Subject:
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Notice of grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance for the Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program: Courage to Change.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the notice of grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for the Adult Drug Court (ADC) Discretionary Grant Program: Courage to Change.
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Strategic Plan:
Ensure Public Health, Safety and Welfare
2.2 Be a facilitator, convener, and purchaser of services for those in need
Summary:
BJA has awarded the County a three (3) year grant for the Courage to Change Program to reduce crime and substance abuse among high risk/high need, nonviolent adult offenders of all ages, races, and ethnicities who have demonstrated behavioral difficulties through various violations of drug court rules following a regimen of substance abuse treatment. During the Project Period, 10/1/2016 to 9/30/2019, at least 110 offenders are expected to enroll in the Courage to Change Program.
Background Information:
For Fiscal Year 2016, as of September 20, 2016, the ADC treated 1,165 participants, with 674 current participants. There were 472 new admissions during the year. The ADC graduated 296, or 60.3 percent of all exits, and graduates spent an average of 625 days in drug court. In addition, recent program statistics show a four-year retention rate of 73 percent through 2015.
Despite these promising numbers, the Drug Court team has seen a trend of many clients failing drug court even after significant time spent successfully completing court-ordered drug treatment. Often this trend occurs because participants have not fully addressed their underlying needs and thus fall back into old patterns after successfully completing substance abuse treatment. Most of these exits occur as a result of a new charge, a violation of probation, or through voluntary withdrawal. This grant seeks to increase the successful completion of these clients through new programming and intervention designed to address these issues as soon as participants begin demonstrating problematic behaviors after their initial treatment regimen but while still in drug court and working on full recovery.
This grant program adds the Courage to Change Interactive Journaling System as an enhancement to the current ADC model in an effort to successfully complete more of its participants. By enrolling 110 drug court participants, the programs seeks to raise the graduation rate by 10-15 percent. Solutions Behavioral Healthcare Consultants will use this system to better address criminological thinking by drug court participants who are in danger of failing drug court after completing the initial intensive period of substance abuse treatment. Interactive Journaling is a structured and experiential writing process that motivates and guides participants toward positive life change.
Fiscal Impact:
The total amount of the BJA Courage to Change grant award is $279,611.00 for three (3) years (10/1/2016 to 9/30/2019). The grant award of $92,557.00 for FY17 was not anticipated and not included in the FY17 adopted budget. Therefore, a budget resolution may be submitted for the Human Services Department. Funding for the second and third year of this grant will be included in the budget requests for FY18 and FY19.
There is a 25% In-Kind match required, which is being supplied by a portion of the Drug Court personnel salaries and benefits (County Funded Court Employee $38,993.04) and (Drug Court Judge $58,285.92 from state budget). The Cash Match is $3,000.00 for use of Social Solutions Case Management System subscription cost.
Staff Member Responsible:
Lourdes Benedict, Director, Human Services
Partners:
BJA
Sixth Judicial Circuit Court
Solutions Behavioral Healthcare Consultants
University of South Florida
Attachments:
BJA Award Documents for FY16 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program: Courage to Change
Budget Detail and Narrative for Courage to Change
Project Abstract for Courage to Change
Courage to Change Interactive Journalism System