Monthly Archives: June 2020

Urgent State Action Needed to Preserve Safety Net Services

Posted on by

Urgent Call to Action – A request for action has been made to all counties to reach out to your State Representatives and Governor Newsom’s Administration ASAP to highlight the need to preserve California’s safety net by stabilizing County Realignment funding. This is the critical time to contact your legislator to affect state budget decisions with key votes occurring.

Counties provide critical human services, public health, behavioral health, and public safety programs on behalf of the state. The revenues to deliver these services through 1991 and 2011 Realignment are projected to decline by $3.3 billion combined in 2019-20 and 2020-21. An economic decline this rapid and severe was never anticipated. State funding is needed to avoid extreme cuts to programs that serve vulnerable populations at the time they are needed the most
There can be no economic recovery without a strong safety net.

Contact your State Legislators

Write, call and email your representatives in the California Senate and Assembly, as well as Governor Newsom, urging that funding be provided to preserve the safety net programs that counties administer in partnership with the state. Counties are on the front lines of the COVID-19 public health and emergency response, and also facing an increased demand for safety net services at the same time the revenues available for those services are sharply declining. Reserves are being depleted to protect our residents, but budget decisions must be made now and will impact the very services most in need.

For More Information on this issue please see a letter from a coalition of mental health and substance abuse organizations in the state.

Online Support

Posted on by

An online Support Group will continue at 6 PM on Monday, June 15. The number of participants will be limited to 15 following best practices for online meetings. If you wish to participate please send email to Paul Stansbury at pstans5@aol.com.

There will be another online support Group at 5:30 PM, Wednesday, June 24 with Rebekah Martinek. Please email her at rebekahmartinek@gmail.com if you wish to participate. Participation will be limited.

Online Monthly Meeting – 7:30 PM Monday, June 15

Posted on by

Because of COVID-19 guidelines on gatherings, we will not be meeting in person but will have an online Zoom meeting on current advocacy issues regarding legislation and budget reductions on mental health and related programs. As you have read in the newspapers, with the economic impact of the pandemic some severe budget reductions are being discussed at the National and State level. These reductions and legislative proposals may have a severe impact at the County and local levels. Further, the recent protests and social justice efforts may provide opportunities to advocate for support of mental health programs and budget.

Our newsletter includes an urgent call to action in opposing some current legislative efforts, which will be discussed. The current legislative and budget proposals at the National, State, and local levels are only going to intensify. We want to use this meeting to inform about and discuss with our members the upcoming process and opportunities for raising concerns about mental health issues. Please join us for this discussion.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Paul Stansbury at pstans5@aol.com to receive information on the link and password for the meeting on Zoom.