Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS) is a not-for profit, charitable organization incorporated in 1978. The original mission of the organization was to serve as the single manager for alcoholism services for Hillsborough County. In 1980, ACTS accepted the designation as a single governing Board for Alcoholism Services.  An Executive Director was hired to manage the comprehensive system of adult services.  In 1985, ACTS’ mission was expanded to include other drugs as well as services for children abusing substances and children in the state's dependency and delinquency service systems. In 1991, the agency name was changed to Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. in order to reflect ACTS’ comprehensive services to the community.  In 1996, the mission was further expanded and clarified to include managing and operating programs for dependent and delinquent youth, administration of affordable housing programs, and to manage facilities for the provision of human services.

ACTS currently manages an annual budget of over $20,000,000 from a multitude of different funding sources. The agency employs over 550 individuals and provides client services from 15 different sites in the Tampa area (Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee and Pinellas Counties) and 3 sites in Broward County. All ACTS' substance abuse services are licensed under FAC lOE-30 and group caring facilities are licensed under FAC 1OM-9. An independent audit of all of ACTS accounts is performed annually in accordance with state and federal guidelines. Compliance reviews and administrative audits of agency performance are conducted annually by most funding bodies, particularly the Florida Departments of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Children and Families (DC&F) and Community Affairs (DCA), Hillsborough County, the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, the Foundation for Mental Health (Pinellas County), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, etc. Many of the juvenile residential facilities are certified to participate in the Federal School Lunch Program. All DJJ funded programs are reviewed annually by the Department's Quality Assurance program.

ACTS operations are organized into four functional areas, Adult Services, Youth Services, Juvenile Justice Services and Administrative Services. Under Adult Services, ACTS provides a basic continuum of substance abuse treatment services including detoxification (Hillsborough County), residential treatment (1983-Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties), and outpatient services (Hillsborough County), with a special emphasis on pregnant and postpartum women in day treatment services (1987-Hillsborough and Polk Counties). Other Hillsborough County Adult Services include homeless outreach services through the homeless day shelter program (1991) and transitional and independent living (1989-housing) services that specialize in treatment and support of the chronically substance impaired, particularly those with mental illness. In 1997, ACTS became the administrative force behind the Central Florida Behavioral Network (CFBN).  This network became the first in the state to be an incorporated non-profit network contracting with the state to provide substance abuse treatment to adults who have lost their treatment benefits through SSI.  In addition, ACTS as well as the other providers are able to facilitate HIV/AIDS outreach and intervention to people in treatment and also in the community.  Through the CFBN, ACTS contracts to provide substance abuse services to WAGES/TANF recipients and their families (1998).  This marks the opportunity for growth for the agency and a stronger relationship with the mental health community.  The same year, ACTS began Alternative to Incarceration Program, a residential program that provides pre-trial inmates with an opportunity to enter treatment as opposed to incarceration.  In 1999, a collaborative effort of community agencies resulted in the establishment of a transitional housing program with supportive services for disabled veterans and non-veterans.  All adult services are available to clients aging out of youth programs as they reintegrate into the community and evidence needs for continuing care recovery or housing assistance.

Programs classified as Youth Services are those designed to provide substance abuse treatment and provide for the care of youth in the state's dependency system (DC&F). ACTS' dependency contracted services include a girls' foster care group home in Ft. Lauderdale and a boys' home in Tampa. The substance abuse treatment capability includes an Addictions Receiving Facility (ARF) (an emergency assessment, stabilization and detoxification program co-located with the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) in Tampa), residential treatment services (Hillsborough and Polk Counties), outpatient services (Tampa) and intensive day treatment services Polk County). Over the past several years, ACTS has acquired a full range of experiences that uniquely qualify the agency to assume operational responsibilities for the IRT. The following narratives serve to highlight those experiences.

Since 1985, ACTS has been providing services to juveniles and their families, many of whom are involved in Florida's dependency and delinquency service systems. The original services, which still operate today, included outpatient and residential substance abuse treatment (22 beds today) programs. Since then, ACTS has secured additional youth services, including: Overlay treatment services in State operated juvenile justice programs in 1988; a juvenile Addictions Receiving Facility (that provides detoxification, stabilization and assessment services to substance impaired youth) and the Hillsborough Alternative Residential Program (HARP) for developmentally disabled juvenile offenders 1991-1999; a foster care group home (16 beds) on the W. T. Edwards campus in 1992; the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) for the delinquency processing of youth in law enforcement custody and the Serious Habitual Offender Program (SHOP, 25 beds) in 1993-1999; clinical and case management services under contract with the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office and the Hillsborough Group Treatment Home (now 10 beds) in 1994; the Broward County Juvenile Intervention Facility (another JAC) and the Progressive Adolescent Treatment Halfway House PATHH, now 10 beds) in 1995-1999; and, the Hillsborough County Juvenile Drug Court (a diversion program for 200 offenders), the Adolescent Day Treatment and Polk Group Home (15 beds) substance abuse treatment programs in Polk County, a 15 slot Aftercare program for previously committed youths, the Bradley Halfway House (a 25 bed delinquency commitment program) in 1996, the 8 bed foster care girls Group Home in Ft. Lauderdale, and the Pembrook Park Group Home for delinquent boys in 1996; and the Manatee County Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) in 1997.  Group Treatment Home II opened as an expansion to the Group Treatment home for adolescents in 1998;  New Hillsborough County JAC opened in March 1999 alongside the original JAC.

Among these programs are several that are available to all juveniles regardless of age and some programs that specifically target youth in particular age categories. The substance abuse residential, outpatient, day treatment programs and the Addictions Receiving Facility and the Juvenile Assessment Centers particularly, serve all ages. However, approximately 20% of the youth using those services are between 10 and 13 years of age. Providing case management, treatment and often medical services to these younger youth, while they are mixed with older youth, has presented a variety of challenges. However, those challenges have enabled ACTS better focus on the unique needs of these younger youths and to provide flexible programming to address their needs within the expanded community milieu. It has also required that ACTS develop special expertise internally and that the agency establish an array of outside
specialized medical and clinical consultants.

ACTS continues to develop new initiatives in the community to enhance current treatment services and create new opportunities for programs which would assist the specialized needs of those in need of services.