Boulder County Recovery Home Project

Boulder County Community Services Department (category 1b grant applicant) proposes to implement Project Recovery to end the cycle of incarceration, support the recovery and reentry process, reduce incidences of crime and recidivism, and create a safer community. To achieve these aims, Project Recovery will implement a range of allowable grant activities, including evidenced-based treatment and recovery services, recovery housing, peer recovery support services, pre- and post-booking treatment alternatives to incarceration, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

Outcomes will be achieved through the provision of services within a recovery home environment in a collaboration between the Boulder County Jail and Tribe Recovery Homes, a leader in home-based recovery and peer support services. The project will also collaborate with community service providers including the County’s homeless system and housing authorities, workforce, and physical health service providers. Finally, Project Recovery will contract with the OMNI Institute, an applied social research firm, to conduct an action research-oriented evaluation of the project.

Project efforts will lead to the fulfillment of several important products and deliverables:

Establishment of three recovery homes and related operating procedures.
Service provision to 207 clients over three years.
Development of referral procedures to identify justice system-involved participants with substance use disorders, with a special focus on individuals experiencing homelessness.
Implementation and documentation of evidence-based therapeutic programs, peer recovery, and MAT services. 
Creation of MOUs outlining collaborative community services access and provision.
Creation of a project-wide evaluation plan and data reports to support program review/refinement efforts.
Development of a project sustainability plan.
Development of resources to disseminate findings to the field.

Project Recovery will serve the entirety of Boulder County with clients referred from sequential intercept points 1 and 2 (pre-booking) and 4 (jail reentry). Individuals with persistent substance use disorders and criminal justice involvement will benefit from services, with special focus on homeless populations given their increased needs, tendency to recidivate and larger impacts to multiple systems. 

 The project addresses the following BJA priorities:

Civil rights by limiting arrests due to substance use disorder and providing treatment and decreasing disproportionate minority confinement.   
Protecting the public from crime and evolving threats by stopping the cycle of homelessness, substance use and incarceration, and the societal costs of substance abuse related to interdiction, law enforcement, prosecution, incarceration, and probation.  
Building trust between law enforcement and the community by providing alternatives to incarceration that demonstrate law enforcement’s commitment to appropriate care.