The 2014 Holistic Defense for Public Defender Offices Technical Assistance Project

The Center for Holistic Defense at The Bronx Defenders

The 2014 Holistic Defense for Public Defender Offices
Technical Assistance Project

Request For Proposals

The Center for Holistic Defense, a project of The Bronx Defenders, is pleased to announce the release of its fifth annual Technical Assistance Project Request For Proposals seeking applications from public defender offices across the country, including juvenile defender offices, interested in receiving hands-on technical assistance in one or more aspects of holistic defense.

Three offices will be chosen to receive twelve months of step-by-step guidance and concrete assistance in the practice of holistic defense. This assistance will include staff training and site visits by members of The Bronx Defenders, as well as site visits by recipient offices to The Bronx Defenders.

Holistic Defense is an innovative, client-centered and interdisciplinary model of public defense that addresses both the circumstances driving people into the criminal justice system as well as the devastating consequences of criminal justice involvement by offering criminal and related civil legal representation, social work support and advocacy in the client community.

Through its multidisciplinary approach to understanding clients lives and struggles, holistic defense yields both better outcomes in court in terms of case dispositions as well as better life outcomes for clients by helping to stabilize lives and therefore reducing the likelihood of future criminal justice involvement. Furthermore, by fundamentally transforming the way clients are represented, holistic defense supports the move towards a more humane and just criminal justice system.

Please find more information and an application here: 2014 Technical Assistance RFP

The Center encourages applications from across the country and will endeavor to select a diverse cross-section of the defender community. Please note that applications are due no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, August 8, 2014.

Please contact Alex Sierck, the Project Director, with any questions at (718) 838-7857, or via email at alexs@bronxdefenders.org.