Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $31,376)
This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars.
Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.
The Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.
Itasca County will use its Recovery Act JAG funds to support their Wellness and DWI court programs. The Itasca County Wellness Court was established in April 2007 as a specialty court to provide a non-adversarial, community-based approach to treat individuals with drug dependence. As a result of the initial success of the Wellness Court, Itasca County plans to implement a DWI Court in July 2009. Funds will preserve program positions for a probation officer, county attorney, and deputy. Providing salary for these positions will help stabilize the county budget, minimizing and avoiding reductions in essential services. The remaining funds will be used to purchase drug and alcohol tests and monitoring equipment.
NCA/NCF