Since 2020, Jersey City Together (JCT) has been pushing Jersey City officials to hire trained outreach workers with expertise in dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues to go out on 911 calls related to persons experiencing a mental health crisis. Due to the efforts of Jersey City Together and other community groups In its most recent meeting, the Jersey City Council voted down a three-year contract for crisis interventionists for 911 behavioral health call services due to limited staffing and community concerns.
The contract that was turned down, the crisis interventionists were only in service Monday through Friday, from 2pm-10pm. Although the crisis intervention team is needed as soon as possible, it is important that it is designed and implemented in a way that is effective and sustainable. Jersey City Together is offering a more robust system, with increased hours of operation and training for both police officers and mental health professionals. Jersey City Together will continue its work to ensure Jersey City gets the best possible solution.
For more information on the city council meeting, please see this Hudson County View article.
Please see this op-ed written by two of our leaders about the death of Andrew Jerome Washington to see another example of why this work is so important.
Thank you for your support of New Jersey Together.
Comments