FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 12, 2020
CONTACT: ADRIENNE MCCAULEY, LEAD ORGANIZER, DUPAGE UNITED
adrienne@dupageunited.org
(512) 560-8838
DuPage United receives grant from DuPage Foundation for Mental Health Initiative
The staff and board of DuPage United and DuPage Sponsors are honored to receive a $10,000 Community Needs grant from DuPage Foundation for our continuing work to reduce the number of people with mental illness in jail and prison in DuPage County. We commend DuPage Foundation for recognizing that systems change takes time and commitment, and for supporting our long-term strategy.
The first step of our three-part strategy to achieve this goal is to provide officers with training to recognize mental health situations, de-escalate them, and guide people to treatment rather than putting them into the criminal justice system.
DuPage United worked to dramatically increase capacity to train police officers in these skills through Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) in DuPage County. Working with officials at the state and county level, DuPage United made it possible for the county to administer its own CIT training program, increasing the number of trained officers from just 60 to 700 in the first two years of operation.
We continue to work with the major hospital systems in the area to establish Crisis Stabilization Units (CSU) as alternative destinations to hospital emergency rooms or jails for people in mental health crisis. The increased burden borne by hospitals as a result of the COVID-19 crisis make the need for CSU’s even more acute.
Finally, it has been said that “housing is mental health treatment.” Affordable, supportive housing to support those dealing with mental health issues is critical to the continued healing of those suffering from mental illness and to prevent them from entering the criminal justice system. This is the third part of our three-part strategy. Recently, along with our sister organizations in Kane, Lake and Cook Counties, we were able to secure $200 million for affordable housing in the state capital budget, plus directed funding of $12 million and $3 million for specific projects in Cook County. We will bring this same power and expertise to bear as we push for more affordable and supportive housing in DuPage County.
DuPage United is an inclusive, non-profit, fiercely non-partisan organization whose members are civil society institutions: churches, mosques, synagogues, non-profit agencies, and associations. This mix of institutions has come together to form public relationships and to act together to improve the quality of life for individuals, families and communities. DuPage United engages in democratic action in the public arena.