CARE RESPONSE ADVOCACY

Magnolia Clubhouse is working with Fountain House, and other Clubhouses across the country, to promote including a "Care Response," a mental health response to mental health crises when a police response isn't needed, in our continuum of crisis response services here in Cuyahoga County and Cleveland.  This work also includes a coalition of others involved in this advocacy with us: members of Policy Matters Ohio, REACH, Mental Health and Addiction Advocacy Coalition, the ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County, and the Center for Community Solutions.

HIGHLIGHTS OVER THE YEAR:

• Senator Sherrod Brown visited Magnolia Clubhouse and was a guest speaker at our Care Response roundtable on June 6, 2022.
• The George Gund Foundation awarded Fountain House with a grant that allowed the Mental Health and Addiction Advocacy Coalition, Policy Matters Ohio, and the Center for Community Solutions to produce a white paper on funding care response.
• Representatives from the care response coalition came together for a full day work session to plan next steps on developing a care response program in Cuyahoga County.
• City Council accepted Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer’s amendment to place the city’s co-response program’s strategic consultant within the City’s Health Department and to require the consultant to explore a care response program. LINK
• Policy Matters Ohio and REACH released the results of the first of a series of surveys. Piet van Lier, of Policy Matters Ohio, was nominated by Mayor Justin Bibb and later selected to serve on the new Community Police Commission.
• Members of our coalition spoke at the City Club of Cleveland.
• The George Gund Foundation, the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, and the Cleveland Foundation awarded Magnolia Clubhouse grants for care response research and program development to be done by the JR Strategy Group and M + R.
• Representatives from the care response coalition and other invited public officials came together for a full day visiting Magnolia Clubhouse, discussing Care Response and visiting Frontline services.  Presentations included the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

Senator Sherrod Brown Talks Care Response