Pueblo of Pojoaque Adult Wellness Court Enhancement Project

The Pueblo of Pojoaque is seeking BJA Adult Drug Court funding under Category 2: Enhancement. The federal amount requested is $573,355. Pojoaque’s Tribal Healing to Wellness Court is a post-adjudication/alternative to incarceration. This funding request is to (1) increase participation from an average of 20 people per year to 25 people; (2) complete an equity and inclusion assessment; (3) improve data management and analysis; (4) enhance PTW operations; and (5) increase family, alumni, young adult, and peer mentor support for participants after they complete PTW. The Pueblo of Pojoaque is seeking Priority Consideration 1(A), as a tribal jurisdiction (p 13).The target group is court-involved Native Americans with moderate to high criminogenic risk and moderate to severe substance use disorder treatment needs. PTW’s maximum capacity is 25 participants, and we seek to increase from the roughly 20 current census. PTW is four phases, a minimum of 11 months. We will serve 25 participants per year: 100 people over four years. PTW has no maximum time allowed for graduation. The minimum program participation is 330 days; the average is 442 days; and the longest someone was in the program to graduation was 1148 days.Everyone in PTW has access to MAT through referrals to Santa Fe Indian Hospital, Mountain Center, or Santa Fe Recovery. A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides services and funding for participants seeking MAT.PTW incorporates the NADCP Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards and the 10 Key Components of Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts: (1) Standard 2. Equity and inclusion (pp 9,13); (2) Standard 10 Monitoring and Evaluation (p 13); (3) Standard 6 Complementary Treatment and Social Services (pp 5-6, 16-17); and (4) Standard 10 Monitoring and Evaluation (pp 14, 16). Pojoaque is leveraging funds from four other grants: (1) 2019 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation to provide re-entry support and sober housing for PTW participants (2019-AC-BX-0005); (2) a 2021 CTAS grant funds the PTW law-trained prosecutor and defense counsel (2021-15PBJA-21-GG-03831-TRIB); (3) an adult treatment court grant with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1H79TI082974-01)  to expand treatment; and (4) a Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness Court (15PJDP-21-GG-02823-DGCT) grant with or the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.