J.B. Williams, pastor of Abundant Faith Family Ministry, speaks at a town hall hosted Sunday by Faith In Indiana, St. Joseph County. Williams spoke about the importance of alternatives to jail for people having mental health crises. Staff photo by Howard Dukes
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend area could soon get a mobile response unit and crisis response center to assist those dealing with mental health emergencies and potentially replace the police's involvement in such crises.
The leaders of the city of South Bend, the sheriff's department and the St. Joseph County Commission came out Sunday saying they all support a faith group's call to use some of the federal American Recovery Act money the city and county receives for this kind of enhanced mental health services for residents here.
Faith In Indiana St. Joseph County hosted a "We Make The Future" town hall at Potawatomi Park's Chris Wilson Pavilion on Sunday to explain the organization's work with political leaders, law enforcement, county health officials and the mental health community to find alternatives to using police to deal with people having mental health crises.
When the COVID-19 pandemic put strain on local budgets, city and county governments received money from the President Joe Biden administration's American Rescue Plan, and Faith In Indiana wants at least 10% of the dollars going to the county and the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka to be used to pay for a mobile response unit and crisis response center.
According to Jeff Walker of the Beacon Resource Center, St. Joseph County received $52 million in ARP funds, South Bend received $63 million and Mishawaka got $12 million. That means, the mental health mobile response unit and the crisis response center would receive $12.5 million if funded at the 10% level.
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