Sunday, June 8, 2025
6/8/2025
Grant to expand substance abuse treatment capacity in the Muscogee County Veteran's Treatment Court - The Muscogee County Veterans Treatment Court program began admitting participants in July of 2013. There are currently 20 participants in the program. This program works in concert with the Muscogee County Adult Drug Court to quickly identify and refer participants to the correct accountability court program. Unlike other programs, the Muscogee County VTC does not require that all participants have an honorable discharge from the US Armed Services. We partner with New Horizons Behavioral Health to deliver services to those participants without VA benefits. The Muscogee County Veterans Treatment Court seeks to expand its capacity to help an additional 40 veterans per year and enhance its service offerings to include residential, medication assisted treatment and peer mentoring services to the veterans in the program. Muscogee County, located in southwest Georgia, is the 8th largest county in the state by population. The county has a total area of 221 square miles, of which 216 square miles is land and 4.6 square miles is water. The estimated population as of July 1, 2020 is 206,922. The county seat and only city is Columbus, with which it has been a consolidated city-county government since 1971. Muscogee County is bordered to the south and east by Ft. Benning, home of the US Army Maneuver Center of Excellence. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees. Due to its proximity to Ft. Benning, the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit conducts a Veterans Court to serve prior military members who find themselves involved in the justice system. The population of focus for this project is adult veterans ages 18-65 charged with one more felonies or probation violation, non-violent in nature, motivated by addiction and/or untreated mental illness and not solely for profit. The participant must show a willingness to live a drug free lifestyle and a desire to participate in the program. The goals of this Enhancement and Expansion Project are to meet the identified gaps in peer services to the existing program; reduce the waiting list; increase individuals receiving MAT; increase number receiving residential treatment services; and reduce recidivism rates. Goals: Goal 1.1: Increase the number of Veteran's Treatment Court participants by 40 individuals per year through the addition of one full time case manager Goal 1.2: Increase the number of individuals receiving MAT Goal 1.3: Increase the number of individuals receiving residential services Goal 1.4: Increase the number of successful program completions by 10% annually through enhanced program services, specifically evidence-based treatment services and mentoring Goal 1.5: Reduce recidivism rates among Veteran's Treatment Court program graduates to under 20% annually.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).