Mahoning County TASC hooks up with Meridian

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

On Tuesday, the Mahoning County Treatment Alternatives for Street Crimes Inc. will become a division of Meridian Community Care.

TASC is responsible for the coordination of drug and alcohol treatment as it relates to the criminal justice system.

All 12 TASC employees and TASC’s downtown office at 105 E. Boardman St. will be retained by Meridian, said Larry Moliterno, Meridian’s chief executive officer. TASC has a $700,000 annual budget.

Mahoning County TASC is committed to establishing effective and comprehensive supervision of the chemical-dependency treatment of eligible criminal offenders in an effort to curtail recidivism and address community need, according to a Meridian news release

TASC is an Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Service-certified agency that provides nonintensive outpatient treatment for chemical dependency. It works closely with entities such as Mahoning County Common Pleas Drug Court, Access To Recovery, and the Department of Youth Services Re-Entry Project.

TASC also assists in referrals to ancillary services such as mental-health counseling, General Educational Development classes, and job training.

Meridian has a $10 million annual budget and about 200 employees.

“We are honored to come alongside TASC and assist them in continuing to provide drug and alcohol support to our court system and community,” Moliterno said. “We hope this partnership will strengthen not only our relationships with the court systems but other treatment agencies in the Mahoning Valley.”

Through early identification, assessment, referral, monitoring and case management, offenders participating in the TASC program are more likely to have a successful treatment experience. This, in turn, reduces the likelihood that they will re-offend.

For every dollar invested in treatment and prevention, 11 dollars in costs such as criminal-justice fees and community loss are saved, according to TASC.

Since its founding in 1999, TASC has provided services to more than 11,000 offenders in the county.