Washington, DC--The Rockland County District Attorney’s office is receiving a Department of Justice grant of $250,000 to increase coordination among criminal justice and mental health organizations, Congressman Eliot Engel announced Wednesday.

Rep. Engel said, “The grant will complete and implement an already-initiated plan to increase public safety by facilitating collaboration among the criminal justice, juvenile justice, and mental health and substance abuse treatment systems. This will increase access to mental health and treatment services for those with mental illness and/or substance use disorders.”

The grant funds can be used for a wide variety of services including:

• Law enforcement response programs;
• Mental health courts, pretrial services, and alternative prosecution and sentencing programs;
• Treatment accountability services;
• Specialized training for justice and treatment professionals;
• Transitional and reentry services to create or expand mental illnesses or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders support services, and;
• Non-treatment recovery support services coordination and delivery including case management, housing placement, job training, education, primary and mental health care, and family supportive services.

Rep. Engel said, “Through programs such as these, we can better treat the issues of mental illness and substance abuse in the criminal justice system to make our community safer for everyone.”

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