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Kristina M. Johnson
Dr. Barbara L'Eplattenier
RHET 5375 Grant Writing
01 December 2021

Revision Draft

Overview of Organization
Provide a brief overview of your organization. Limit 150 words.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) declares its mission as “Save lives and
bring hope to those affected by suicide” (AFSP.org). It was founded in 1987 as the first national
non-profit organization to prioritize suicide prevention “through research, education, and
advocacy” (AFSP.org). AFSP uses each of these strategies, as well as survivor and loved-one
support, to facilitate real and effective progress toward suicide prevention. Since its foundation,
AFSP has also grown on a local level and established chapters in each of the 50 states. Its
Arkansas Chapter (AFSP-AR) began in 2008 with its first “Out of the Darkness” overnight walk,
and it has continued to serve the community of Arkansas with suicide prevention efforts ever
since.

Description of Request
Provide a brief description of the request. Limit 150 words.
The AFSP Arkansas Chapter requests $10,000 to pilot its Project 2025 Corrections program.
Over twelve (12) months, this program will implement the “Talk Saves Lives: Corrections”
suicide prevention curriculum within two Arkansas county jails. Prior to implementation, program
facilitators will work to establish expected program outcomes. Then, during and after program
delivery, facilitators will gather feedback data on which aspects of the program have been most
successful. This will offer insight as to how they may better deliver it going forward, as well as
how they can plan to grow the program nationally. The goal for the program is to reach as many
corrections staff members as possible to affect real behavior change based on what is learned.
AFSP-AR expects to offer this prevention curriculum to approximately 350-500 total individuals
in Pulaski and Garland counties. Funding will primarily be allocated for program data collection
and program delivery.

Purpose
Describe the need being addressed and your organization's unique role in meeting those needs,
including anything that would distinguish your organization from others providing similar
services in the communities you serve. Limit 300 words.
The US Department of Justice names suicide as the leading cause of jail deaths. Their Bureau
of Justice Statistics found that suicides accounted for 24%-35% of deaths among local jail
inmates from 2001-2019. During the same period, jail suicide rates increased by 13%. Suicide is
claiming lives among all people groups. However, research suggests that incarcerated
individuals are at greater risk, along with corrections officers, whose risk is “39% higher than
that of all other professions combined.” In 2009, in New Jersey alone, suicides among
correctional officers were found at an unprecedented rate of nearly 35 per every 100,000
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officers. Based on these figures, we see that both jail groups present great need for prevention
efforts.

One of the most effective prevention methods is raising awareness, which AFSP is renowned
for. Its “Talk Saves Lives” curriculum educates communities about suicide by focusing on current
statistics, reasons for dying by and being at risk of suicide, preventative measures, warning
signs, and ways of getting help. For Project 2025 Corrections, the curriculum will be tailored to
meet the needs of jail staff and inmates, offering them direct guidance for handling suicide risks
within their environments and roles, and thus equipping them for real, quantifiable suicide
prevention.

AFSP-AR is unique in working toward prevention education for correctional facilities based on
implementation science. Various suicide prevention education programs currently exist
throughout the United States. Unfortunately, however, this type of education is virtually unheard
of within justice systems. AFSP-AR is distinguished in its newly focused efforts of
science-backed prevention education within these systems. In addition, it is uniquely
community-driven: it plans to evaluate and apply the prevention education techniques deemed
most successful based on identified needs within the Arkansas jail community, which will then
be expanded upon at the national level.

Description of Activities
Describe the request's activities providing detailed information about how it will address the
stated need and the intended impact. Include the number of individuals served through this
request and the number of hours participants will be involved. If the request is for
program/project support, note whether this is a new or existing program. If it is an existing
program, indicate how long it has been in operation. Limit 300 words.
Project 2025 Corrections is a new program that will pilot and evaluate suicide prevention
education in two Arkansas county jails (Pulaski County Regional Detention Center and Garland
County Detention Center). It will raise awareness about suicide for jail staff (and later for
inmates, upon IRB approval), providing them with essential knowledge for how to address and,
in time, prevent this growing issue. AFSP-AR expects to serve approximately 350-500
corrections staff members with this project.

AFSP National will provide the “Talk Saves Lives: Corrections” curriculum to be presented in the
jails, and committee-trained instructors will deliver the curriculum according to AFSP
recommendations to ensure it will meet established goals and to accurately capture feedback
after each session. AFSP-AR will be engaged throughout the pilot program as needed and will
hold meetings after each program delivery has been completed.

There is already a state requirement of sixteen (16) hours of suicide prevention training for all
jail professionals, so implementing the “Talk Saves Lives: Corrections” curriculum will meet both
program and facility needs; it may even an act as an alternative to in-house or state-provided
training, simultaneously offering relief for officers whose valuable time is needed elsewhere.
Furthermore, the instructors will offer the training with the support of more direct suicide
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prevention experience. At present, AFSP-AR plans to allocate two (2) hours for each program
delivery, along with evaluation. A total of fifteen to seventeen (15-17) deliveries is expected.

