Funds designated to shape a county-wide strategy against alcohol and drug abuse in Bartholomew County are being handled differently this year.
In the past, the Bartholomew County Substance Abuse Council has named specific organizations and amounts to receive grants through the Bartholomew County Substance Abuse Comprehensive Community Plan.
The council’s mission is to develop and implement a comprehensive youth-and-adult strategy to educate about, to prevent and to reduce the incidents of alcohol and other drugs in this area.
In the past, certain organizations have been chosen by local council members to receive money, with the council specifying how much each will receive, Drug Free Communities program coordinator Rachel Flohr David said.
“But there was never any follow-up on the details on how those funds were used,” Flohr David said.
This year’s plan calls for dividing a total of $44,815 into three goals or categories without naming any organization.
- Prevention and Education – $14,564
- Intervention and Treatment – $14,564
- Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement -$13,445
The remaining $2,242 is being set aside to pay for administrative costs such as maintaining a website or for conference expenses, she said.
These changes were made because the state wants to see more of a collaboration between different agencies, Flohr David said. By making these alterations, agencies that have traditionally been placed in only one category may be able to fit into another, she said.
As an example, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department might want to team up with a groups such as Family Services, Inc. to do an event focused on prevention, she said. If approved, the event would be financed with money from the prevention category – even though the sheriff’s office normally gets funds only from Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Flohr David said.
Now that the plan had been approved by both county and state authorities, organizations within the community will be asked to submit proposals that will meet at least one of the goals set out in the plan, Flohr David said.
Funding for these grants diminish annually, with Bartholomew County originally scheduled to receive only $32,895 this year, Flohr David said. That’s down from $35,000 provided last year, and $37,000 in 2019. One reason why funds are diminishing has to do with changes in fund collections within the courts, she said.
Three organizations that received money last year were unaware the program had changed its fiscal year, so they did not spend all of their 2020 allocation, Flohr David said.
The inclusion of those funds allows for a larger pool of money for grants, she said.
Under the new system, reports outlining where the money is going and how it’s being used will be sent to elected county officials every time reports are sent to the state, she said.
