Washington –Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-Livonia) secured $1.8 million in federal funding for several Wayne County projects, including the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project and a Juvenile Mentoring Program. The funding was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005, which was approved by Congress, Nov. 20.
The county received $700,000 to establish a demonstration program to address the growing needs of at-risk teens in the community. According to McCotter, the Juvenile Mentoring Program will target teens in need of mental health and counseling services. “This program will help address teens’ immediate problems, as well as how to avoid, criminal activity,” he explained. Initially, the program will work with teens involved in sex crimes, including prostitution and other sex offenses.
The Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project has served as a national model helping communities learn how to prevent pollution and restore the nation’s water quality. Wayne County received $900,000 towards completing the final stages of the project. “The River Rouge watershed’s 48 communities will continue to jointly and effectively confront and correct all sources of pollution, including combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflow, failing on-site sewage disposal systems, and illicit discharges,” McCotter said.
Wayne County also received $100,000 for the development and implementation of a Jail Diversion and Assistance Initiative. Through this program, the county will be able to identify individuals who, but for their mental illness or lack of basic counseling, would not find themselves in the correctional system, according to McCotter. The program will initially target two populations that are often incarcerated when better treatment options could be made available to them -- mentally ill detainees and domestic violence offenders.
The final project, the Wayne County Lead Prevention Initiative, received $100,000 to develop and implement a comprehensive lead poison assessment, intervention and prevention program. “This program will help protect 12,000 low income women, infants and children, who are most at risk, from the dangers of lead in their environment.”