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Rush County approves roughly $494,000 in grants for community corrections and courts
Summary
Rush County commissioners approved multiple grant applications and a letter of support for community corrections and court-related programs, including a $266,577 justice reinvestment request, a $99,875 drug court request, and a $113,031 pretrial grant application; commissioners heard that state-level IDOC cuts threaten portions of local funding.
Ashley (last name not stated), who presented the Community Corrections annual report, told the commissioners that Community Corrections operates entirely on grants and project income and requested multiple grant applications and a commissioners’ letter of recommendation.
Ashley said the largest request is a Justice Reinvestment grant for community corrections seeking $266,577 to cover operational costs. She also asked for a $99,875 grant for the certified drug court (problem-solving court), a $113,031 pretrial grant (filed both to IDOC and to the Indiana Office of Court Services as a contingency), and a $15,000 IOCS problem-solving courts supplemental grant to cover additional urine screens and staff training.
"We are asking for the money that we need to operate," Ashley said, noting that the office is entirely grant funded and that the state has announced substantial budget decreases. She told the board the state made cuts of about $7 million for 2026 and is projecting an additional reduction of about $11.9 million for 2027, which would approach $20 million in two years across affected programs.
Commissioner (S2) moved and the board approved a letter of recommendation required by the IDOC Justice Reinvestment grant. Following that motion, the board moved, seconded and approved each of the grant applications by voice vote.
The approvals included the community corrections Justice Reinvestment grant ($266,577), the drug court grant (amount discussed as $99,875), the IDOC and IOCS pretrial grants ($113,031), and a $15,000 problem-solving courts application administered via IOCS. Commissioners discussed submitting applications to multiple programs as a redundancy strategy to protect programming from statewide cuts.
The actions taken at the meeting were procedural approvals of the grant applications and the accompanying letter of support; no county matching funds were requested, and Ashley said Community Corrections does not require a county match because it operates on grant and project funds. The board carried each motion by voice vote.
