Burlington County COSSAP Program

The County of Burlington is applying for a Site-Based Grant from the US Department of Justice FY2021 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program. Burlington County has 446,596 residents and is the largest county in New Jersey by area, spanning square miles across 40 municipalities. The project will be implemented across the entire County. The funds will support:

24/7 Operations: Peer Recovery Coach staffing for 24/7 Operations 365 days per-year for three years, while expanding this service to reach the Burlington County Jail population. Funding will support on-call rates for peer recovery specialists for twelve-hour shifts and additional payment when called out during their shift, as well as clinical supervision.

Straight to Treatment: The Straight to Treatment program will be expanded in areas of Burlington County which are not currently engaged in the program. STT is a self-referral pathway in which people facing addiction can walk into police stations at designated times and get assessed, referred, and transported to treatment.

Hope One: Six (6) one-day outreach operations will be held each year (18 total over three years) in conjunction with the Sheriff, Human Services, Volunteers of America, NJ Transit Police, and various community organizations. These one-day operations will offer various services including referrals to treatment, housing, vaccines, rapid testing (Hepatitis C, HIV, etc.), peer recovery services, issuing personal identification cards, and a range of social service referrals.

Children: The Prosecutor’s Office, Department of Corrections, Department of Human Services, and Sheriff’s Department will work to develop written policies and procedures for rapid response to drug overdoses and police encounters involving children impacted by substance use.

Narcan: Law enforcement-initiated training for motel/hotel owners and distribution of Narcan, as well as Narcan doses to replenish county and local law enforcement supplies as needed.

As a result of the project, anytime and anywhere across Burlington County, critical resources needed to refer individuals facing addiction and substance use disorder will be able to engage law enforcement officials across the criminal justice system to seek support in connecting to treatment and recovery pathways. Also, county agencies and partners will be better equipped to manage overdose situations where children are involved. As a result of working with an external evaluator, the County will develop improved systems for collecting and analyzing data to improve internal operations and decision making while contributing to the state and national body of best practices on responding to the opioid crisis.