CHICAGO, IL — Today, Mayor Brandon’s Office released the Mental Health System Expansion Working Group Report that came after six months of collaboration with city departments, community organizations, and campaign leaders.
Community consultants for the working group joined the mayor to announce the reopening of the Roseland Mental Health Center. This center was just one of the previously shuttered 12 clinics under former Mayor Emanuel, that began in 2012.
Cheryl Miller representing Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) said, “People fighting for these centers put everything on the line. We would like to acknowledge people who are not here today, people who we need and voices that we lost because these clinics were closed, because of police response to crises, because we did not have mental health professionals, peer support, or EMTs.”
Forty recommendations to expand the public mental health infrastructure were posed by the working group to give Chicagoans treatment, not trauma. This moment would not have been possible without the voices of the people who shared their love for community through the Treatment Not Trauma Campaign.
This is not the end of the people’s movement. Collective community pressure got City departments to come together and put together this roadmap. We shall continue our community pressure to make sure this plan is fully, effectively, and quickly implemented. We need the City Council to fund the needed infrastructure, programs, and staff. It’s time.
Kathy Powers is a lifetime Chicagoan. At 50, Kathy speaks out as the voice of the people. She became a revolutionary activist whose lifelong fight raises unheard voices. She is the Health Care Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board.
