The Danville City Council will consider approving state funding for a substance-use disorder treatment program in the city’s adult detention center at its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
This week’s council meeting was moved from Tuesday to Thursday so council members can attend the city’s annual National Night Out, an event hosted by the Danville Police Department to bring the community together and strengthen the relationship between the police department, city and residents.
At the Thursday meeting, council members will take a final vote on whether to amend the fiscal year’s budget to allow for funds from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
The department has awarded Danville a $126,000 grant to implement a jail-based substance-use disorder treatment program at the adult detention center. Jail-based means that the program will be conducted within the jail, rather than at an outside medical facility.
The city applied for and received this grant through a state program called the Challenge Project, according to the staff report included in the meeting’s agenda packet.
The grant program aims to expand access to substance-use disorder treatment and transitional services for people in local and regional jails in Virginia, according to the Department of Criminal Justice Services.
“Funded programs may include medication assisted treatment therapies, addiction recovery and other substance use disorder services, reentry and transitional support, or a combination of these services,” the department’s website says.
The grant application process is competitive, the website says, and applicants are asked to justify need and develop itemized budgets.
Danville’s budget appropriation to allow for these funds, if approved by the city council, will be a continuing appropriation, carrying over year after year until expended, according to an ordinance in the agenda packet.
Also this week in Danville, the River District Design Commission will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday.
National Night Out will be held Tuesday, beginning at 3 p.m. in Ballou Park. The event includes free food, prizes, activities, music and information stations.
In Pittsylvania County, the planning commission will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
