Project Grant H79SM091511

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $650,000 to the Adamhs Board for Montgomery County on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to establish Project POINT, a youth behavioral health diversion initiative serving Montgomery County, Ohio.

Project POINT will proactively identify youth at risk of justice involvement, enhance access to treatment and supportive services to stabilize youth before justice system contact, streamline communication pathways for youth notifications, and develop a Community Early Diversion Plan and convene an Early Diversion Coalition to incorporate continuous improvement and youth voice. The initiative will engage and outreach to 700 youth annually (3,500 over the five-year grant period) and enroll 240 youth annually (1,200 over the five-year grant period) to receive treatment, supportive services, and early diversion programming. The project targets youth under age 18 in Montgomery County, a southwest Ohio region covering approximately 462 square miles where youth ages 12–18 represent roughly 10 percent of the population.

Performance runs through September 29, 2031, with place of performance in Dayton, Ohio. The award addresses a critical service gap identified in county juvenile justice data: while the Montgomery County Juvenile Court served 1,790 youth through its Post-Arrest Intervention Center and 841 through its Juvenile Detention Center in 2025, only 900 of those served at the intervention center received behavioral health assessment for ongoing services, indicating a vital need for intervention on behavioral health conditions prior to arrest or detention.