(The Center Square) – Seattle’s contracted program to provide opportunities for violators to receive alternatives to jail and prosecutions is seeing high demand, but cannot provide for all referrals.
Let Everyone Advance with Dignity, or “LEAD” is a post-arrest and pre-booking program that allows law enforcement to redirect people engaged in low-level offenses to community-based services instead of jail and prosecution.
Co-LEAD launched in 2020 to expand the larger model of care. This program provides temporary lodging and intensive case management to LEAD-eligible persons who are homeless.
Tara Moss, co-director for Programs at the Public Defender Association said the programs have been denying “a lot of high-qualified referrals based on their current funding.”
“If they are not in a focus-impact area, for example, based on the guidance we’ve been given, we’re denying people who are committing crimes,” Moss said in a Seattle Public Safety and Human Services Committee on May 9.
Focus-impact areas include Ballard, University District, Chinatown/ International District, Rainier Valley, Southwest Delridge, Upper Third Avenue, Aurora, SODO and high priority persons in the east precinct.
The new contract between LEAD and Co-LEAD with the City of Seattle has a budget of $14.5 million. Of the total contract, $9.9 million is allocated to the LEAD program and $4.6 million for the Co-LEAD program. The Seattle Human Services Department also holds $2 million for Co-LEAD lease costs of one building used for its operations.
The contract funds roughly 63 and 21 staff for LEAD and Co-LEAD, respectively, according to a presentation to the Seattle Public Safety and Human Services Committee on May 9.
Seattle Human Services Department Strategic Advisor Chris Klaeysen said that by separating funding for each program, it allows the City of Seattle to better understand the distinct service costs associated with LEAD and Co-LEAD.
Moss said goals for the programs include diversifying funding and for them to be “as efficient as possible” to reach the high demand for the program’s services.
When the presentation was introduced by Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, she noted that the council has consistently acted to support and expand the LEAD program, “even in difficult budget environments, although we have not yet reached the commitment to fund LEAD at scale.”
The city is currently planning another presentation on the two program’s first two quarters of reporting in August. Another presentation on the program’s third quarter will occur after the city’s budget process.
This article First appeared in the center square