Internship Program for Adult Drug Court

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program is designed to assist states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments in developing and establishing drug courts for substance-abusing adult and juvenile offenders. Drug court programs funded by the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program are required by law to target nonviolent offenders. The program supports the following activities: adult drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, statewide drug court enhancement, and planning efforts.

Nevada County will use drug court enhancement grant funds to address three specific needs: 1) expand services by providing an internship program for Adult Drug Court participants through the Public Law Center; 2) develop and implement a data collection system; and 3) train existing staff along with the newly hired and contracted team members. The Nevada County Drug Court, in collaboration with the Nevada County Public Law Center, will use funds to host an internship program that meets the long-term objectives of Drug Court participants, as well as provide a needed service to the general public and reduce employment barriers in the local rural community. The internship program will consist of four six-month segments. One drug court participant during each segment will be trained by the Public Law Center Director, who is a licensed attorney, and the Alternative Courts Program Director. The purpose of training interns is to establish regularly scheduled clinics in the Public Law Center to offer assistance in helping the general public in completing modification of probation petitions, expungement petitions, and reduction of charges petitions.

In addition, grant funds will be used to develop and implement a data collection system. A vendor will be selected to either customize database software to fit the needs of all the Adult Drug Court collaborative agencies or have the software application developed by an outside agency altogether. Nevada County Drug Court team members will also use funds to have nine team members total attend program-specific trainings during this project. Continuing education will be required of all drug court team members and potentially new team members.

CA/NCF