Second Judicial Circuit Hosts Presentation About Reaching Rural Grant Opportunity

 By Echo Menges 

The Second Judicial Circuit, which includes Adair, Knox, and Lewis counties, hosted a morning meeting for community stakeholders about the Reaching Rural grant opportunity the team is competing for. The meeting was held at the Knox County Community Center in Edina on Sept. 17. 

Drug Court Judges Matt Wilson and Tom Redington gave a presentation about the team’s efforts to offer a program like the Drug Court program to a wider variety of individuals—especially those experiencing legal entanglements that do not qualify for the Drug Court program. Currently, offenders must be suspected of a felony before becoming eligible for the program. 

The team hopes to obtain needed grant funding that can help them offer a similar program for misdemeanor offenses, before those offenders face more serious charges. 

Community partners from throughout the region attended the meeting, listened to Judge Wilson and Judge Redington discuss the outline of the program, and provided feedback. 

Judge Wilson talked about the trappings of criminal court cycles and the harmful effects on communities. 

Judge Redington discussed the benefits of the proposed program and shared data and statistics on the efficacy of the Drug Court model. 

Reaching Rural coaches Becky Rose and Kristina Bryant were in town from Washington, D.C., to assist and observe the engagement. 

The Radically Rural initiative is a $100,000 grant opportunity the Second Circuit team is competing for. The team, which also includes Jane Moore, Second Circuit Drug Court administrator, has been working on their plan most of the year and made a trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this year to learn about the opportunity.