When it comes to innovative programs, the creative wheels are definitely turning in the Sacramento County Probation Department. As part of the county’s Adult Drug Court program, clients with transportation issues can earn donated bicycles. This incentive has improved attendance while helping clients get back on their feet.

Having transportation – even of the two-wheeled variety – allows clients to regularly attend Drug Court programs and other mandatory courses, get to their jobs on time and just participate in other aspects of everyday life we often take for granted.

In 2013, Probation Department staff started looking at reasons why some clients weren’t succeeding in Drug Court. Many of the roads kept coming back to the same issue: lack of transportation. “It hits a lot of different areas – people getting to treatment, getting to education, getting to employment … so we tackled that first,” explains Carol Paris, Assistant Probation Division Chief.