Travis County Commissioners Court
April 20, 2010,
Item 7A
>> 7:00-a, review and approve requests regarding grant proposals, applications, contracts and permissions to continue, a, annual application to the u.s. Department of health health for travis county to continue to participate in the parenting in recovery project with travis county health and human services and veterans services serving the regional partnership project lead. The application is for the fourth year of the potential five-year grant that includes a cash match requirement for fiscal year 2011 that will be requested and reviewed as part of the budget process. Commissioner eckhardt has a question.
>> i wanted the opportunity to say that the project plan is actually a really great read. Sherri, i have to hand it to you and your crowd. I wanted to know in advance of this coming before us in the budget process where does this project fit in the constellation of drug treatment programs that we have going right now? Because it seems to relate back in some regard to agenda item five in that it's not strictly -- many of our drug treatment programs are associated with our criminal courts. This one is associated with our cps docket and our early childhood intervention as a stated objective of the county. So i wanted to kind of get a better -- get it in my head space in the right place.
>> first and foremost, this was a grant opportunity that was very specific in that we had to demonstrate a relationship with the state and the child protective services system because the referrals into this program must come through that system. So that was sort of the first criteria. And then the next criteria was to develop a system of care that includes both the judicial system and so we have the drug court represented as a part of the collaboration, but also provides for a continuum of services that are offered not only to the parent, but to the child in -- to the children in such a way that the children are allowed to stay with the parent through the process. And so this grant has provided the opportunity for us to bring together sort of these different constellations of folks and figure out from beginning to end what's going to happen with this family. And it provided a planning component, so we really had the opportunity and the funding to pull partners together and have them evaluate their ability to contribute. We have partners who put in kind on the table, and you see that reflect understand our backup as well as the engagement of our department to ensure that the services are delivered in a quality fashion. So i think that it was a continuum that we were permitted to build and that didn't exist in our community, and that i believe was the purpose of this particular pot of money. So i hope that answers your question.
>> it does. And i'm interested in how this is -- it appears from the backup, which is extensive, that the project plan is to increase the capacity among service providers and knit the service provider network together with the various court dockets. So i was curious to know -- this is yet another one of those interry faces i see -- interfaces i see between your shop or the criminal justice or justice planning shop, and how that is playing out.
>> and we have not made a hard connection with just planning per se. To the extent that they are supporting the drug court program, i think that connection has been made, but we look forward to the opportunity. We are in the fourth year of a fifth year grant. We are looking at another grant that will be coming forward probably in the next week or so that we believe will help us sustain the services that have developed around this grant, at least for another three years. So we're very hopeful for that. At that point hopefully we will have -- we will have a sustainable, systemic change within our community, so regardless of where the money comes from, we will have a method of doing business that we can all subscribe to, which is what our goal was.
>> is that the separate grant that's coming down from the state, the additional pool of money that's being made available? I can get with you later and try and understand that.
>> i know that information -- the grant itself is in the queue. I believe it's at the pbo level at this point, but it would allow us to continue similar services once this grant reaches its termination point.
>> okay. I really appreciate the clarification. I wanted the opportunity to highlight that knowing that we do have a match coming down the pipe for the last of the -- the last of the five-year pot of money.
>> and we appreciate the support we've gotten from the court. This is an opportunity for us to not only put in a system of services, but to do some planning, and i'm all about planning with someone else's money.
>> thank you for that, sherri!
>> move approval.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 1:53 PM
