Westchester County Drug Treatment Courts Enhancement Grant

The Westchester County Treatment Courts (WCDTC) is applying for a Category 2 award to enhance access to services in the five Drug Courts located in Westchester County.  Currently participants are waiting about five weeks for a mental health appointment.  Also, we have participants not following through on needed services because of confusion and complication of systems.  Having a Peer Specialist assist in the navigation of needed services will ensure a higher rate of follow through and engagement.  The enhancement will shift the teams thinking of just substance abuse treatment to wrap around all needed services for each participant. We are not seeking priority consideration currently.  WCDTCs operate as a post-adjudication, post-plea, and pre-sentencing courts.   They are all designated as Adult Drug Treatment Courts. The funding for this project will not be in combination with our Veterans Treatment Court The total amount of federal funds requested is $750,000. The project will serve 70 participants in year one and then 80 in each consecutive year for the life of the grant.  The target population is non-violent offenders who are 18 years or older, have a drug and/or alcohol addiction, have been arrested and reside in Westchester County, who have been deemed eligible by the completion of a court clinical assessment, a risk assessment and legal screening of charges.  They must also be able to meet court appearance and treatment participation requirements.  Both misdemeanor and felony charges will be accepted.  Currently we accept all risk levels but will be developing separate tracks based on the risk and need levels.  Additionally, each participant has the availability to MAT services through the Treatment Providers within the community.  NADCP Best Practice Standards (BPS) and Key Components (KC) will be adhered to throughout the grant. KC 4, 6, 10-pg 2, BPS 8-pg 3, KC 1 and   BPS 1, 5, and 9- pg 4, KC 5 and BPS 7 -pg5, KC 7 and BPS 7 and 4 -pg 6, BPS 2 and 8 -pg 12, BPS 10 – pg13, KC 5 -pg 13, KC 7 -pg 14, KC 2-pg 16. Currently, we are not leveraging any other federal, state, or local funding for our WCDTCs.  The City of New Rochelle City and City of White Plains successfully completed the FY2001 Drug Court Planning Initiative.  The City of Mt. Vernon and the City of Yonkers has been the recipient of an implementation grant (2000-DC-VX-0106 and 2000-DC-BX-0079) and Westchester County an enhancement grant (2004-DC-BX-0046).