DA Pamela Price Announces $6 Million Grant for the CARES Navigation Center
October 8, 2024
OAKLAND, CA — Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced that her office was awarded a $6 million grant by the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to expand the Community Assessment Referral Engagement Services (CARES) Navigation Center diversion program.
Alameda County was one of 27 government and community-based organizations in the state awarded the grant after a highly competitive process. This is the largest grant ever awarded to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
The CARES Navigation Center is the only pre-arrest diversion program in Alameda County. It is currently jointly administered by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the County’s Behavioral Health Department. Located in Oakland, the CARES Navigation Center, in partnership with the UnCuffed Project and Market St. 7th Day Adventist Church, provides resources and referrals to services to residents as an alternative to incarceration and/or prosecution for substance use and mental-health-related misdemeanors.
“This is the largest grant investment in the history of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. I want to thank my team for making it happen: Amanda Thomas, Director of Grant Development and Compliance; Tara Anderson, Assistant Chief of Administration and Operations; Mas Morimoto, the Director of our Collaborative Courts; and Dr. Raymond Landry, CARES Navigation Project Coordinator,” said District Attorney Pamela Price. “This grant will allow our Cares Navigation Center to expand our existing services across the County.”
CARES gives law enforcement agencies across Alameda County the option to refer individuals suffering from drug or mental health-related issues directly into treatment and related services in the community without having to go to jail or court first. The program saves people with substance use disorders or mental illness from spending time in jail and saves police and County resources by eliminating costs related to booking, incarceration, and charging. Under DA Price’s leadership, CARES includes a robust and expanded mobile unit to ensure service delivery across the entire County.
The grant funding was made possible by Proposition 47, a 2014 voter-approved initiative that reduced the penalties for some nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and directed the state’s incarceration savings to help system-involved people rehabilitate their lives.
Proposition 47 savings have created approximately $800 million in available funding, with 65% of state savings going towards mental health treatment, substance use disorder treatment, and diversion programs, 25% going to K-12 schools, and 10% going to victim services.
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Contact: damedia@acgov.org
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (DAO) is one of California’s largest prosecutors’ offices and is led by Alameda County’s first Black woman District Attorney Pamela Y. Price. Price brings her vision to this office to fairly administer justice in the pursuit of thriving, healthy, and safe communities for every person who steps foot in Alameda County, no matter their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, income, or zip code. Price has been recognized as one of the most progressive prosecutors through her forward-thinking, innovative strategies to interrupt cycles of violence and crime and bring change to a criminal justice system rooted in systemic racism. Follow Madam DA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and @AlamedaCountyda on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.