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1 <br /> ORD-2023-012 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: February 21, 2023 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 6-b <br /> SUBJECT: Approval of Police and Mental Health Collaborations for Diversion Programs <br /> Grant Staff Positions and Budget Amendment #6-B <br /> DEPARTMENT: Criminal Justice Resource <br /> Department <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Attachment 1 — Grant Award Letter Caitlin Fenhagen, (919) 245-2303 <br /> Attachment 2 — Executed Contract Pages Travis Myren, (919) 245- 2308 <br /> Attachment 3 — CJRD Position Cost Sheet <br /> Attachment 4 — Grant Budget <br /> Attachment 5 — Grant Organizational Chart <br /> Attachment 6 — Year-to-Date Budget <br /> Summary <br /> PURPOSE: To consider the approval of two new staff positions funded by the Police and Mental <br /> Health Collaborations for Diversion Programs Grant, and approve Budget Amendment #6-B. <br /> BACKGROUND: The Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department (CJRD) was <br /> awarded a grant in the amount of $1,193,745 on November 28, 2022 by the N.C. Department of <br /> Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance <br /> Abuse Services. The contract for the grant, entitled Police and Mental Health Collaborations for <br /> Diversion Programs, was fully executed on February 2, 2023. The grant runs from January 2023 <br /> to September 30, 2025. <br /> The grant provides for the creation of a Community Care and Diversion Response (CCDR) team <br /> coordinated by the CJRD that will enhance law enforcement diversion and collaboration for <br /> individuals with serious mental illness. The grant funds immediately provide for a 1.000 FTE <br /> position in the CJRD to serve as the Mental Health Diversion Coordinator. Additionally, the grant <br /> funds four (4) social worker positions that will operate in each of the major law enforcement <br /> agencies in Orange County: the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Chapel Hill Police <br /> Department, the Hillsborough Police Department and the Carrboro Police Department. Finally, <br /> this grant will fund two (2) therapeutic positions that will work at Chapel Hill's Freedom House <br /> Recovery Center— a mental health clinician and a peer support specialist. These positions will be <br /> hired and managed by the independent agencies. Approval of this request will authorize 2.000 <br /> County FTE's, time-limited until September 2025 — a 1.000 FTE Mental Health Diversion <br /> Coordinator in the CJRD starting this fiscal year, and a 1.000 FTE Social Worker in the Orange <br /> County Sheriff's Office to start in the next fiscal year. <br />