Jennifer Brinkman

Jennifer brings her expertise working in the field of criminal justice and victim services to the Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Criminal Justice Programs (OCJP), with over twenty years of professional experience working in the grants management and criminal justice field. As the Director of OCJP, Tennessee’s State Administering Agency, she is responsible for obligating over $80 million in federal and state funds for criminal justice initiatives, annually. Her office oversees 34 federal grants, including the Department of Justice Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), the Victims of Crime Act grant Program (VOCA), Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Grant Program (RSAT), the Office on Violence Against Women STOP and SASP Grant Programs, and the Family Violence Prevention Services Grant Program. She has been with the state for almost 15 years. Jennifer started at OCJP to work on projects which were a part of Governor Haslam’s Public Safety Action Plan, which focused on violent crime and domestic violence. She brings her knowledge of the criminal justice system to OCJP strategic planning through the identification of gaps and available resources to meet those gaps by coordinating local government, state government, and community agencies across the state to leverage available resources to better serve the citizens of Tennessee. In her time at OCJP, Jennifer has been responsible for implementing initiatives to decrease crime in the state. Her work includes: coordinating and implementing the Johnson City Tennessee Targeted Community Crime Reduction Project, increasing the number of family justice centers from 2 in 2012 to 13 in 2020; implementing a statewide lethality assessment program with law enforcement; and coordinating statewide stakeholder meetings on violence against women, and implementing pilot pre-trial assessment projects. As a part of Governor Lee’s Executive Order #6 establishing the Tennessee Criminal Justice Investment Task Force, Jennifer attended committee meetings of the Education, Workforce Development and Re-entry Subcommittee and worked with stakeholders on the Victim Services Roundtables to gather information on the needs of crime victims. Before coming to OCJP, Jennifer worked for 2 years for the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole where she implemented evidence-based programming for offenders under the supervision of the Board. Her work in multiple levels of the criminal justice system demonstrates her commitment to improving outcomes for offenders and victims. Jennifer’s past work experience includes the YWCA of Nashville and the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence.