Description

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Adult and Family Treatment Drug Courts.  The purpose of this program is to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in existing adult and family “problem solving” courts, which use the treatment drug court model in order to provide alcohol and drug treatment (including recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination as well as family-focused services in the case of Family Treatment Drug Courts) to defendants/offenders.  Grantees will be expected to provide a coordinated, multi-system approach designed to combine the sanctioning power of treatment drug courts with effective treatment services to break the cycle of criminal behavior, child abuse and neglect, alcohol and/or drug use, and incarceration or other penalties.  Grants funds must be used to serve people diagnosed with a substance use disorder as their primary condition, particularly high risk/high need populations diagnosed with substance dependence or addiction to alcohol/other drugs and identified as needing immediate treatment.  Grant funds must be used to address gaps in the continuum of treatment for those individuals in these drug courts who have substance abuse and/or co-occurring disorders treatment needs.  Grant funds may be used to provide services for co-morbid conditions, such as mental health problems, as long as expenditures remain consistent with the drug court model which is designed to serve individuals needing treatment for substance dependence or addiction to alcohol/other drugs.  SAMHSA will use discretion in allocating funding for these awards, taking into consideration the specific drug court models (adult and family treatment drug courts) as appropriate, and the number of applications received per model type.

The term “drug court” is a specially designed court calendar or docket with the purpose of reducing recidivism and substance abuse among substance-abusing offenders and increasing the likelihood of successful habilitation through early, continuous, and intense judicially supervised treatment, mandatory periodic drug testing, and the use of appropriate sanctions and other habilitation services.  Drug courts have been created at a high rate with almost 2,700 in existence in 2014, but many lack sufficient funding for substance abuse treatment.  Treatment drug courts represent the coordinated efforts of the judiciary, prosecution, defense bar, probation, law enforcement, mental health, social service, and treatment communities to actively intervene and break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction, and crime.  Stakeholders work together to give individual clients the opportunity to improve their lives, including recovery from substance use disorders, and develop the capacity and skills to become fully-functioning parents, employees, and citizens. 

SAMHSA’s interest is to actively support and shape treatment drug courts that serve substance-abusing clients in the respective problem-solving court models as long as the court meets all the elements required for drug courts.  The intent is to meet the clinical needs of clients and ensure clients are treated using evidence-based practices consistent with the disease model and the problem-solving model, rather than with the traditional court case-processing model.  A long-term goal of this program is to build sustainable systems of care for individuals needing treatment drug court services.

In alignment with the goals of SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative this program will help “reduce the pervasive, harmful, and costly health impact of violence and trauma by integrating trauma-informed approaches throughout health, behavioral health, and related systems and addressing the behavioral health needs of people involved in or at risk of involvement in the criminal justice systems.”  By providing needed treatment and recovery services, this program is intended to reduce the health and social costs of substance abuse and dependence to the public, and increase the safety of America’s citizens by reducing substance abuse related crime and violence.  Additional anticipated outcomes include: increased number of individuals served, increased abstinence from substance use, increased employment rates, decreased recidivism rates, increased housing stability, decreased criminal justice involvement, improved individual and family functioning and well-being, increased social connectedness, and decreased risky behaviors.  The SAMHSA Treatment Drug Court program seeks to address behavioral health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging the implementation of strategies to decrease the differences in access, service use, and outcomes among the racial and ethnic minority populations served.  (See PART II: Appendix G – Addressing Behavioral Health Disparities.)

Eligible drug courts must be operational on or before September 1, 2015.  Operational is defined as a having a set of cases and seeing clients in the drug court.  By signing the cover page (SF-424) of the application, the authorized representative of the applicant organization is certifying that the drug court(s) applying for funds or receiving funds as part of this grant are currently or will be operational on or before September 1, 2015.   

SAMHSA Treatment Drug Courts is one of SAMHSA’s services grant programs.  SAMHSA intends that its services grants result in the delivery of services as soon as possible after award.  Service delivery to clients should begin by the 4^th month of the project at the latest.  

SAMHSA treatment drug court grants are authorized under Section 509 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.  This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA.

NOTE:  SAMHSA/CSAT, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is also offering a grant opportunity for adult drug courts titled “Enhancing Adult Drug Court Services, Coordination, and Treatment FY 2015 Competitive Grant Announcement.”  The purpose of the joint initiative is for applicants to submit one comprehensive strategy for enhancing drug court coordination, services, and treatment capacity, which allows applicants to compete for two grants (one from BJA and one from SAMHSA) with one application.

BJA is also offering its stand-alone drug court solicitation titled “Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program FY 2015 Competitive Grant Announcement,” which provides financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to develop and implement drug treatment courts that effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders. 

Applicants may submit an application in response to one or all grant solicitations.  However, neither SAMHSA/CSAT nor BJA will make more than one award for the same proposed drug court project to the same jurisdiction/court.  Furthermore, both SAMHSA and BJA may consider geographic distribution when making funding decisions.  The aforementioned drug court grant solicitations may be found on OJP/BJA’s website at https://www.bja.gov/funding.aspx#1, and SAMHSA’s website at http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements-2015.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are tribal, state and local governments with direct involvement with the drug court, such as the Tribal Court Administrator, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Single State Agency for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the designated State Drug Court Coordinator, or local governmental unit such as county or city agency, federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and tribal organizations, individual adult treatment drug courts, and family dependency treatment drug courts.  For the purposes of this RFA, eligible adult drug court models include Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts, Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)/Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Courts, Co-Occurring Drug and Mental Health Treatment Courts, Veterans Treatment Courts, and Municipal Drug Courts that adhere to the drug court 10 key components.  

Eligible Family Drug Court Programs provide services to parents with substance use disorders or substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse and neglect issues.  The programs should provide services to the children of the parents in the program as well as to the parents.

This grant is not intended for Juvenile Drug Courts.  Any applications received for Juvenile Drug Courts will be screened out and will not be reviewed. 

It is allowable for an eligible entity to apply on behalf of one or more drug courts, either through a single application or several applications.  When the state/local/tribal government (city/county) or eligible entity applies on behalf of a drug court(s), the applicant will be the award recipient and the entity responsible for satisfying the grant requirements.  When multiple jurisdictions apply within one application, letters of commitment from each drug court judge must be included stating they intend to meet the grant and reporting requirements.  If such letters of commitment are not included in Attachment I, the application will be screened out and will not be reviewed. 

Tribal organization means the recognized body of any AI/AN tribe; any legally established organization of American Indians/Alaska Natives which is controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by such governing body or which is democratically elected by the adult members of the Indian community to be served by such organization and which includes the maximum participation of American Indians/Alaska Natives in all phases of its activities.  Consortia of tribes or tribal organizations are eligible to apply, but each participating entity must indicate its approval. 

Public and private nonprofit organizations, such as substance abuse treatment providers, have a pivotal supporting role in treatment drug court programs and may be sub-recipients/contractors to the applicant.  However, they are not the catalysts for entry into drug courts and are, therefore, restricted from applying.  SAMHSA strongly believes that the court is in the best position to administer this program because the court partners with selected treatment providers on the course of treatment for drug court clients.

This grant program is not intended to provide start-up funds to create new adult or family treatment drug courts.  Eligible drug courts must be operational on or before September 1, 2015.  Operational is defined as a having a set of cases and seeing clients in the drug court.  By signing the cover page (SF-424) of the application, the authorized representative of the applicant organization is certifying that the Adult or Family Treatment Drug Court applying for funds is operational, as defined above on or before September 1, 2015.   

To better ensure coordination between the criminal justice and community-based substance abuse treatment systems, applications must include a letter from the State Substance Abuse Agency (SSA) Director or designated representative that provides support for the application and confirms that the proposal conforms to the framework of the state strategy of substance abuse treatment.  All applicants (unless the applicant is the SSA or Tribe/Tribal organization) must include this letter or the application will not be reviewed and you will not be considered for an award.

Letters of commitment or formal contractual agreements from collaborating organizations must be provided in Attachment 1 of the application and a letter from the SSA Director or designated representative must be included in Attachment 5 of the application as outlined in Section I-2 (unless the applicant is the SSA or Tribe/Tribal Organization), or the application will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

Award Information

Funding Mechanism: Grant

Anticipated Total Available Funding: $11,300,000

Anticipated Number of Awards: Up to 35

Anticipated Award Amount: Up to $325,000

Length of Project: Up to 3 years

Cost Sharing/Match Required?: No

Proposed budgets cannot exceed $325,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) in any year of the proposed project.  Annual continuation awards will depend on the availability of funds, grantee progress in meeting project goals and objectives, timely submission of required data and reports, and compliance with all terms and conditions of award.