Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program

Priority program areas were selected by the State Crisis Intervention Advisory Board with consideration of the nature and prevalence of gun violence in Kentucky. The program areas represent strong commitments to effective crisis intervention and addressing circumstances that contribute to risk. On February 14, 2024, the State Crisis Intervention Advisory Board met and formally adopted through unanimous approval the following five (5) priority program areas:

Court programs and court-based diversion programs
Behavioral health initiatives and crisis response
Community crisis intervention and co-responder programs and training;
Suicide prevention initiatives (particularly those related to veterans and youth)
Gun safety initiatives, including education and/or public awareness campaigns and gun safety device distribution

At present, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has no statute establishing an Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO) law and attempts to pass such legislation in 2019 and 2021 were unsuccessful. Therefore, Kentucky’s SCIP-funded activities will not involve ERPO programs. JPSC will implement its state crisis intervention program through subawards to entities selected through a blend of directed and competitive subaward process to carry out projects aligned with the priority program areas established by the State Crisis Advisory Board.

Jointly, JPSC and the State Crisis Intervention Advisory Board Kentucky will utilize a blend of directed and competitive subaward selection methodologies to implement the state crisis intervention program.

Kentucky’s state crisis intervention program proposes to subaward funds to the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to implement a Mental Health Court (MHC) Program in the Kentucky court system. AOC is an operational arm of the Kentucky Court of Justice. Established in 1976, AOC is the entity within the Judicial Branch responsible for administering the Judicial Branch budget, building, and maintaining court facilities, maintaining court statistics through a statewide case management database, administering personnel policies and payroll for court personnel, and providing educational programs for judges, circuit court clerks and support staff. AOC serves every county in the Commonwealth. Individuals who will benefit from and be targeted for this project are justice-involved adults with misdemeanor and felony charges who have been screened for any mental illness, with or without a co-occurring substance use disorder. If symptomology is confirmed in a clinical assessment, the justice-involved adult could be offered the MHC as an alternative sentencing program. This program would intentionally target clients who are at risk to commit gun violence or become victims of gun violence.

A competitive solicitation process will be employed to identify additional subaward projects to implement this program plan. The team anticipates establishing a program similar to the proposed AOC program specific to Veterans with mental health issues. Justice-involved Veterans, with or without co-occurring substance abuse disorders, will be targeted for deflection if they are found to be at risk to themselves or others.  The treatment model may require mandatory mental health treatment, random drug testing, and may provide a “One-Stop Shop” point of contact for related veterans services and benefits.  Within the behavioral health deflection area of emphasis, the team anticipates a special focus at the local government level to support triage services and establish mobile crisis units in either a co-responder or civilian-only model, along with peer support specialists. Additionally, the team seeks to ensure individuals serving families of individuals in crisis receive specialized training to effectively serve and support those individuals.

During the implementation phase, the program staff will also create policies and procedures for the operation of the program, including the mechanism for referrals, procedures for maintaining the confidentiality of individuals, case management practices, and data tracking.  Similarly, the Kentucky CJSAC and other project partners can assist law enforcement in the creation of any necessary data collection instruments and the maintenance and analysis of the resulting information, as well as the creation of reports.

All potential program activities will be evaluated in coordination with the Crisis Intervention Advisory Board. No programs will be implemented without prior review and feedback from the Board. All statutorily required evaluation activities will be completed and reported per terms and conditions of the Byrne SCIP award.

As permitted by Byrne SCIP federal program guidelines, JPSC will utilize ten (10) percent of award funds to cover direct costs associated with the administration of the federal grant and subawards. Subaward funding will be allocated in a manner consistent with the required variable pass-through requirements established by the Byrne SCIP federal program guidelines:

Local Pass-through Requirement

A minimum of forty (40) percent of program funds will pass through to units of local government, defined by the Byrne SCIP program guidelines as a city, county, township, or town.

Less than $10,000 Pass-through Requirement

JPSC will fulfill its required allocation to less-than-$10,000 jurisdictions through a subaward to the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). See previous description of AOC and planned project activities.

The JPSC Grants Management Division (GMD) shall be responsible for the administration of the federal Byrne SCIP award and subawards on behalf of the SAA. GMD will support all aspects of the subaward process through its electronic grants management system, Intelligrants 10.0 (IGX). This process includes the solicitation and review of applications, assessment of each projects risk of non-compliance with the terms and conditions governing use of award funds, performance management, financial management, compliance monitoring, and closeout.