About Community Court
The Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC) was established in 1999 and operates as a problem-solving court. It was the seventh community court established in the United States, and the first established in Texas. DACC’s mission is to empower people to thrive by providing impartial justice and compassionate community-based services. DACC services are supported by work across four units, including Community Services, Court Services, Homeless Services, and Support Services.
Community Court Units
Community Services
Community Service Program - Participants fulfill community service hour requirements through public space cleaning, beautification projects, and graffiti abatement, and working at DACC’s Edgar Fincher III Program Garden, which donates all food and eggs to local providers who provide meals to individuals experiencing homelessness. The CS program accepts work requests from various City departments including Development Services - Code Compliance, Watershed Protection, Austin Public Health, Austin Resource Recovery, and Parks and Recreation.
Violet KeepSafe Storage Program - Free storage for individuals experiencing homelessness located downtown with secure bins to store vital documents, family memories, clothing, bedding, and more, in order to reduce property loss, help keep the community clean and reduce discrimination of individuals experiencing homelessness. VKS operates every day, 7:00am-7:00pm (daily closure from 11:00am-1:00pm), and employs people with lived experience to improve service experience and create workforce opportunities.
Court Services
Court - DACC is a problem-solving, fine-only court with an emphasis on alternative resolutions and providing an immediate connection to onsite Clinical Case Managers, basic needs, and social service resources. DACC resolves Class C criminal offenses in a defined geographic area (detailed map of the jurisdiction), with jurisdiction for certain cases citywide to help ensure equitable access to services.
Clinical Diversion Program - Embeds Clinical Case Managers in DACC’s courtroom, with goals to enhance connection to social services and improve case completion rates. Approximately 90 days of case management services are available to help complete activities to resolve case(s) as authorized by the court. CDP Case Managers are also the social service backbone of Mobile Court, ensuring anyone looking for help resolving a case also has immediate connection to services and resource navigation.
Mobile Court - Provides geographically dispersed options for people to resolve cases and outstanding warrants, while providing onsite connection to a case manager and social service resources. This program removes barriers to accessing services by meeting people where they are already accessing services throughout the community with trusted partners.
Homeless Services
Intensive Case Management - Person-centered, trauma-informed, and housing-focused services with low caseloads and wrap around supports.
Walk-in Case Management - Provides assistance obtaining identification documents; access to a mailing address, storage for prescription medications and vital documents, basic needs, and linkages to mental health, physical health, and substance misuse services. On average, over 70 people per day engage with walk-in case management services.
Social Service Contracts - DACC procures and manages contracts that directly serve DACC clients as part of wraparound supports that are critical for our community court model. These include, but are not limited to long- and short-term housing solutions, SSI/ SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) application assistance and representative payee services, and substance misuse, mental health, and peer support services. DACC also manages contracts, such as the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT), that don’t specifically serve DACC clients because it creates efficiencies for other departments at minimal to no cost to DACC.
Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) - HOST includes a DACC Clinical Case Manager, an APD officer, an Austin/Travis County EMS Community Health Paramedic, and multiple staff from Integral Care who provide mental health services and peer support. HOST members work together to conduct proactive outreach to build trust with the homeless community and connect people to services and basic needs.
Support Services
Responsible for special projects and support for all DACC units, administration for the department, internal and external communications, technology support, community engagement, support for the DACC Advisory Board, and social service contracting.
Mission Statement
The mission of DACC is to empower people to thrive by providing impartial justice and compassionate community-based services.