City celebrates federal aid to boost community court

District 1 Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison held a press conference Thursday to highlight City Council’s approval of funds from the U.S. Justice Department, which she called “a monumental step forward for the Downtown Austin Community Court.”

Council approved acceptance of two grants totaling $1.45 million from the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance for the DACC’s mobile court program.

A $550,000 grant over three years will bolster the court’s mobile court capacity. A second grant of $900,000 over four years will facilitate expansion of the mobile court’s operations and increase connections to substance use services.

Last summer, Council allocated more than $155,000 to enhance the court’s efforts to eliminate barriers to accessing justice and for case management services for homeless Austinites with substance use and mental health disorders. The decision to provide that funding was critical to the Justice Department’s allocation of funds to the Downtown Austin Community Court.

The main purpose of the DACC is “to act as a justice diversion mechanism that resolves low-level offenses for those experiencing homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse or poverty.” Following the success of a mobile pilot program, city staff recommended expanding that program to other areas of the city.

Harper-Madison recalled meeting in 2023 with members of the DACC’s advisory board, “which began our journey to expand the DACC’s jurisdiction to insure equitable access and services” and eventually to create the DACC mobile court.

Harper-Madison said the advantages of the mobile court were clear from the beginning.

“It would allow us to leverage our existing resources and complement the jurisdiction expansion to provide more geographically dispersed options for people across Austin,” she said. “And it would alleviate barriers for those seeking services by connecting them within their own communities.”

According to the city’s description of the DACC mobile court, “This program enhancement will address existing inequities and engage individuals experiencing homelessness who are disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimization by replicating and implementing best practices and evidence-based tools in the field, and create referral pathways and enhance access to substance use services for Mobile Court participants.”

Among those participating in the press conference and celebrating expansion of court services were DACC Advisory Board Chair Lea Downey Gallatin, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Chief Robert Luckritz and Captain Amber Price, plus DACC court administrator Robert Kingham, Integral Care crisis services director Marisa Malik and city Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray.

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