To: Dale Weighill, Governmental Operations Committee
From: Rhonda Ihm, Family Division Administrator
title
RE: Approval of a grant award from the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, in the amount of $218,356.00, to provide for implementation and evaluation of programs aiming to reduce racial and ethnic disparities at the arrest point; the budget for this grant is attached
recommendation
BOARD ACTION REQUESTED:
The Circuit Court Family Division is requesting permission to accept the Racial & Ethnic Disparities Reduction Grant from the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) in the amount of $218,356.00 to be paid from various account indicated in the attached budget.
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the racial and ethnic disparities reduction grant program is to provide local jurisdictions with funding to support the implementation and evaluation programs/initiatives with the aim of reducing racial & ethnic disparities at the arrest decision point in their community. According to FY 2020 statewide arrest data compiled for the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice, Michigan minority youth are being arrested at disparate rates, compared to their majority youth counterparts (39% of total youth arrests while comprising only 31% of the total state youth population). Racial and ethnic disparities exist at various decision points within Michigan's Juvenile Justice system but starts with arrest.
DISCUSSION:
Our diversion program uses a Collaborative Crisis Intervention approach with one local school in Genesee County. In this capacity, the School Resource Officer/Police Officer and a mental health professional will work together to respond to any school-based offense that requires law enforcement involvement. In every incident in which the SRO is considering arresting and charging a student, the SRO would refer the student to the MHP to become involved in the Collaborative Crisis Intervention Diversion program and the youth will be assessed a...
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