Systems change for better public safety. LEAD enhances safety, health, and equity by building a community-based alternative to jail and prosecution for people whose unlawful behavior stems from unmet needs related to substance use, mental health challenges, or extreme poverty. It’s become widely accepted that we can’t arrest our way out of the problems related to substance use, mental illness, or extreme poverty. But the crime and harms that can stem from these challenges must not be ignored or minimized. The LEAD model offers communities a better approach to safety and equity. LEAD enhances public safety, health, and equity by building new systems to divert people with unmet needs related to behavioral health or extreme poverty into non-punitive, collaborative, community-based systems of response and care.

WHAT MAKES LEAD DIFFERENT

• LEAD is not a program – it increases public safety by creating a new system of collective response.
• LEAD is not a short-term crisis response – it offers ongoing case coordination.
• LEAD isn’t operated by the courts – it’s a community-based collaborative.
• LEAD’s commitment to harm reduction doesn’t mandate treatment or recovery.
• LEAD serves one specific population – people whose frequent unlawful or problematic conduct stems from unmet behavioral health needs.
• LEAD case management isn’t office-based – it meets people where they’re at.