Each year the Sherry Lintz Award is given to a member of the New York Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals who has shown commitment, expertise, and leadership in the drug treatment court field. Read about our current and past winners:

James Imperatrice, 2008 Winner

On March 6, the 2008 Sherry Lintz Award was given to James Imperatrice, the Chief Clerk of the Kings County Supreme Court - Criminal Term, in recognition of his strong support of the drug treatment court movement and being instrumental in the success of Brooklyn Treatment Court (BTC). Among his notable accomplishments within BTC are: He selected the first clerk assigned to BTC and made such a good match that the clerk is still working in there; He advocated for and approved the first ever flex time schedule for Supreme Court Officers in Brooklyn in order to make working in BTC a more desirable position; When it was decided that the Court needed to stand behind BTC and demonstrate our confidence in court supervised recovery by hiring a graduate, Jim facilitated the hiring and made certain that the new employee was assigned her to a supervisor who would mentor her with tact and understanding; He was instrumental in the institutionalization of BTC, accepting social workers, lab technicians, resource coordinators as full OCA employees to be treated without distinction from all other court employees; He found space in the courthouse for the staff to work, agreed to design office space with private cubicles for case manager conferences, and made it possible for a health clinic and a drug testing laboratory to work in the courthouse; He has allowed BTC staff to attend the NYADTCP and NADCP conferences many years on the court’s tim

Jennifer Baer was awarded the 2007 Sherry Lintz Drug Court Award of Excellence at the Buffalo 2007 Annual Conference.

Coordinator for the Monroe County Family Treatment Court (FTC) in Rochester, Jennifer was recognized for her development of  that Court and significant contributions the drug court movement throughout New York State. Jennifer has been working in the substance abuse field since 1984. She developed Family Treatment Court in 2001, the 4th family trteatment court in the state and is responsible for its overall program administration. When Rochester Drug Treatment Court coordinator Sherry Lintz became ill, Jennifer was assigned to oversee that Court in addition to her responsibilities for Family Treatment Court. She worked diligently for seven months to keep the court operational until a full time coordinator was hired.

Jennifer has trained, consulted with and supported family treatment court coordinators in developing their courts. She has been instrumental in developing and making updates to the Family Universal Treatment Application. She has served as a faculty member for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals since 2003 and has been a board member of the New York State Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals since 2005 as well as serving on the Conference Planning Committee. She is a member of the Monroe County Co-Occurring Disorders Committee and a member of the New York In-Depth Technical Assistance project. Jennifer has secured over $1,000,000 in grant money through OCFS and the Bureau of Justice Administration. Last summer she developed a community service project, "Planting Seeds of Change" for family treatment court participants. The goal is to provide an experience for parents to learn a skill, work as a team, develop a sense of pride and give back to the community of Rochester. Volunteers moved four yards of dirt, 24 yards of mulch, planted six azalea bushes, six hydrangea bushes and a variety of 700 flowers!

Prior to her role in family treatment court, Jennifer was Program Coordinator of Delphi Drug & Alcohol Council, Inc. in Rochester, NY where she supervised an outpatient treatment program and developed a program for male perpetrators of domestic violence with concurrent substance abuse issues. In addition, Jennifer is a trainer for the "Natural Helper’s Program" (Seattle, WA) and has facilitated over 70 retreats to date. She is a trained facilitator through the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (Duluth, MN) and has received training as a Family Mediator. Ms. Baer has a Masters Degree in Counselor Education from SUNY Brockport, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and is a NYS Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor.

Congratulations to Jennifer Baer on her well deserved recognition!

Debbie Botch, 2006 Winner

Debbie Botch was awarded the 2006 Sherry Lintz Drug Court Award of Excellence at the Buffalo Annual Conference. Debbie was recognized for her work as the Chief of Budget Operations for the Unified Court System before her retirement in January, 2006. Working behind the scenes, Debbie supported drug courts from the opening of the first in New York State, the Rochester City Drug Treatment Court, in 1995. At that time, drug courts were a hard fit for the court system’s operational bureaucracy, with many judges and administrators skeptical that drug treatment was the responsibility of the court. In this environment, Debbie helped find the resources necessary to provide matching funds required for all of our first drug court grants. Then, as grant funds and other outside resources became harder to find, Debbie created personnel lines within the court system for drug court staff, which laid the foundation for statewide institutionalization. In 1999, Debbie helped to create the financial model that became the centerpiece of the court system's budget proposal to the legislature. Upon its passage, New York became the first state to institutionalize drug treatment courts in its operations. As one of the first people in a leadership role in the NY justice system to recognize the potential of problem-solving courts, Debbie's efforts led to thousands of success stories in our drug court programs and the saving of countless lives.

Although not part of her job, Debbie worked tirelessly to help make drug treatment courts in New York what they are today and ensure they became the way our court system deals with non-violent drug offenders. Debbie was also a true friend to the Association, supporting its founding and first conferences. She found the funds necessary to support the incorporation of this Association and authorized the payment of much of the Association's overhead, such as printing, postage and staff time.

Debbie retired after nearly 30 years of service to the Unified Court System.