Next week, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors (BOS) will finalize the budget for FY2022-23. Now is the time to insist that they fulfill their commitment to Care First, Jails Last by funding services to prevent people with mental illness or substance use disorder from being taken to jail where they suffer unnecessarily and sometimes die. ICJJ, a project of Faith in Action East Bay, is supporting the Care First Community Coalition’s call to the BOS to allocate $173 million toward building community-based capacity for behavioral health care (see details in the email script below).

How you can help

Email or call your BOS representative (see below for contact info and a sample script).
Attend the BOS virtual meetings on June 27, 28, and 30, starting time between 1 and 2pm each day; and consider speaking out during the public comment period. BOS website has yet to post details; keep checking here, under Special Meetings or Budget meetings.
Share this email widely.

Some talking points for your emails, calls, or public comments:

● In 2021, more than 60% of people incarcerated in Santa Rita Jail had a behavioral health issue of some type, according to County data. More than 30% had a documented serious and persistent mental illness, compared to only 5.6% of the general population nationally.

● 90% of people held in Santa Rita Jail are awaiting trial or sentencing.

● Despite Black residents making up just 11% of Alameda County’s population, nearly half of the homeless and jail populations are Black.

Find out more:

Care First Community Coalition’s 2022-23 Budget Agenda for Alameda County

2022 Care First Budget Training PowerPoint

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Sample Email Script (Make it your own! Pick 1 or 2 budget priorities and say why you care )

Dear Supervisor_________,

I am a constituent from [your town] urging you to allocate $173M in the 2022-23 budget to move Alameda County toward fulfilling the “Care First” policy your board approved in 2021. The resolution seeks to rectify unacceptable conditions in Alameda County, where over 60% of the people incarcerated in Santa Rita Jail have mental health or substance abuse issues, and nearly half of the county’s homeless and jail populations are Black. I urge you to take the critical step to provide community-based treatment services, supportive housing, and alternatives to incarceration for those with mental illness and substance abuse disorders in our county.

I support the Care First Coalition budget recommendations to allocate:

$500,000 for Alameda County Housing and Community Development to augment existing staff capacity and ensure that Alameda County can apply for available state and federal funding.
$17 million ($17M) to complete a 15% increase in behavioral health, community-based organization staff compensation.
$200,000 to Alameda County Behavioral Health to conduct a gap analysis to understand and quantify mental health needs.
$43M to fully fund Alameda County Behavioral Health Department’s countywide Forensic Plan, brought to your board in October 2020, to provide funding for mobile crisis teams, voluntary residential health and board and care facilities, hospital beds, and a mental health/substance abuse treatment center.
$80M of county funds towards supportive housing programs and services
$2M to ensure fair compensation for mobile crisis response teams.
$25.5M to double the number of people served by Full-Service Partnerships, which are wrap-around services for people with severe mental illness.
$3.1M to implement a pilot Living Room Model in South County to divert people who otherwise would have been arrested or hospitalized or those at risk of arrest or hospitalization, where they can be in a supportive environment.
$2M to purchase 27 subacute beds available at Villa Fairmont for Alameda County’s use to divert some of the most severely ill individuals from county jail and psychiatric emergency.

I urge you to fund these urgently needed services to build a continuum of care to meet the needs of our residents with mental illness and/or substance abuse problems. Fulfill the promise of Care First, Jails last to provide care in a way that heals rather than harms and advances racial justice and quality of life in all our communities.

Sincerely,

[your name]

[org, if applicable]