NYS UCS Treatment Court Engagement and Retention Initiative

The New York State Unified Court System (UCS) seeks $830,396 from the Bureau of Justice
Assistance Adult Treatment Court Site-Based FY23 Competitive Grant Solicitation (O-BJA-2023-171509) under Category 3: Statewide.
The purpose of the NYS UCS Treatment Court Engagement and Retention Initiative project is to increase participation in adult drug courts and to reduce disparities by training judges and peer recovery professionals in the evidence-based practice Motivational Interviewing (MI) to improve treatment engagement and to ensure access to medication assisted treatment and recovery support services. Primary activities will include Motivational Interviewing training for 100 judges statewide and 120 community-based peers to facilitate access to low-barrier treatment and culturally relevant recovery services. An additional goal of the project is to enhance fidelity to NADCP Best Practice Standards by training experienced practitioners to serve as fidelity coaches for drug court teams. This training, in partnership with NADCP, is designed to ensure compliance with the NADCP Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards for 96 adult drug courts in NYS. This project applies Standard II, Equity and Inclusion (pg.6), Standard III Roles and Responsibilities of the Judge (pg. 5), and Standard V: Substance Use Treatment (pg. 4). New York treatment courts have on average 11,500 participants per year, and the average length of program participation is 12 to 18 months. Approximately 600 drug court practitioners will receive NADCP Best Practice Standards training during the 48-month grant period. Bi-monthly emerging issue webinars will reach an average of 200 practitioners per year. Project effectiveness data will be collected for each of the four goals outlined in the proposal. Collection instruments include, registration data, course evaluations and follow up satisfaction surveys, staff and fidelity coaches trained in best practices and conference attendance.