Town of Winthrop
The Winthrop Public Health & Safety Team was initially formed in response to the Opioid Epidemic when trained Peer Recovery Coaches were embedded alongside Winthrop Police Officers in 2015. Through the Equitable Approaches to Public Safety program, the Winthrop Public Health & Safety Team has significantly expanded services to include mental health clinicians, additional peer recovery work and resource coordination staff to create a comprehensive diversion and deflection program.
Town of Amherst
The Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service (CRESS) provides community safety services in situations that don’t involve violence or serious crime. The purpose is to ensure that any public safety response is anti-racist, equitable, just, and fair and that CRESS offers preventative services that get at the root of assisting our community members to avoid necessitating public safety involvement in the first place.
City of New Bedford
The New Bedford Health Department, in partnership with NorthStar Learning Centers, Child and Family Services, the New Bedford Police Department, and New Bedford Emergency Medical Services, is leveraging existing partners and building new ones to develop more equitable approaches to public safety and implement public safety reforms and alternative investments. The expected long-term goals of this project are a demonstrated increase in equitable public safety and public health outcomes; and a demonstrated decrease in mental health, behavioral health, or other public health needs in the community. The city is collaboratively expanding and enhancing current public safety reform programs like the Use of Force Recommendations from the Commission on Use of Force; the City of New Bedford Co-Response programs; the Shannon program; the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI); the Health Education, Action and Leadership Program (HEAL Center); and the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. It will also develop and launch new and innovative approaches to public safety, informed by community input. Partner organizations will engage with the community to better understand the impact of existing programs and identify gaps that may inform program expansion, revision, and/or development.
City of Northampton
The City of Northampton and the City of Northampton’s Health department in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health are developing a new division, The Division of Community Care (DCC). The DCC is focused on addressing racial and social inequities and supporting our community members during times of significant challenges related to emotional distress, substance use, homelessness, meeting of their basic needs, navigating conflicts, and other unexpected crises.
The DCC is a Public Health led integration of Northampton’s Public Safety systems and non-police-based response. The DCC model includes specialized, highly skilled and trained Community Care Responder Team (CCRT), as a third tier to non-emergency and emergency needs responses. The DCC at its inception is an innovative model that incorporates a variety of equitable, diverse responses, for all people, while centering its most vulnerable community members with supportive trauma informed care practices, embracing of peer support philosophies, and responding when people experience struggles throughout the community landscape. As a new employment role in the city’s staffing infrastructure the DCC will carry out this mission by valuing people with lived and living experiences, integration of prevention strategies, harm reduction practices, provider of public education opportunities and serve our wider community, and a wide array of peer-to-peer support practices.
City of Revere
The Revere Police Department (RPD) has created a Behavioral Health Unit (BHU). The BHU has enabled RPD to integrate behavioral health specialists and case workers into its activities, providing support to individuals suffering from a range of health conditions, such as substance use disorders or mental health illnesses. The BHU’s goals are to decrease calls of service for behavioral health needs, prevent unnecessary incarceration or hospitalization, and provide enhanced community support, follow up and care coordination for residents with mental health issues. The BHU is focused especially on supporting people who frequently require engagement by police, fire, EMS and residents who may harm themselves or others due to unmet behavioral health needs BHU staff work across City government including with other police officers, staff from the Substance Use Disorder and Homelessness Initiatives (SUDHI) office, the Health Department, and area social service providers , such as North Suffolk Community Services, to coordinate care and develop collaborative solutions that will reduce repeat emergency calls. The BHU has also implemented a new case documentation process to allow RPD to track calls of services where behavioral health issues were observed. This is enabling the Unit to better track resident needs and ultimately to evaluate the BHU’s successes and benefits.
City of Lawrence
The City of Lawrence established the Lawrence Leading Equitable Approaches to Public Safety (LLEAPS n’ Bounds Initiative). This interdisciplinary response model serves to assist individuals that are experiencing mental health challenges and or substance use disorder challenges. The team is comprised of multiple community partners that work together to provide comprehensive services and resources for individuals being served. LLEAPS n’ BOUNDS mission is to implement a social justice initiative that embraces transparency, accountability, and equitable approaches to redefine public safety responses. This initiative is informed by persons with lived experiences to improve the social interactions between residents and public safety guided by the Sequential Intercept Mapping Model (SIM). LLEAPS n’ BOUNDS envisions a community that achieves racial and ethnic equity in its approach to public safety, by elevating the voice of Lawrence residents to meet the behavioral health needs of the community.