East baton rouge parish (ebrp) spans 455 square miles and is home to a diverse population of more than 440,000 louisiana residents

The 19th Judicial District Court (19JDC) in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana was awarded a $1,000,000 Project Grant under the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program (CFDA 16.585). The award will be used to enhance the 19JDC's adult Recovery Court program by: 1) Contracting with a subject matter expert to identify workflow barriers and develop strategies for earlier identification and placement of potential participants; 2) Hiring a judicial liaison to attend daily callouts at the parish prison and track potential candidates through the referral process; and 3) Hiring a compliance officer to enhance monitoring of participant achievements and barriers. The 19JDC will also execute a contract with a media and marketing firm to design a public awareness campaign to inform the community about the Recovery Court and encourage partnerships to expand referral options and generate additional funding. The grant award period is from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2027. Sub-awards are proposed to Envisage Research Analytics for research support and SJ Community Collaborations for project management.

The parish comprises four cities, baton rouge, baker, central, and zachary. The 19TH judicial district court (19THJDC) is responsible for all civil and criminal court matters in the parish. The 19TH JDC operates two specialty courts, adult recovery court and the david oquinn pre-trial diversion & recovery program. With support from an FY22 BJA veterans treatment court grant, the 19TH JDC is expected to begin enrolling participants into a third specialty court in june of 2023. The current proposal is being submitted by THE19THJDC to address three identified deficiencies within theirrecovery court(RC) related to the 10 key components for successful drug courts. Specifically, federal funds will be used to execute a contract with a to-be-determined subject matter expert to identify workflow barriers preventing early identification and prompt placement of potential program candidates. Once identified, the SME will collaborate with the project partners to develop strategies for enhancing productivity. One anticipated strategy includes the addition of a new staff member, ajudicial liaison, tasked withattending daily callout at the parish prison and tracking potential candidates throughout to the referral process. If awarded, federal funds will also be used to hire a compliance officer to enhance the identification andmonitoring of participant achievements and barriers to success. The third identified deficiency is related to a lack of local partnerships to generate support and enhance RC effectiveness. To address this weakness, the 19THJDC is proposing to execute a contract with a to-be-determined media and marketing firmto design a media campaign focused on 1) informing the public about the RC, 2) encouraging community organizations to contact the RC if they are interested in partnering to enhance referral options, and 3) generating funding. The target population for the proposed project will be arrestees in ebrp with either drug-related charges or a documented history of substance abuse. Federal funding in the amount of $1,000,000 is being requested under category 2: enhancement. Subrecipient awards are being proposed with envisage research analytics (research partner) and SJ community collaborations (project management).