sexually exploited children. Chair Jane Saint said the panel could fully fund all three proposals because the available pool this cycle was under the group's usual budget ceiling.
Dylan, a staff member administering the review, told the committee the applications came in under the typical annual allotment and that the subcommittee would forward its recommendations to the Children's Justice Act Task Force meeting on April 7 for the task force's final action. “We normally have about $100,000 every fiscal cycle, and this was under $100,000,” Dylan said when introducing the vote.
The three approved applicants and their plans: Washoe County Human Services requested in‑person forensic child‑interview training and a coordinated response protocol intended to improve identification and services for commercially sexually exploited children; the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office requested funds to send prosecutors and law enforcement to the Crimes Against Children conference and to deliver discipline‑specific training; and the Southern Nevada Children's Advocacy Center asked for support to host multidisciplinary training and forensic interviewing through the National Children's Advocacy Center.
Committee members used the review to probe implementation details. Jane Saint praised applicants for including evaluation measures and asked how recipients would report outcomes. Humboldt's representative described post‑training debriefs among attendees and said the office would share lessons with local partners; Saint said recipients would be asked to give brief presentations to the task force after training so the committee can track how funds are spent. "We will be asking members from the team that went to make a brief presentation at one of our future meetings," Saint said.
Applicants and county representatives emphasized rural counties' need for training funds. Wendy Maddox, chief deputy at the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, thanked the panel during final public comment and noted funding challenges in rural jurisdictions: "We are a very rural county. We don't get a lot of funding. It's very difficult to convince commissioners…that we need to send some people to training," she said. Pamela Abercrombie of Washoe County and Cheryl Cooley of the Southern Nevada Children's Advocacy Center also thanked the committee for the awards.
On the motion, Lauren Powell of Catholic Charities moved to approve the recommendations; Mandy Hall of the Division of Child and Family Services seconded. The committee conducted a roll‑call vote in which Jane Saint, Lauren Powell and Mandy Hall all voted to approve the recommendation to fully fund the three applicants; the motion passed. Dylan confirmed staff will follow up about scheduling the post‑training presentations and that the April 7 task force meeting will be the forum for the final award approvals.
The subcommittee's action is a recommendation to the full Children's Justice Act Task Force; the task force will take final action at its April 7 meeting.
