MA CVE Analysis

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Documents dated between July 2017 and July 2019 about your office’s evaluation of the effectiveness of the your Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant to Counter Violent Extremism (CVE).

This organization was listed as by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a CVE grant recipient here:
https://www.dhs.gov/cvegrants
https://www.dhs.gov/publication/cve-grants-awarded

On the DHS web page listed above, your grant application to the DHS is listed. In this grant application, you have said that your organization will partner with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to:

“provide an ongoing evaluation of the quality of services delivered, the level of program effectiveness and opportunities for continual improvement. The evaluative component of this initiative will be conducted in partnership between the DOC Office of Strategic Planning & Research. Under the direction of Executive Director Rhiana Kohl, Ph.D., program staff will be trained to monitor programming on a daily basis to identify any safety or security concerns and ensure that services are provided in a consistent and effective manner. DOC research staff will work collaboratively with program staff and community providers to track participation and other necessary data to assess the project’s implementation and outcomes. The DOC will provide data in response to this solicitation and participate in any related research or evaluation project.”

I would like all documents and data that include this analysis of the effectiveness of the CVE grant project. This would include the research conducted by Dr. Kohl and her team, and all deliverable reporting and data analysis provided to the DHS about the impact of the original $500,000 grant.

I am requesting all aforementioned “participation and other necessary data” that was or is used to “assess the [CVE] project’s implementation and outcomes.”

Should you have any questions or concerns about my request, I am willing to discuss and clarify over the phone. Please feel free to reach me at 781-941-0829.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Ava Sasani