Lucas County is the recipient of a $480,000 grant to help reduce the local jail population and racial disparity while working in collaboration with local leaders and community members.
The commissioners intend to use the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant to fund the Toledo Municipal Court’s diversion program. That program has had 1,311 defendants, or 78 percent of those who entered the program, complete program requirements resulting in the dismissal of charges, stated a written announcement from the office of the Lucas County commissioners.
The grant will also fund the Reentry on the First Day program, which reviews the sentenced jail population at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker, Ohio. The program looks for ways to reduce the length of sentences.
Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre said he is happy the county got the grant.
“It’s important that we keep dangerous people in jail, but it’s also important that we don’t keep people in jail that don’t belong in jail,” Sheriff Navarre said Monday. “This grant helps us do that.”
The grant marks a total of $5.1 million invested in the county as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge. The challenge is a $323 million national initiative to reduce over-incarceration and eliminate racial inequity in local criminal justice systems since the county joined the Safety and Justice Challenge Network in 2015.
Toledo Municipal Judge Tim Kuhlman said the grant will help the county continue the collaboration with other jurisdictions across the country “to keep our community safe, while at the same time not putting people in jail unnecessarily.”
The commissioners consider the award as the culmination of eight years of progress toward safely reducing the local jail population and addressing inequities in the justice system in collaboration with local leaders and community members, the announcement said.
The commissioners said in the statement they are “thrilled” that the foundation has decided to continue its funding “to continue preventing unnecessary incarceration” in the county.
Over the past eight years, the county has “successfully and safely” reduced the jail population by 36 percent by implementing evidence-based strategies and policies at a local level. So far, 84 candidates have participated in the program, saving Lucas County at least 1,000 days in bed stays, the county reported.
Other recent results of the county’s participation in the Safety and Justice Challenge include a grant program to support neighborhood programming in four Toledo ZIP codes 43604, 43607, 43608, and 43610. That effort seeks to address racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system and to safely reduce the local jail population.
The county’s community engagement initiative, which began in 2021, has provided funding to 15 nonprofit groups to support 19 neighborhood programs, including Open Arms Transitional Living. Open Arms, the county said, assists those ages 16 to 20 who are considered homeless or in need of assistance.
“We were blessed to be one of the recipients of grants to further the goals of Lucas County’s participation in the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge,” Open Arms Transitional Living executive director Fonda Royster said.
Ms. Royster said this grant has allowed the organization to provide young people experiencing hardships, including homelessness, with healthy meals, hygiene and toiletry products, clothing, shoes, and transportation assistance.
“These basic necessities are allowing these young people to stay in school to pursue careers and reach successful outcomes,” she said.
The Safety and Justice Challenge is a network of 74 sites in 33 states “modeling and inspiring reforms to create more fair, just, and equitable local justice systems across the country,” the commissioners said in a statement.
First Published February 14, 2023, 12:59 a.m.
