City Awarded $750K to Launch One Marion, GIANT Care Behavioral Health Intervention Program

The City of Mar­i­on has been award­ed a $750,000 grant from the Indi­ana Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Insti­tute (ICJI) to imple­ment the One Mar­i­on, GIANT Care Behav­ioral Health Inter­ven­tion Pro­gram, an inno­v­a­tive ini­tia­tive designed to sup­port youth expe­ri­enc­ing behav­ioral health chal­lenges and reduce involve­ment in the juve­nile jus­tice system.

The One Mar­i­on, GIANT Care pro­gram will pro­vide ear­ly inter­ven­tion, behav­ioral health screen­ing, assess­ment, coor­di­nat­ed care, and con­nec­tions to men­tal health and fam­i­ly sup­port ser­vices for youth ages 10 – 17 who are at risk of or involved in the juve­nile jus­tice system.

Led by the City of Mar­i­on, the pro­gram will bring togeth­er schools, law enforce­ment, licensed behav­ioral health providers, and com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions to cre­ate a coor­di­nat­ed response for youth and fam­i­lies in need. Through this col­lab­o­ra­tive approach, eli­gi­ble youth will receive time­ly access to behav­ioral health ser­vices and sup­port­ive resources before chal­lenges esca­late into court involvement.

“This invest­ment from the Indi­ana Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Insti­tute rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant step for­ward in our com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing youth and strength­en­ing fam­i­lies in Mar­i­on and through­out Grant Coun­ty,” said May­or Ronald Mor­rell, Jr. 

“By address­ing behav­ioral health needs ear­ly and con­nect­ing young peo­ple to the right ser­vices, we can improve out­comes for youth while enhanc­ing pub­lic safe­ty and com­mu­ni­ty well-being,” said Dr. Jay­da Monteiro.

“Stu­dent suc­cess depends on more than aca­d­e­mics alone. This grant will help ensure that our stu­dents and fam­i­lies have access to the behav­ioral health sup­port they need to thrive. Through this part­ner­ship with the City of Mar­i­on, we are build­ing a proac­tive and sus­tain­able sys­tem of care that con­nects fam­i­lies to resources, sup­ports stu­dent well-being, strength­ens engage­ment in learn­ing, and helps remove bar­ri­ers that impact their achieve­ment. This invest­ment reflects our shared com­mit­ment to the suc­cess of every stu­dent and the future of our com­mu­ni­ty,” said Super­in­ten­dent Stephanie Lockwood.

The One Mar­i­on, GIANT Care Behav­ioral Health Inter­ven­tion Pro­gram reflects the City’s ongo­ing com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing a health­i­er, safer, and more sup­port­ive com­mu­ni­ty for young peo­ple and their families.

Media Con­tact: Dr. Jay­da Mon­teiro, Opi­oid Set­tle­ment Coor­di­na­tor | jmonteiro@​cityofmarion.​in.​gov