Headlines, Opportunities, Research
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HEADLINES
Seattle's non-police first responders prepare to expand footprint, September 6 2024
Under a pilot program, Seattle 911 dispatchers have been sending a team from Seattle’s new department of Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) to certain non-criminal calls alongside police downtown for almost a year. An expansion funded by a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, kicks in soon.
Calls for “person down” or welfare checks often involve helping people who are unsheltered, or dealing with mental health or substance use issues. Managers say about a third of the CARE team’s calls also involve transporting people to access necessary resources.
Catriana Hernandez is the community crisis response manager overseeing the CARE department. She said the existing team is already answering calls in the East and West precincts that cover the central swath of Seattle. Additional teams will expand first to north Seattle later this year, and then to south Seattle next spring.
PITTSBURGH - $10 million in ARPA funds go un-used, street health program continues to struggle, September 6 2024
A year and a half after $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that had been set aside for the Office of Community Health and Safety (OCHS), there’s still no clear answer to where the money has gone. Those funds were meant to support ROOTS, or Reaching Out On The Streets. This program was developing street medicine sites around the city and offering alternative response (as opposed to co-response) services, where health and social-work personnel, rather than police officers, would respond to people in crisis.
INDIANAPOLIS - Summit highlights growth of mobile crisis teams, June 2024
The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction has increased the number of counties served by mobile crisis teams since May 2023.
The summit highlighted the growth of CCBHCs since SEA 1 went into effect in May 2023. The 24/7 clinics provide mental health and addiction services to all Hoosiers regardless of diagnosis, insurance, residence or age, and requires the a 988 suicide and crisis hotline, mobile assessment teams and crisis stabilization units.
Before SEA 1 went into effect, mobile crisis teams were responding to mental health crises in just 16 Indiana counties. Potts said Indiana also now has four call centers and one text center to respond to 988 crisis hotline calls.
Legislators allocated $100 million for the program in the 2023 state budget but the IBHC estimated the project to cost around $130 million a year when it fully matured. On June 4, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services accepted Indiana into its CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration Program, which will provide reimbursement through Medicaid for the costs clinics incur treating patients without insurance or other form of payment.
Community Responder Programs: What They Are, How They Work, and Why They're Taking Off - from Local Progress
Across the country, localities are moving towards community responder programs. Teams of unarmed, trained civilians respond to concerns like mental health emergencies, noise complaints, wellness checks and more. These programs are popular and have already seen success: answering thousands of emergency calls and redefining what safety looks like. Durham, Oakland, and Albuquerque have built up strong community responder programs independent of the police department with strong community input and support.
OPPORTUNITIES
Council on State Governments - Project Manager, Community Responder $81,000-125,000 ((Remote or Hybrid NYC)
City of Albuquerque - ACS Behavioral Health Responder Supervisor - $73,070-75,233
Cascadia Health- Project Respond Program Supervisor II - $78,180-83,772 (Portland)
Connections - Manager, Mobile Crisis Services - $86,400-108,000 (Harrisburg)
CRF - Multiple positions (San Diego)
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