The Drug Free Montgomery County Coalition recently awarded $30,472 in mini-grants to several local agencies addressing substance use issues. Drug user fees collected by the county are administered by the Coalition to help address substance use issues in the community. These fees are utilized in the areas of education/prevention, intervention/treatment and criminal justice/law enforcement.
Receiving mini-grants include:
• Integrative Wellness, $4,000 for support of the Rock Out Recovery event which will provide information about stigma reduction, education, prevention, spreading awareness of the resources available to individuals needing treatment and supporting substance use disorder.
• Montgomery County Youth Service Bureau, $2,000 to support National Night Out, a crime and drug prevention event.
• Montgomery County Probation, $1,500 for drug and alcohol education/intervention programs.
The main goal for the use of these funds would be to provide financial assistance with the cost of substance abuse educational program, specifically the Prime for Life program. This will be for probationers who need the assistance and it would lessen the burden on those clients and help them to feel less overwhelmed.
It is believed there is a strong relationship between substance abuse and criminal behavior. Therefor providing assistance will allow more individuals to be able to take these drug and alcohol educational classes and hopefully reduce the usage.
• The Recovery Coalition, $5,530 for the special events/programs at the Recovery Rec Center.
The Recovery Rec center provides many different programs for those in Recovery and even those who have no known substance use issues. They provide various support groups, and meetings as well as free events for the community. These funds will be used to help with Recovery Rec center expenses. As well, the center is a warming shelter during the winter months for this experiencing homelessness.
• Montgomery County Probation Department, $3,000 for the juvenile cognitive behavioral programs, specifically the Moral Reconation Therapy Group.
Moral Reconation Therapy is an evidence-based program that provides intervention in a group setting to address common thinking errors of juveniles and young adults in the criminal justice system. Change journals are evidenced-based interactive journaling, a structured and experiential writing process that motivates and guides participants toward positive life change.
• Montgomery County Probation Department, $2,750 for emergency/transitional housing. These funds will be used to purchase a hotel room, help pay rent or on occasion help with something like an electricity bill if the offender is at risk of losing housing due to an outstanding bill, or if the house is unsafe without utility.
• Montgomery County Probation Department, $2,240 for drug testing for youth and young adults. These funds have been requested because the severity of drug use in Montgomery County is alarming. Not only is Montgomery County dealing with gateway drugs, but instead they are watching youth become addicted to methamphetamine, heroin and synthetic drugs. Funds are being sought to reduce the drug testing costs for youth and young adults (up to age 21) of Montgomery County and their families while utilizing drug testing as a supervision tool.
• Montgomery County Youth Service Bureau, $2,000 for positive youth programming. Grant funds will support the Inspire and Youth as Resources programs.
• City of Crawfordsville-Mobile Integrated Health, $2,452 for the Quick Response Team 24/7 hotline. Grant funds will pay for the contract to allow calls to be centralized to one phone number. These funds will also maintain the current 24/7 service.
• Montgomery County Probation Department , $3,500 for Drug Court incentives. Drug Court is a program to supervise those who were involved in the criminal justice system and or had substance abuse issues.
The goal of this program is to help the offender learn how to maintain sobriety from drugs and alcohol in a supervision program. Research has shown that punishment alone does not change offending behavior. But punishment and other techniques such a positive reinforcement is the most way of changing behaviors.
The funding from this will assist in giving positive reinforcement to the offender. That may be through tokens, gas cards, helping with payments for drug screens, medication or other treatment costs. This program not only punishes the offender for bad behavior but it praises them for good behavior.
• Montgomery County Probation Department, $1,500 for Veteran’s Court incentives.
Veterans Court is a problem-solving court that utilizes non-adversarial approach to reach and treat justice-involved veterans. It provides them with the support they need during their time with the justice system and offers help with mental health services.
One of the evidence-based components of problem-solving court is to reward positive behavior modification through the use of incentives. These funds will be used to help purchase the incentives such as small tokens, gas and food gift cards, payments for drug screen fees, and or medication and treatment costs.
All of the grant recipients must agree to complete a report on their activities at the end of the grant period, promote drug free living consistently in their programs and organizations, attend at least three Coalition meetings during the year and attend the Red Ribbon Breakfast in October.
The purpose of Drug Free Montgomery County Coalition is to bring together a cross section of the community in an effort to reduce youth and adult use/abuse and the negative impact of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs through multiple strategies across multiple sectors. Its goals are to increase knowledge and skills while changing behaviors, attitudes and the environment of the community.
The Coalition has been in existence since 1990 serving as the local coordinating council for the Governor’s Commission for a Drug Free Indiana. The Coalition is governed by an executive board/leadership team who are responsible for guiding the organization.
It meets bi-monthly to help communicate with the community and increase awareness of the substance abuse issues facing the community as well as bringing interested community members together to identify solutions for substance abuse issues. These meetings are open to the public and are held in February, April, June, August, October and December.
To learn more about the Drug Free Montgomery County Coalition, contact Diamond Justus at 765-362-0694 or email diamond@mcysb.org.
