I am calling this the newsletter for DuPage United (DU) and Fox River Valley Initiative (FRVI), since much of our activities involve both of these Metro IAF organizations.

So, where are we, what have we done and where are we going?

I will try to summarize the past several months, including the April 20th Leader meeting. DU and FRVI continue to make progress.

A: Mental Health

Statistics still show that up to 50% of incarcerated individuals in DuPage County suffer from Mental Illness.

We have a three-pronged approach regarding what we can do:

1. CIT training for law enforcement, and also fire dept. personnel, to de-escalate situations and provide alternatives to arrest and jail, and avoid violence.- There are still increases in numbers of police who are being CIT-trained. Sheriff Mendrick, DU County Sheriff, who has been a supporter of CIT training, stated that MH care is being given once people are incarcerated, but that there still is no overall diversion strategy prior to incarceration. We will continue working with his office on this. Chief Rivas of Villa Park stated he would like to have all officers CIT trained, and to have a social worker available for in person or tele-health calls to help MH scenarios. Behavioral Health Collaborative is a partnership of DU County leaders working on this as well. Naperville Police Dept. is very advanced in their approach to MH calls. 75 % of their patrol officers have been trained in CIT (!) and officers who have a MH call can be accompanied by a social worker. Those individuals in a crisis are taken to an emergency room and not to jail, unless they are a danger to others.

2. Crisis Stabilization Units, CSU’s, should be available for persons in a MH crisis. This is still a problem. We are seeking stand-alone units, like Rosecrance in Kane County. Edward Elmhurst Health has difficulty with uninsured and underinsured patients, so they are still inadequately treated and often sent home. We are trying to work with DuPage County Health Dept. to resolve this. Ed Manning, FRVI Organizer, has worked hard at obtaining the help of State Senator Karina Villa to engage the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services and Office of Medicaid Innovation regarding reimbursement rates for CSU’s. This has always been an issue, but we have reason to believe that we are making progress. Ed has been a big help and he is the organizer from FRVI. 1212 Larkin Ave. is their successful project.

3. Affordable, Accessible, and Supportive Housing (AASH). See “B” directly below.

B: Affordable, Accessible and Supportive Housing (AASH) When a person is released from a mental health facility, they may have no place to go. They may have been homeless prior to this. We seek more AASH facilities. We have had a very positive result with our helping to establish (FRVI specifically) such a housing facility with the newly built 1212 Larkin buildings, in Elgin. BTW, there was a Grand Opening at 1212 Larkin Ave. in Elgin on October 29, at 11AM. It is sponsored by Full Circle Communities and Fox River Valley Initiative. We seek more such facilities, and we have a potential project in Glen Ellyn for 40-60 units of AASH.

C: Gun Consortium, and other smaller teams. We are working to organize a group of DU leaders in Naperville who are building support in the area of the campaign. Institutions involved include St. Thomas the Apostle, The Islamic Center of Naperville, and Congregation Beth Shalom. Contact Amanda Reilly-Sokoli, senior organizer.

Anyone interested in working with or contacting leaders on the various teams, here is a small list. I have tried to NOT exclude anyone. Many people are making all this happen.

AASH (Housing): Larry Margolis and Clara Hughes; larrywmargolis@gmail.com; clara.marie.hughes@gmail.com

MH (Mental Health): Cari Pellegrini, carip31@gmail.com; and Kevin Lattner, kl550lh@yahoo.com;

Gun Safety: Amanda Reilly-Sokoli, reillysokoli@gmail.com

Inter-Faith: Amanda Reilly-Sokoli; reillysokoli@gmail.com

Outreach and Diversity: Rabbi Steven Bob or Jeri Shaw, jeri.shaw@me.com ;

Social Media/Website: Arif Khan, arif.khan.r@gmail.com; or Nadar Hamdan, nader@meccacenter.org

Newsletter: Any info or corrections, David Rinaldi; david.watsongeorge@gmail.com

In addition, an emergency “988” number, similar to 911 or 411, will be implemented in Illinois, hopefully by mid-2022, connecting suicidal persons with someone to help them; and all student ID’s will include the emergency numbers on them as well.

Many thanks to all the people in these two great organizations for all that has been accomplished, and will be.

October, 2021, by David Rinaldi, Church of the Holy Nativity, Clarendon Hills