Floyd VTC

The Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts is seeking funding ($500,000 over 4 years) to establish the regional Floyd County Veterans Treatment Program Specialty Court (FCVTC) under Adult Drug Court and Veterans Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program FY 2021 Competitive Grant Solicitation (BJA-2021-46003), Category 1: Implementation of Veterans Treatment Court (Competition ID: BJA-2021-00017).

The FCVTC began in 2016 as a post-plea, Type A track of the Floyd Co. Drug Court. The court is designed as a regional program, accepting participants from 21 surrounding counties in southeastern KY as well as Floyd Co. Thirty-six veterans from Eastern Kentucky are expected to receive services. For veterans exiting in CY 2019-2020, minimum length of participation was 4.2 months; maximum was 14.2 months, and average was 11.7 months. 

FCVTC targets high risk/high needs veterans charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses who are eligible for diversion and/or probation under existing statutes and who have a substance use disorder or a mental health disorder. FCVTC ensures that high risk/high needs defendants are quickly identified and entered into the program. FCVTC does not deny MAT access to any participant before, during or after program participation, and MAT services are accessible in the community.

Opioids and methamphetamines are the primary drugs of use in this area.  An Opioid and Methamphetamine Reduction Plan are in place to provide guidance to programs in best practices to prevent overdose and return to use (see Attachment: Substance Use Reduction Plans).

Goals for this project are found on pages 11-12 and are based on the NADCP Best Practice Standards (BPS), pages 11-12.  They are (1) to expand program capacity to serve 36 veterans over 4 years by hiring a dedicated case manager (BPS 1, 8); (2) To enhance treatment and recovery support and wraparound services through a partnership with Mountain Comprehensive Care Center (MCCC) (BPS 5, 6); and (3) To ensure project implementation and evaluation adhere to objectives and facilitate continuous quality improvement (CQI) (BPS 10). All goals/objectives will be independently evaluated via outcome data based on KSC MIS and process evaluation data by the evaluation team.

The regional FCVTC has not received funding from any federal funding source. Floyd Co. is rural, has high and persistent poverty (U.S. Census 2020), and is located in a designated Qualified Opportunity Zone (Dept. of Treasury, 2020).  Thus, priority consideration is requested for this proposal.