City gets federal funding for drug court

Kansas City, Mo., Municipal Drug Court has received a $191,237 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, which will provide funding for a full-time drug court coordinator and drug court case manager.

The positions will help offer more intensive and comprehensive case management for drug court participants.

The grant is in addition to a recent $124,000 one-year award from the Health Care Foundation of Kansas City, which provided funding for a case manager and allowed the drug court to contract with Legal Aid of Western Missouri for legal assistance for participants seeking Medicaid and Social Security/Disability benefits.

“These grants are important confirmations by the Department of Justice and the Health Care Foundation that our drug court is making a difference in the lives of the long-term addict in Kansas City,” Drug Court Judge Joseph Locascio said. “With these awards, we are happy to be able to expand services by doubling the supervision period to one year and assist with housing during recovery.”

The Municipal Drug Court focuses on substance abusers with a chronic and debilitating addiction who usually enter treatment homeless and unemployed.

The Department of Justice award allows the drug court to increase supervision time from six months to one year, conduct random drug testing in court, pay for bus passes to help participants get to treatment and to court and assist the homeless participants in obtaining transitional living on a short-term basis until they can obtain employment to pay for housing.

In addition, the grant will pay for continuing education for the drug court staff and support Resource Development Institute to conduct an independent evaluation of the project.

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