DATE: April 19, 2022
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. to Accept $389,260 in Grant Funding for the Behavioral Health Justice Intervention Services Project and Appropriate the Funds to the Federal Grants Special Revenue Fund for the Hayward Evaluation and Response Teams Program
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council adopts a resolution (Attachment II) authorizing the City Manager to execute a one-year Agreement with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. to accept $389,260 in grant funding for the Behavioral Health Justice Intervention Services Project, and to appropriate the funds to the Federal Grants Special Revenue Fund for the Hayward Evaluation and Response Teams program.
SUMMARY
On May 18, 2021, Council received the recommendations of the Public Safety Policy Innovation Workshop, authorized a budget allocation to support the projects, and directed staff to begin implementing nine of the pilot projects in FY 2022, including the creation of the Hayward Evaluation and Response Teams Program (HEART) program. In December 2021, to support capacity building and infrastructure development for this project, the City applied for the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Behavioral Health Justice Intervention Services Project (BHJIS) project, funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). On February 28, 2022, the City received notice of award in the amount of $389,260 for the project period from February 15, 2022 through February 14, 2023. DHCS is contracting with Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP), as the administrator for the grant.
Council approval is requested to authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute the one-year contract with AHP to continue the important work of improving the City’s response to people experiencing mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness, and to appropriate the funds to the Federal Grants Special Revenue Fund.
BACKGROUND
In response to community concerns about the best way to provide emergency services to people experiencing mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness, and as a result of a focused effort by the City over the last two years to engage the community in conversations about public safety in general, which has included Community Conversations & Public Safety Survey and the Public Safety Policy Innovation Workshop, on May 18, 2021, Council received the Public Safety Policy Innovation Workshop Recommendations, authorized a budget allocation to support the projects, and directed staff to begin implementing nine of the high priority pilot projects in FY 2022, including the creation of the HEART program.
The primary goal of HEART is to create an integrated continuum of options allowing the right team or resource to respond to the right call for service, improving access to medical, mental health, and other support services and reducing the need for police officers to intervene in calls for service involving people experiencing mental illness, substance abuse, and homelessness. Developed following deep engagement with the Hayward community and rooted in national best practices for crisis response systems, including SAMHSA’s National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care and the National Council of Behavior Health’s Roadmap to the Ideal Crisis System, the HEART model consists of two distinct co-responder teams: 1) a Mobile Integrated Health Unit (MIHU) that pairs a Hayward Fire Department Community Paramedic with a Mental Health Clinician from Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center (TVHC), and 2) a Mobile Evaluation Team (MET) that pairs a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained Hayward Police Officer with a behavioral health clinician from the Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services. HEART also includes a Behavioral Health Coordinator to focus on infrastructure development and capacity building to maximize the leveraging of resources available County wide and to identify and close service gaps for Hayward’s most vulnerable residents.
In December 2021, the City applied for a competitive grant from DHCS for the BHJIS Project, funded by SAMHSA through the CRRSAA. The BHJIS Project is intended to help agencies, including local governments, first responders, law enforcement, behavioral health and others, to improve and enhance their collaborative response to individuals facing mental health or substance use crises.
The primary BHJIS goals are to:
Implement innovative solutions to problems and connect people experiencing mental or substance use crises at the right time and in the right environment; Improve partnerships/collaboration between system partners and communities; and Adopt policies and practices to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and establish culturally and linguistically appropriate services that address structural inequities.
On February 28, 2022, the City received notice of award in the amount of $389,260 for the project period from February 15, 2022 through February 14, 2023. DHCS is contracting with AHP, as the administrator for the grant.
DISCUSSION
Recent events, backed by research, show it is clear we need new solutions in mental health and crisis response. At least 20 percent of police calls for service involve a mental health or substance use crisis, a demand that has grown over the past two years of global pandemic and national unrest. There is an urgent need for increased collaboration between crisis care systems if we are to properly address mental health crisis response. For nearly two years, Hayward has been engaging community members and evaluating how to best meet the needs of community members who experience mental illness, substance use, and homelessness and require emergency response from the Police and Fire departments. In an effort to balance innovative solutions that meet Hayward’s specific needs with established best practices, staff has developed the HEART Program and has actively explored funding opportunities to support implementation of these new strategies. Towards this end, the BHJIS Project will provide critical funding to continue to build the City’s capacity to respond more effectively to people in crisis.
Components of the Hayward BHJIS Project
Identify service and resource gaps through system mapping of assets/needs among mental health and other social service partners and identify strategies to address gaps; Utilize two distinct co-response teams that include clinical staff to respond to calls for service alongside HFD and HPD: the MIHU and the MET, described in more detail above; Conduct planning, training and protocol/policy development to support the co-responder teams; Procure necessary equipment to support the program including encryption enabled radios and a vehicle for the MET; Develop and improve data collection and appropriate sharing mechanisms to inform project evaluation and continual improvement; Formalize organizational agreements/infrastructure required to seamlessly connect community members experiencing mental illness, substance use disorders, and homelessness to services; Subcontract with TVHC to support project activities;
Launch a Community Engagement and Outreach Campaign to publicize available services and receive community feedback on needs/preferences; and Participate in monthly coaching calls and quarterly learning collaborative meetings to receive technical assistance from AHP.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority of Enhance Community Safety and Quality of Life. Specifically, this item relates to Project Q5: Community Safety Public Engagement and Policy Innovation Workshop Pilots/Projects.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City will receive $389,260 for the project period from February 15, 2022 through February 14, 2023, spanning two separate fiscal years. Accepting and appropriating these funds to the Federal Grants Special Revenue Fund will allow the balance of the unspent BHJIS funds to be carried forward in the FY 2023 budget cycle. As staff continues to develop long term funding models that will allow for the sustainability of the HEART program beyond the pilot period, the awarded grant will provide critical bridge funding to offset the cost to the City General Fund while the pilot is implemented and fund development continues.
NEXT STEPS
If the Council authorizes this action, staff will work to: 1) execute the agreement with AHP for the BHJIS Project; 2) accept and appropriate $389,260 to the Federal Grants Revenue Fund; and 3) continue developing and implementing the HEART program to provide essential mental health, medical, and other social services to the Hayward community.
Prepared by: Emily Young, YFSB Administrator/HEART Project Manager Recommended by: Jennifer Ott, Assistant City Manager Approved by:
_________________________________
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager
https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4677304&GUID=52E170E7-7C7A-4B62-AEA8-32BB683AC71D https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4730803&GUID=B7016A74-469D-4B54-A400-B830088097E7 https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4955272&GUID=F899B470-2D3E-4373-9CE0-EF2552EB821D https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/national-guidelines-for-behavioral-health-crisis-care-02242020.pdf http://crisisroadmap.com/
Abramson, A., (2021). Building Mental Health into Emergency Responses. American Psychological Association. Monitor on Psychology. 52(5), 30.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care Best Practice Toolkit. 2020. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).