Drug treatment grant targets repeat offenders

The goal is to rehabilitate with job training.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County will share in a $13.9 million federal grant that provides drug and alcohol recovery services for men and women convicted of crimes.

The three-year Access to Recovery grant is being administered by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

The funds will be used for a variety of addiction treatment and recovery support services such as temporary housing, job training, health care/childcare and transportation assistance in Mahoning, Cuyahoga, Stark and Summit counties.

The program was announced Monday at a news conference in the Mahoning County Courthouse rotunda by Doris M. Primm, executive director of the Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board. She said Mahoning County has a revolving door when it comes to repeat criminals and the goal is to decrease the recidivism rate.

The county’s TASC, Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime program, will coordinate the services offered by Access to Recovery. Primm said TASC has 80 to 100 people waiting to take part in the new program.

“The need is great,” Primm said, noting indigent men, especially, need the services.

The ATR difference means people come home to stay, rather than come home to visit, said Angela Cornelius-Dawson, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. She said ATR is unique in that it provides vouchers so consumers can choose from a variety of services; is outcome oriented (sobriety, employment); and has increased capacity by reaching out to faith-based organizations.

Primm said participants can receive job training, child care, bus passes or driver’s license reinstatement fees that allow them to re-enter the workforce once released from prison or placed on probation.

Perry Clark, ministry director at Truly Reaching You Ministries in Summit County, said men who get out of prison and have no where to live and no job know they will end up back in prison. He said his ministry, with the aid of ATR, provides temporary housing and substance abuse prevention.