Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Chautauqua County sheriff announces $1.3 million COSIP grant to expand jail diversion and peer programs
Summary
Sheriff Jim Quattrone told the Audit & Control Committee the county won a $1.3 million Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use Program (COSIP) grant over three years to fund CARES program staff, a jail-based counselor and peer advocate; officials said they’ve budgeted the award for 2024–25 and will track outcomes next year.
Sheriff Jim Quattrone told the Chautauqua County Audit & Control Committee that the county has been awarded the maximum federal COSIP grant of $1,300,000 over three years to support the county’s CARES program and related jail diversion efforts. "The grant is for 1,300,000 over a 3 year period," Quattrone said, and county budget staff have included the award in the 2024–25 budgets.
Quattrone said the funding will help sustain a suite of services: a corrections officer who runs the IGNITE program, a jail-based counselor, the CARES program administrator in the HUB, and a part-time peer advocate. He credited local coordinators and outside grant-writers for the successful application, saying the county showed federal reviewers "what we've been doing" and that local staff’s work likely helped secure the award.
County officials said the grant supports both treatment-oriented work in the jail and community deflection and diversion planning. Quattrone said the county has seen increased participation in those services but cautioned that it is too early to declare the program a complete success. "We are seeing more people utilizing it," he said, adding that next year the county expects better data on whether the program reduces repeat offending.
Committee members asked about how the grant was procured and whether the county received the maximum available award. Quattrone said the county worked with outside grant specialists and county fiscal staff; he described on-the-ground advocacy and meetings with Bureau of Justice Assistance representatives as helpful to the application process.
The committee did not take a vote during the session and treated the resolution as discussion-only; the sheriff’s office said the award has been included in the county’s 2024 and 2025 budgets and that staff will return with outcome measures as results become measurable.
Next steps: county staff will continue program delivery under the grant and report usage and outcome metrics to the legislature as data permit.
