Mobile crisis response program draws national attention but still struggles with funding

Dave Miller Allison Frost

June 02, 2021 |

Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) |

Radio Talk Show |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

The CAHOOTS program's national popularity as a model for diverting crisis calls from the police to unarmed teams of a medic and counselor belies its inability to fully serve its own community because of under-funding. Program director Ebony Morgan talks about the flip side of the program's cost savings for the city: unfairly low pay for its workers, long response times, and an inability to expand. The program's success with the community is built on trust that people in crisis will be helped rather than viewed as a threat. Morgan says the program itself needs to be valued more by city budget managers.

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Enlisting Mental Health Workers, Not Cops, In Mobile Crisis Response

Rob Waters

June 01, 2021 |

Health Affairs |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

The long-running CAHOOTS program, which replaces police with medics and social workers to respond to non-violent, non-criminal mental health crises, suicide threats, and problems stemming from homelessness, serves as a model for similar programs in the nationwide push to reimagine policing. CAHOOTS teams de-escalate crises at first simply because they are not armed police. They also take the time and have the training to calm situations and get people the help they need. Programs in Phoenix and Denver demonstrate how the idea plays out in larger cities.

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How well is Cure Violence working in St. Louis?

Casey Nolen

May 26, 2021 |

KSDK-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

While homicides in St. Louis in the first part of 2021 increased over already-high numbers in recent years, three neighborhoods served by a new Cure Violence program showed significant decreases in homicides, assaults, and robberies. Cure Violence, a national program, puts "violence interrupters" on the streets to intervene before arguments turn deadly and to provide people with services they need. In one neighborhood, Dutchtown, interrupters say they prevented 87 incidents in less than seven months. The city now is trying to find the money to expand the program to more areas of the city.

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Early Cure Violence statistics promising, city health official says

Mark Schlinkmann

May 26, 2021 |

St. Louis Post-Dispatch |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

In the parts of two neighborhoods where the violence-intervention program Cure Violence has been active since June 2020, and a third where it has been operating since January, more than 300 potentially violent incidents were averted through the work of Cure Violence's "violence interrupters." The interrupters mediate disputes and then help people get the social services they might need to stabilize their lives. Homicides, assaults, and robberies are down in those neighborhoods while up citywide so far in 2021. The city agreed to spend $7 million to launch the program, which some hope to expand.

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Worker cooperatives prove your job doesn't have to be hell

Jaisal Noor

May 26, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

In service industries that traditionally pay and treat workers poorly, worker-owned cooperatives serve as a humane alternative. Worker-owners at eight co-ops in four states describe the difference their jobs make in their working conditions and their lives. They also tell how larger collectives and cooperatives pool resources to help smaller co-ops with the funding and expertise they need, especially when confronted by a disruptive event like the pandemic.

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Reimagining a Better World After George Floyd's Death

Anoa Changa Laura Rosbrow-Telem

May 24, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Two ways that communities affected by police violence and racial injustice responded to the uprising after George Floyd's murder were block-by-block organizing and participatory budgeting. The first, used in Minneapolis, provided public safety and mutual aid when neighbors formed networks to guard buildings, put out fires, mediate disputes, and deliver aid to people living through a period of unrest. In participatory budgeting, 30 cities turned over control of $400 million in public spending to communities, which set policy based on communal decisions and directed financial priorities.

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In San Francisco, Help Hits the Streets with a Crisis Response Team

Natalie Mead

May 21, 2021 |

What's Next Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Six San Francisco neighborhoods are now served by the city's Street Crisis Response Teams, which answer 911 calls for non-violent mental or behavioral health crises without police involvement. In its first two months in one neighborhood, the Tenderloin, the team handled 199 calls without any violent incidents or any need for police intervention. That led to the expansion to five more neighborhoods. The program is modeled on Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS project's street medics and counselors, but with an additional "peer specialist," someone with lived experience to counsel unhoused people on the streets.

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Philly mothers of gun violence victims work to solve their children's murders

Jo Piazza

May 20, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia police fail to solve most of the city's growing number of homicides, in part because of the no-snitching street code, a byproduct of the community's lack of trust in police. But the streets do sometimes talk when the mothers of murder victims do their own detective work. A number of cases were solved because mothers turned their grief into a resolve to hunt down evidence that they turned over to the police. Their work grows out of the many support groups they have formed to help each other, and from a YouTube channel that helps them draw attention to unsolved murders.

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How Alameda County addresses mental-health crisis response

Stephen Baxter

May 20, 2021 |

Santa Cruz Local |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Alameda and Santa Cruz counties have fielded their own mobile teams to respond to mental health crises as alternatives to police-only responses. Aimed at reducing conflicts with police, overuse of hospitals and jails, and involuntarily commitments for short-term emergency mental health care, the services' limited hours and resources mean that the police still handle the majority of such calls. Alameda's pilot, begun in July 2020, is able to provide help to about one-third of the four dozen monthly calls it gets. Santa Cruz's volume is higher. Impacts on involuntary commitments unclear.

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From LA jail, two inmates pioneer care for mentally ill peers

Francine Kiefer

May 18, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles County, California

At the Los Angeles County Jail, two men incarcerated on pending murder charges created a homegrown approach to improving the care and conditions of confinement for people with serious mental illness. Their approach is simple: showing love and care for people whose illness makes them feel like outcasts. By helping fellow incarcerated men attend counseling and other programs, and by tending to their personal needs, the initiative has contributed to a significant drop in people harming themselves. Fewer restraints are needed, and the pods where the program operates are notably cleaner and calmer than before.

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