An Arlington program diverting people out of the criminal justice system and strengthening their social safety nets has received a $1 million federal grant.
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded the funds to support the expansion of the Offender Aid and Restoration program at the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for Arlington and Falls Church.
“Our collaboration with OAR to create this diversion program is an evidence based, cost-effective approach to prosecution for people who suffer from mental illness and substance use disorder,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said in a press release. “We have already seen success in our pilot program and this grant will sustain and expand the program over the next five years.”
“We know that the ‘tough on crime’ model has failed to make our communities safer by changing behavior or improving outcomes for this population,” Dehghani-Tafti added. “Instead, this failed approach has been proven to lead to more frequent arrests and more incarceration for at-risk groups. We are working to break this cycle, increase community stability and decrease criminal behavior by connecting program participants with supportive services where they live.”
Specifically, the grant is meant to do the following.
- Expand the program’s staff
- Connect participants to treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues
- Help participants procure vital documents
- Connect participants to housing and job and vocational training
- Support participants’ fitness and physical wellbeing
- Expand participants’ pro-social support networks
“We have long known that jail and prison do not address the reasons [why] many people find themselves caught in the criminal legal system,” OAR Executive Director Elizabeth Jones Valderrama said. “And yet there has been such limited funding for alternatives that address a person’s underlying needs and address personal and systemic racism, which together help make the community safer.”
The grant will fund activities through Fiscal Year 2030.
