A $728,000 grant from a Tulsa foundation will help Mental Health Association Oklahoma continue advancing criminal–justice reforms across the state, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The money, renewing a two-year grant from Tulsa’s well-known Hardesty Family Foundation, will support several efforts to change the way the criminal-justice system interacts with mental-health issues over the next two years, officials said.
Funded programs will include Street Outreach and Rapid Response, dispatching teams to help homeless individuals in need of immediate help, and the Special Services Docket, which connects case managers with people facing misdemeanor charges that are often related to homelessness.
The Hardesty grant will also help support the Mental Health Association’s Bridge Program, which tries to reduce the use of law enforcement and jail time in response to mental-health crises, as well as the Criminal Justice and Mental Health Training Center, which offers training for criminal-justice officials.
People are also reading…
“Mental health and substance abuse are underlying factors in so many of the problems that plague our society,” said Michelle Hardesty, the foundation’s executive director. “It is imperative we put programs in place that remove the barriers hindering individuals’ ability to thrive and offer wraparound services that reduce the risk of incarceration, substance use disorders and homelessness.”
The funding will help the Mental Health Association cut the number of 911 calls and reduce the use of law enforcement and jail time as a response to substance abuse and homelessness, officials said.
“These funds allow us to address the root causes of what brings people, particularly low-level offenders, initially into contact with the criminal justice system,” said Terri White, the Mental Health Associations’ CEO, “and employ evidence-based practices to end homelessness in our community.”
Featured video: