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Beltrami County collaborative outlines youth diversion, prevention and school-based supports
Summary
Bemidji Area Service Collaborative director Kim Graham told the Beltrami County Board the group is expanding diversion, school-based case management and new grants, and described funding sources and how projects are selected.
Kim Graham, director of the Bemidji Area Service Collaborative, updated the Beltrami County Board on BASC programs and recent grants, saying the collaborative focuses on connecting schools, county services and mental-health providers to support children, youth and families.
Graham said BASC’s mission is “to improve the well-being of children, youth, and families in Beltrami County through collaboration of resources and services.” The collaborative, she told commissioners, was started in 1998 under a joint powers agreement and is funded by partner contributions, local collaborative time-study dollars, child-welfare targeted case management and grants.
BASC operates several programs, including a diversion program that receives referrals from the assistant county attorney for low-level offenses such as first offenses, minor traffic or vaping citations and truancy. Graham described the diversion case manager’s role in intakes, connecting youth and families with mental-health services, housing and transportation, and working with a high-school resource officer to provide early intervention.
Graham also described recently awarded and pending grants: a dual-status youth grant for youth involved with both probation and social services; a CAN Renew grant from the Office of Cannabis Management to fund a peer-led prevention group starting July 1; and an application for a community crime intervention prevention grant to support diversion in 2026–27. She said BASC has four staff and a 15-member governing board with representatives from schools, public health, probation, behavioral-health providers and community organizations.
On funding and program selection, Graham explained BASC runs an annual application process using local collaborative time-study proceeds (LCTS), a federal Medicaid-derived reimbursement stream. She said BASC increased participation in the time study from 55 to about 80 participants in schools and partner agencies, and that those additional participants produced “so much more money” for programming. Graham said the collaborative funded 14 projects in the prior cycle with about $200,000 and plans to allocate $280,000 for 2026 projects.
Commissioners asked about geographic reach and partnerships. Graham said BASC funds programs in smaller districts (Kelliher, Blackduck, Red Lake) and helps mental-health agencies provide supervision so clinicians can serve multiple schools. She said the Cast Lake area is served by a different collaborative and that BRIC (Bemidji Regional Interdistrict Council) spans multiple counties.
Graham described a statewide initiative to reduce racial disparities in juvenile justice. She said the Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice selected the collaborative to develop a model and named her project coordinator; the model will be piloted with another county and could inform other counties’ efforts.
The presentation concluded with commissioners asking about the time-study dependence on Medicaid; Graham reported the multi-county 2024 portal brought in about $400,000, up from $280,000 the year before, and emphasized the importance of maintaining participation.
Looking ahead, Graham said BASC will release RFPs in July for next-year programming and that allocation decisions are made by a subcommittee that scores applications and reports to the full board.
