Paul Elam, Ph.D., Director of Business Innovation and Project Manager, Public Policy Associates, Inc.

Paul Elam, Ph.D., is the director of business innovation and a project manager at Public Policy Associates, Inc., a national public policy research, development, and evaluation firm headquartered in Lansing, Michigan.  PPA serves clients in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors at the national, state, and local levels by conducting complex and comprehensive research, analysis, and evaluation designed to inform and support strategic decision making.

Dr. Elam has over 12 years of experience working as a team builder and is recognized for his ability to assist government, academic, community, and philanthropic organizations with pressing sociological issues.  He has been successful in securing over $16 million dollars in federal, state, and private contracts and grants to develop and maintain human services in the City of Lansing, Ingham County, and the State of Michigan.  Dr. Elam has also worked with several city, county, and state coalitions to help develop community- and school-based programs.  Dr. Elam has wide experience and competency in research and analysis, program and policy development, grant administration and contract compliance, and university partnership building.

Dr. Elam is currently managing a project with the Michigan Department of Human Services, Bureau of Juvenile Justice and the Michigan State Court Administrator’s Office to help state and local governments prevent and control juvenile delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system.  This project involves helping to develop and implement strategies to deinstitutionalize status offenders, separate juveniles from adults in institutions and remove juveniles from adult jails and lockups.  Dr. Elam is also working with the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice and the Michigan Department of Human Services to ensure that minority youth are treated fairly when they come into contact with the State of Michigan’s Juvenile Justice system by developing and implementing state and local plans to reduce disproportionate representation.  Through this public/private partnership, the State of Michigan and several local jurisdictions have instituted multipronged intervention strategies, juvenile delinquency prevention efforts, and system improvements to assure equal treatment of all youth.  These prevention and system improvement efforts have successfully reduced the disproportionate number of juvenile members of minority groups who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.

In addition, Dr. Elam is also working with the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency on the Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative.  He is working with these partners to help implement a statewide model that connects recently released prisoners with the resources necessary for a successful reintegration into the local communities to which they are returning.
 
Prior to joining PPA, Dr. Elam worked as the grants and program coordinator for the City of Lansing Human Relations and Community Services Department.  Dr. Elam has also worked as a research and teaching assistant at Michigan State University in the Departments of Urban Affairs, Criminal Justice, and Family and Child Ecology where he assisted professors with the study and instruction of crime, juvenile delinquency, research methodology, multiculturalism, demography, urbanism, and multicultural communication.  He has also worked as an institutional research analyst at Lansing Community College where he assisted with studies on student retention, enrollment forecasting and trends, institutional program effectiveness, and student satisfaction.

Dr. Elam is the co-author and presenter of monographs and papers that have been presented at national conferences.  He received both his undergraduate training in criminal justice and his graduate training in criminal justice, urban studies, and family and child ecology from Michigan State University.

Abe French, Principal, Cognitive Consulting & Programming

Abe French, the “practitioners’ trainer” is Program Director at Community Interventions.  He has specialized in behavioral change approaches for more than fifteen years.  Abe has worked as a consultant and technical assistance provider for state, federal and private agencies.  Engagements have included program development, quality assurance, organizational development, peer training programs, cognitive behavioral program training and a variety of other services.  He has delivered programs directly to offenders as a corrections officer in state prisons and as a contracted service provider in jail and community based corrections settings.  Abe continues to work with program development focused upon reducing recidivism and enhancing prison and jail reentry efforts. 

He has worked with staff from Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, South Carolina, Oregon, Indiana and Arizona.  Abe has provided technical assistance to such diverse program approaches as paramilitary “boot camp”, substance abuse treatment venues and therapeutic communities.  As a National Institute of Corrections technical assistance consultant, Abe has helped develop programs in Ohio at the Lucas County Correctional Treatment Facility. 

His background includes motivational interviewing, cognitive reflective communication, thinking report engagement, problem solving, social skills and cognitive restructuring.  He has received training from The National Institute of Corrections, the Thought Institute and The Change Companies.  Among others, he has received training from Dr Jack Bush, Dr. Juliana Taymans, Dr. Barry Glick, Brian Billodeau, Mark Gornik and Steve Swisher.  Abe is a trainer for Thinking for a Change, OPTIONS: A Cognitive Self Change Program, Thinking Matters and Thinking Report Engagement

Abe’s work is both evidence-based and innovative.  He developed Thinking Matters and Thinking Report Engagement programs.  Thinking Matters is a flexible work sheet based cognitive behavioral approach that teaches a basic set of cognitive behavioral skills.  It can be used as an introductory model or expanded into a more intensive model.  Thinking Report Engagement is a five step facilitator skills approach that teaches facilitators to engage program participants to exercise objective self reflection.  These approaches provide cognitive skills that encourage individuals to progress through the change process and motivate lasting pro-social change on a personal level.

Mr. French studied Criminal Justice at Lansing Community College.  He also attended Central Michigan University where he earned his B.Sc. degree in Community Development and M.Sc. in Public Administration.