This fall, Whatcom County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program will receive two additional intensive case managers thanks to a $420,000 grant from the Washington State Health Care Authority.
LEAD’s project manager Vanessa Martin said the best use of this money is for staffing and maintenance of each case manager’s workload, which can number around 18–20 people.
Whatcom County Health and Community Services runs the diversion program, now also known as Let Everyone Advance with Dignity, which started in 2020, following a national model to improve public safety and foster long-term recovery for people with low-level criminal offenses.
Intensive case manager Greg Smith is one of five full-time staff and works alongside Evarosa Purviance, one of LEAD’s outreach coordinators. Once Purviance places a client on the waiting list, Smith will take over and incorporate the client into his caseload.
“What we’re really trying to do is connect those individuals to services, whether that be housing, whether it be treatment, whether it be any form of individually tailored goals that’s really client centered,” said Thomas McAuliffe, LEAD’s supervisor.
This waiting list is a crucial reason why Martin secured the grant — after new intensive case managers arrive, the number of participants they can help will rise to 160 from 140.
Over the last two years, jail bookings decreased 83% annually in the 12 months before a client participated in LEAD versus the 12 months after. Time spent in jail decreased by 93% annually during the same time period.
But as caseloads “ebb and flow,” McAuliffe said, there is a looming need for more staff to manage these caseloads.
The program will post these additional positions and conduct job interviews in early fall, and the intensive case managers are scheduled to start the jobs in October 2024.
Olivia Capriotti is a Dow Jones summer news intern, specializing in data journalism. Reach her at oliviacapriotti@cascadiadaily.com.
