Long Beach Health and Human Services has received an $8 million grant to assist individuals arrested, charged or convicted with nonviolent offenses through the creation of the Long Beach Reentry Service and Diversion Program.
This grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections will fund the new program through 2028. Various community organizations will be involved in the program, with a focus on helping those with mental health or substance use challenges.
“This new program will support and address gaps for reentry services such as vital mental health and substance use treatment for nonviolent offenders,” said Mayor Rex Richardson in a public statement. “By providing key support services, we can reduce recidivism, reducing crime while providing a second chance for those who are justice-involved.”
According to the City of Long Beach, the goals of the Long Beach Reentry Service and Diversion Program are to:
- Enhance and increase coordination of mental health, substance use treatment, diversion and supportive services for formerly incarcerated people in Long Beach. The City’s goal is to enroll 200 clients a year in these core/supportive services.
- Increase programming specifically designed for justice-involved youth ages 15-24. The City aims to enroll at least 50 youth a year in diversion programming.
- Improve services specific to justice-involved women. The City aims to enroll at least 25 women a year in gender-specific programming.
Services that will be offered within the program include individual and group therapy, psychiatric medication management, substance use treatment and pre-arrest diversion. There will also be uplifting initiatives such as case management, education and employment assistance and connections to housing, legal support and tattoo removal.
In order to distribute the grant, the Long Beach Health Department will hire two staff members to help with the intake and referral process, conduct outreach and screening. The already-existing Re-Entry Advisory Committee will create the subcommittee: the Long Beach Proposition Advisory Committee. It will advise on the program’s design, implementation, and continuous quality improvement.
“The program will strengthen partnerships to boost the capacity of local service providers and provide services through a trauma-informed and culturally responsive lens,” said Health Department Director Alison King in a public statement.
The Health Department is currently assessing program details and will announce further information in early 2025.
The California Board of State and Community Corrections, which awarded the grant, is an independent statutory agency that oversees adult and juvenile criminal justice systems.
Funding for the program originated from state savings tracing back to the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014, which classified certain low-level drug and property crimes as misdemeanors rather than felonies.
Thirty five percent of the money California saved from court, jail and prison services were funneled into the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, with goals similar to reentry programs. The board awarded those savings ($167 million) to 27 government and community-based organizations in October.
The passage of Proposition 36 on this year’s California ballot will roll back Prop 47 by reclassifying some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies and create a treatment-mandated felony category for certain offenders.
