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SJ receives $6M in mental health, substance abuse funding

Record - 6/18/2017

June 17--San Joaquin County was awarded a $6 million grant from the CaliforniaBoard of State and Community Corrections that will go toward increasing the availability of mental health and substance abuse services, including opening a treatment center, in the county.

The county's project, Homeward Bound, was one of 23 chosen statewide.

Funding for the grants comes from Proposition 47, a voter initiative that reduced certain crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and allocated money saved from incarcerating fewer people to rehabilitation programs.

Frances Hutchins, Behavioral Health Services interim director, said it's not common for the county to receive these grants and it was an opportunity the county couldn't pass up.

"It's very significant anytime we can bring state funding to help our community get improved services," she said.

To come up with a plan, a local advisory committee was formed to provide guidance on how the funds should be used. The committee found gaps in the system that needed to be filled to ensure low-level offenders can be successful in their rehabilitation process. Among the suggestions are providing mental health assessments, and sobering and detox services.

According to the county's proposal, the committee saw the biggest barriers to participants' success to be: timely access to substance use disorder treatment, a lack of stable and sober housing, insufficient case management services and a lack of mental health services for those who do not qualify as having a serious mental illness.

"Interviewees expressed frustration at being told they were not 'high risk' enough for services ... ," according to the proposal. "Several admitted to conducting flagrant criminal offenses in order to get arrested and be remanded to treatment services that are otherwise inaccessible."

Homeward Bound, the project proposed by the county, is supposed to create community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment programs, expand case management services, open a new Behavioral Health Center, and provide housing support services for nonserious, nonviolent offenders to reduce rearrests. $2 million from the grant will be dedicated to the project each year for the next three years, but an additional $2.5 million in annual spending will come from the Mental Health Services Act Innovation funds and the Whole Person Care Pilot activities.

Hutchins said Behavioral Health is partnering with Community Medical Centers, which will operate the Behavioral Health Center and provide services.

This grant addresses the "issues and not the symptoms," said Jerron Jordan, Second Chances Program director for Californians for Safety and Justice, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies, education and best practices in the criminal justice system. CSJ spearheaded last year's free Proposition 47 Record Change and Health Fair.

"We have invested heavily in jails and prisons and law enforcement, and yet, recidivism in California has hovered at 60 percent," he said. "Does that make us safe?"

When communities invest in prevention, intervention, housing, job readiness and other services, there is a decrease in recidivism, he said.

Jordan said when CSJ wrote Proposition 47, they included the reallocation piece to direct money to communities, not to go toward building prisons. He added that he would like to see people with past criminal convictions and who have personal experiences to be a part of the county's planning process -- not just hearing their feedback and stories, but having them involved, he added.

While CSJ did not have a direct role in the grant process, the organization has been heavily involved in San Joaquin County and has collaborated and encouraged partnerships between community organizations, city leaders and county and city agencies.

"While the grant itself is significant, ... I think the larger piece is the county itself, the collaboration of the different agencies and the investment they're putting into these issues," Jordan said.

The next step is for the grant to be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval, then Behavioral Health will work with community contractors and attend a state meeting to learn details about the state requirements for accepting the grant.

Hutchins said the hope is to see services by the start of 2018.

BHS anticipates that as many as 1,000 people will be served annually by the Homeward Bound program.

"(This grant is a) win for everybody," Jordan said. "It shows the work that's been done in San Joaquin County, which has been overlooked for years."

-- Contact reporter Almendra Carpizo at (209) 546-8264 or acarpizo@recordnet.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlmendraCarpizo.

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