Upon completion of each training, AFSP-AR will conduct qualitative interviews to evaluate
program success. These interviews will offer crucial insight into present barriers to
implementation, as well as ideas for any necessary changes to the curriculum delivery.
Feedback will be gathered and relayed to AFSP National, encouraging program adaptation
based on staff suggestions with the hope of developing comprehensive and realistic
programming.

Sustainability Plan
How will the organization and/or request activities be sustained? Describe the overall
sustainability plan for your organization and/or your project/program in terms of staffing and
finances. How would the proposed activities and/or your organization be affected if you do not
receive the requested funding? Limit 300 words.
AFSP-AR will ensure sustainability through proper in-house education. Part of Project 2025
Corrections is to identify and educate correctional facility staff who can be trained as “Talk
Saves Lives: Corrections” trainers during program implementation. Doing so will ensure the
agencies can continue to provide ongoing trainings as they deem appropriate after the project
has ended. As has been previously mentioned, adopting the “Talk Saves Lives: Corrections”
curriculum will also help the correctional facilities in question to reach their yearly suicide
prevention training requirements, thus making the program more appealing to them and giving it
the potential for being more sustainable.

Furthermore, AFSP-AR is a good steward of its funds. It continuously seeks to find funding
through other foundations, corporations, and individual giving to ensure secure funding for this
and other projects. With Project 2025 Corrections being a pilot program, AFSP-AR will endeavor
to receive funding to establish it; then, after reviewing the final program data, will look to further
fund it for years to come.

In the event that AFSP-AR does not receive funding from the Roy & Christine Sturgis Charitable
Trust, it will continue to seek funding via the other avenues listed above. The most significant
effect to the project would be a delay in implementation, which would mean a delay in educating
the participating communities in suicide prevention. This would also mean a delay in vital
awareness being raised among the populations in question, which could ultimately hamper
AFSP-AR’s goal of affecting real change toward quantifiable suicide prevention. While AFSP-AR
does believe in continuously seeking funding from various sources, it’s Project 2025 Corrections
(and thereby, organizational) goals would be significantly delayed if the requested funding is not
received.
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Challenges
Describe the challenges to the success of the activities in the proposal and how these factors
could be overcome. Limit 300 words.
The primary challenges to the success of Project 2025 Corrections are 1) current perceptions
and beliefs about suicide among jail populations, 2) understanding of limited ability to update
current protocols and policies, and 3) requirement of IRB approval for inmate training.

While AFSP-AR already has agency buy-in, it will likely be difficult to reach some individuals due
to present biases and stigmas held in regard to suicide. These mentalities significantly affect the
behaviors exhibited by these groups. Thus, AFSP-AR hopes to address them by raising
awareness through the “Talk Saves Lives” Corrections” education program. However, it is
essential that the program both meet the needs of the staff and agencies and account for
prevention knowledge and current policies. This presents another challenge; while prevention
knowledge can be increased through the prevention education AFSP-AR plans to offer, this
programming must fit in with the current suicide prevention policy/protocol guidelines in order to
be successfully adopted by the facilities. While potential updates to policy are a goal of the
project, it must take into consideration the difficulty of making such changes.

Finally, Project 2025 faces a barrier of needing Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval in
order to offer its training to inmates. Corrections staff make up a large portion of the at-risk
population in jails, but inmates make up the remainder. As mentioned in the project Purpose, jail
inmates are particularly vulnerable to the risks of suicide. However, they are also considered a
generally vulnerable population, which means that no research may be conducted or identifying
information collected about them without IRB approval. Of course, the solution to this barrier is
simply undergoing the process of IRB approval to make it possible to work directly with the
inmates and present them with this essential suicide prevention training.

Goals
State the specific goals and expected outcomes/success indicators of the requested
project/program/organization, including how you plan to meet these goals and outcomes.
Include a timeline for accomplishing your goals for the term of the grant request. If this is an
existing program, state the outcomes of the most recent year of the
project/program/organization. Limit 300 words.
The large-scale goal of Project 2025 Corrections is to educate jail communities about suicide.
This goal is detailed further in three smaller goals: 1) presenting opportunities for real changes
in thought and behavior (with suicide prevention prioritized), 2) ensuring adoption of the
program into regular facility training, and 3) advocating for updates to protocol and policy (as
needed/possible). The objective for beginning to achieve these goal is the successful
implementation of the “Talk Saves Lives: Corrections” suicide prevention curriculum within two
Arkansas county jails. AFSP-AR will meet this objective by 1) identifying the measurable
outcomes of and significant barriers to implementing the curriculum within the two target sites,
2) offering the curriculum to staff (and later inmates) within the two target sites, and 3)
determining the effectiveness of program delivery in its current stages.
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At present, AFSP-AR plans to offer 15-17 total training sessions, with 1-2 of those sessions set
aside for training jail staff as future instructors. A total of 350-500 correctional staff members are
expected to be reached. Additionally, AFSP-AR has a secondary goal of regular team meetings
to ensure program oversight.

