Center for Justice Innovation staff Sheila McCarthy, Taylor DeClerck, and Spencer Geiger traveled to Minnesota at the end of July 2023 to facilitate a two-day strategic planning workshop for veterans treatment courts. The workshop included a review of a needs assessment conducted by the team, with findings and recommendations, and the development of an action plan which forms the basis for a forthcoming strategic plan. The workshop was attended by 12 stakeholders across multiple counties and jurisdictions, and staff from the Minnesota Judicial Branch. In addition to the workshop, Center staff traveled to Duluth the first day of their site visit to observe a veterans treatment court staffing meeting and court session to better understand some of the day-to-day operations.

The team also visited a local veterans organization, Every Third Saturday (ETS), a non-profit that provides veteran-specific peer support, food assistance, job training education, prosocial activities for veterans and their families and an abundance of other resource connections for veterans. The director of ETS invited Center staff to tour the agency while on-site in Minnesota and meet with the other staff to get an in-depth look at the incredible work that is taking place.