Partnering for outreach, intervention, navigation, and transformation: a montgomery county youth behavioral health diversion initiative (project point) - the adamhs board for montgomery county…

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.

Partnering for outreach, intervention, navigation, and transformation: a montgomery county youth behavioral health diversion initiative (project point) - the adamhs board for montgomery county (MCADAMHS) proposes the partnering for outreach, intervention, navigation, and transformation: a montgomery county youth behavioral health diversion initiative (project point) to increase proactive identification of youth at risk of justice involvement, to enhance access to treatment and supportive services in order to stabilize youth prior to justice involvement, to streamline telecommunication pathways for youth notifications, and to facilitate continuous improvement and youth voice in these efforts through development of a community early diversion plan and convening of an early diversion coalition. Project point will serve montgomery county, ohio, (mont.CO) a geographic region located in southwest ohio that covers approximately 462 square miles. The project will engage and outreach to 700 youth annually (3,500 youth over the 5-YEAR grant period) and will enroll to provide treatment, supportive services, and early diversion programming to 240 youth annually (1,200 youth over the 5-YEAR grant period). Project point will focus on youth under the age of 18, who represent over 22% of the population, mostly likely impacting the ~10% of the population who are 12 - 18 years of age. In 2025, the montgomery county juvenile court served 1,790 youth through their post-arrest intervention center and 841 youth through their juvenile detention center. Ultimately, 900 of the youth served at the intervention center received a behavioral health assessment for ongoing services. This population represents a critical GAP in services; a vital need to intervene on behavioral health conditions before arrest or detention are recommended. This need is escalated by increased high risk youth populations in mont. CO. Despite making up only 4.5% of ohio's population, mont. CO. Accounts for 35% of foster youth group homes in the state. Youth in foster group homes often have existing risk factors of mental health and CO-occurring disorders that may lead to behaviors that put them at high risk of justice system involvement, especially under the constant surveillance that group homes provide. Current case management and care navigation services are limited to medicaid populations meeting diagnostic criteria for support with behavioral health organizations, and most mediation resources are geographically limited to dayton, ohio, leaving the remaining county population (of nearly 400,000 residents) further underserved. Project point encompasses comprehensive strategies to target the population of focus, including: non-arrest law enforcement interaction follow-up, sbirt, peer support, early diversion programming, family and housing-focused mediation, community impact panels, community coalitions, and shared strategic plans. Through goal 1, project point will increase access to peer support, community-based behavioral health treatment, and mediation-focused early diversion for mont. CO. Youth at risk of entering the juvenile justice system by increasing early identification of behavioral health risk; providing timely, evidence-based interventions to reduce risk behaviors; and improving access to appropriate treatment services for high-risk youth by measuring the objectives of sbirt screenings (300/YEAR); follow-up calls to non-arrest law enforcement-engaged youth (400/YEAR); and demonstrating for those enrolled further 65% of youth avoiding arrest 90 days post-intervention and 75% remaining active in treatment 90 days post-intervention. Through goal 2, MCADAMHS will improve cross-system coordination and referral pathways to reduce reliance on the juvenile justice system to ultimately reduce post-arrest intervention center engagements by 10% and juvenile detention center engagements by 10%. Goal 3 will strengthen continuity of care and family engagement through youth crisis notification (95% follow-up) and handle with care technologies (10 schools).