The term of this project will be twelve (12) months. During the first month, program
pre-evaluation will take place. Then, for each of the following 9 months (months 2-10), two (2)
trainings will take place, each followed by program team meetings. The tenth month’s sessions
will be the “Train the Trainer” sessions. Then, in months 11 and 12, the AFSP-AR team will
focus on final evaluations and dissemination of results to AFSP National for program
improvement. AFSP-AR will measure the success of Project 2025 Corrections by the total #% of
staff trained per site and the #% of agency stakeholders trained as trainers for the duration of
the program’s implementation.

Additional demographics
Explain demographics further if above questions did not allow for sufficient specificity. Limit 200
words.
[TBD]

Operating Deficit
If your organization experienced a deficit in either of the past two years, state the amount and
provide an explanation, including whether it was a planned deficit. Limit 200 words.
[TBD]

Attachments
Please provide the following documents. PDF, Word, or Excel are all acceptable attachment
formats, however PDF is preferred specifically for budgets. Prior to uploading, make sure to
include page numbers and your organization’s name on each page and label each attachment
with a title that corresponds to our list. Please do not send any materials beyond what is
requested as they will not be reviewed. The total combined size of your attachments cannot
exceed 25 MB. Applications without the appropriate attachments will not be considered.

1. Board List: Provide name, affiliation, address, years on the board, and any additional
information.
2. Organization Summary: Provide the mission statement and a brief description of the
history, goals, audience served, services/programs, organizational structure, and key
achievements of the organization.
3. Organizational Budget: Include an organizational budget with revenue and expenses
for the year for which you are requesting funding. Provide a current and proposed grant
year budget (if different), and budget projections for each year for which multi-year
support is requested. If you are using a fiscal sponsor, that organization's budget should
be used for this section.
4. Project Budget: Include a detailed, line-item total project budget for the year funds are
requested, including revenue and expenses. If this is an existing project, submit a project
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budget for the year prior to the requested budget. Multiple year requests must include
corresponding years' budget projections.
5. Other Funding Sources: Provide a list of foundation, corporate, United Way, and/or
government support secured for the year funds are requested and the prior year. Please
state the source, dollar amount, grant time period, and whether the contributions are
pending or have been received. All columns should state a total amount. If operating
support is requested, provide this information for the organization; if project support is
requested, also note when funds are designated for the project requested. If multi-year
support is requested, provide information on any multi-year pledges.
6. Financial Statements: Please provide a copy of your organization's (or fiscal sponsor's)
most recent financial statements. (audited, reviewed, or compiled by an independent
auditor, whichever is required for your agency) If your organization's budget size does
not require an independent audit, please provide us with unaudited financial statements
and the organization’s most recent Form 990.
7. IRS Determination Letter: Provide a copy of the IRS tax exemption determination letter
confirming 501(c)(3) status.
a. If your organization does not have a determination letter from the IRS but is
covered under group exemption, please provide evidence from the exemption
holder which includes their TIN and a statement that your organization is covered
under that group exemption.
b. If you are applying on behalf of a government agency or instrumentality,
please provide a copy of the legislative act creating a board or commission; a
letter from an authorized government official confirming the status of a subsidiary
body; or supply a government affirmation letter from the IRS.
c. If you are applying on behalf of a church which is not covered under a
group exemption, provide evidence that your organization is engaged in
charitable work by including at least 3 of the following items (assembled in one
attachment): organizational documents, including bylaws; documentation of a
definite & distinct ecclesiastical government; the number of members; governing
board information; any literature published by the church; programs, services and
hours of operation and number of members; how the ministers are selected;
and/or the name of schools that prepared ministers.

(Project Budget)

1. Speaker and Trainer Fees for Trainings $3,500 ($290 per 1 2-hr training; allows for 2
trainers per session with a goal of 15-17 total sessions [1-2 “train the trainer sessions
included])**include in goals!
Travel $500 (42 cents per mile)
Event/Training Expenses $500 (participant amenities included)
2. Materials $500 (curriculum, printed evaluations)
Media $1,000 (TBD; print flyers and promotions?)
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Dissemination $500 (findings dissemination which allows for priming of other agencies,
potential investment in future programs, etc.)
3. Program evaluation & data collection $2,000 (data collection pieces, followup, TBD)
4. Administrative fees $1,000 (paying person for AFSP online survey data collection,
graphic creation, (?))
5. Incidentals $500

*Any unused funds will be reallocated for program delivery; find out if budget must be firm or if
reallocation is allowed

Total Proposed Budget: $10,000