Department of Transportation (DOJ)
Community Relations Service (CRS)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Community Relations Service (CRS) is the sole federal agency dedicated to assisting state and local government, private and public organizations, and community groups with preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions, hate crimes, community-based culture conflicts, and civil disorders. Among other services, CRS provides training programs to community leaders, law enforcement, and state and city officials.
OBJECTIVE
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Community Relations Service (CRS) engaged LinkVisum to support CRS in strategic planning, communications, training, and department-wide initiatives. The agency works as “America’s Peacemaker” for community conflicts and tensions arising from differences of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. CRS requested program support to help its Washington, D.C. headquarters staff and field staff with program development, communications, and stakeholder outreach.
Developed The 2021-2025 CRS Strategic Plan and Annual Reports to Congress
Developed New Training Programs and Revised Existing Training Programs Approved by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office
Collaborated with Components Across DOJ to Develop and Launch a New Department-Wide Hate Crimes Website
Used Data From Twitter and Google Analytics to Inform Strategic Social Media Messaging and Increase the Number of Followers Each Year and Enhance the CRS Website and Hate Crimes Website, Increasing Visitor Traffic Since 2018 to Over 1 million Visitors in March 2021
LINKVISUM'S SOLUTIONS
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LinkVisum facilitated strategic planning sessions with CRS leadership and helped support CRS in documenting and implementing the strategic plan. Our consultants applied their analytical skills, strategic and tactical capabilities, and strategic planning expertise to support CRS in evaluating, tracking, and reporting on progress, mapping and accomplishing goals, and identifying outcomes.
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LinkVisum helped CRS staff make a seamless transition to a virtual environment when the need presented and provided training on virtual tools, such as Adobe Connect, to CRS staff. LinkVisum also facilitated numerous virtual trainings to diverse stakeholders across the country.
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LinkVisum’s Program Development team also managed the development of new training and program development projects for CRS, developing training outlines, training materials, and training aids. To engage CRS staff, LinkVisum developed the Program Review Committee (PRC) to leverage CRS’s deep expertise in engaging CRS staff at all levels. LinkVisum also developed resources for CRS’s programs and services, such as internal guides and technical assistance and consultation documents.
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LinkVisum designed and implemented a process and standardized form fields in Adobe PDF that facilitated ease of data entry and data extraction for analysis and reporting.
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LinkVisum facilitated CRS stakeholder management activities by identifying conferences, events, and presentations where CRS staff share the CRS mission and value and create printed assets for stakeholder groups, consistent with the CRS fiscal stakeholder outreach plan.
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Our team collaborated with various components across DOJ to develop and launch a new department-wide Hate Crimes website. We facilitated working group sessions to gather and develop content and created an engaging, dynamic website to showcase department-wide efforts to address hate crimes.
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The LinkVisum communications team planned, researched, developed, and refined communication materials, such as talking points, press releases, web and social media content, presentations, fact sheets, newsletters, and a style guide. Our team also researched, wrote, and designed the agency’s Annual Report to Congress, using CRS’s internal case management database and working directly with employees in the field to develop content. The team redesigned the CRS website and maintained it. The new website incorporated user friendly designs, highlighted CRS’s services and programs, and ensured adherence to justice.gov website standards.
OUTCOME
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LinkVisum has provided strategic program and communications planning, training development and support, and website development and maintenance to support CRS’s mission as it was expanded by Congress.
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Organizational tools designed by the LinkVisum team led to better alignment of case data with the agency’s case management database and a more comprehensive analysis of state, regional, and national priorities.
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LinkVisum continues to help CRS grow by developing social media content and implementing website enhancements to ensure over 1 million followers and visitors were able to find information, request assistance, and share feedback.
ADDITIONAL PROJECT DETAILS
This multi-year contract was awarded from OPM’s Best in Class contract vehicle Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) to LinkVisum for support of DOJ’s Community Relations Service. The work requirements reflect CRS’s unique mission and priority on training and facilitating the development of mutual understanding and agreement in communities as alternatives to coercion, violence, or litigation. With LinkVisum’s support, CRS has professionalized and standardized the training and facilitated dialogue programs delivered to law enforcement, schools, and diverse communities across the United States. In addition to supporting implementation of training solutions nation-wide, LinkVisum supports CRS in completing a number of other comprehensive and critical projects which facilitate the agency’s delivery of services and outreach, align with Department of Justice initiatives, and fulfill the legislative mandate established under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.