The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Project (JMHCP) is seeking individuals who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice or behavioral health care systems to apply for its subcommittee of the Public Safety Coordinating Council. 

JMHCP is a grant program that supports innovative cross-system collaboration to divert individuals with mental illnesses or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders who come into contact with the justice system. Its Public Safety Coordinating Council subcommittee provides executive-level oversight of the grant program and its activities. Some of the current activities of the JMHCP include the implementation, funding, and monitoring of the law enforcement and behavioral health co-responder teams. Additionally, the subcommittee hears reports and offers feedback on research activities related to jail length of stay and the diversion of individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system.

Recognizing the importance of hearing from those directly impacted by the justice system, the council expanded its subcommittee membership to include two peers with lived experience. The group is encouraging impacted individuals to apply. 

Appointments will tentatively be made at the next Public Safety Coordinating Council meeting. The deadline for applications is Friday, April 26, 2024.

Those interested should download and fill out the application. They should then save the file and send it to [log in to unmask]. 

For more information, contact Alachua County Community Support Services Assistant Director Tom Tonkavich at 352-264-6738 or [log in to unmask].

If you have a disability and need an accommodation in order to participate in a County program, service or public meeting, please contact the Alachua County Equal Opportunity Office at (352) 374-5275 at least 2 business days prior to the event. TTY users, please call 711 (Florida Relay Service).