NACo will kick off its County Justice Peer Learning Network (PLN) in January. With the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), NACo will support 13 counties from across the country with creating strategies to address justice-involved individuals with mental illness while examining racial and ethnic disparities in their justice systems. Teams made up of justice, health and human services stakeholders, including commissioners, judges, jail administrators, human service directors and community-based mental health treatment providers, will explore the intersection of mental health and racial and ethnic disparities for justice-involved individuals and best practices to engage people in appropriate treatment and services rather than jail. Teams will leverage resources and strategies from the SJC and other NACo initiatives such as Stepping Up and Data-Driven Justice as part of their efforts. The 13 counties participating are:

• Bernalillo County, N.M.
• Coconino County, Ariz.
• Dane County, Wis.
• Douglas County, Kan.
• Durham County, N.C.
• Eau Claire County, Wis.
• Franklin County, Ohio
• Lake County, Ill.
• Lucas County, Ohio
• Merrimack County, N.H.
• Newton County, Ga.
• Sauk County, Wis.
• Whatcom County, Wash.

From January 2020 to June 2021, the chosen counties will receive light technical assistance from NACo and subject matter experts to plan, implement and sustain policies and programs to reduce the number of individuals with mental illness in their jails using a racial and ethnic disparities lens. The PLN counties will also engage with other county leaders in the SJC network through quarterly virtual network calls and two peer exchanges. At the end of the 18-month period, each county’s accomplishments will be distilled in a report highlighting best practices for counties looking to address mental illness and racial and ethnic disparities in their own jurisdictions.

This PLN and blog post are supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, which seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.