Ten cities and counties have joined a Harvard initiative to expand access to mental health services and introduce alternatives to police responses in mental health emergencies.
The Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab announced the 10 new members to its 2023-24 Alternative 911 Emergency Response Implementation Cohort on Aug. 24. The lab will provide applied research and technical assistance to the cohort members working to develop, improve or expand alternative response programs.
The initiative will help jurisdictions that are expanding the use of unarmed mental health emergency response teams, which include trained responders such as social workers, peer support specialists and EMTs.
The 10 new cohort members are:
- Alexandria, Va.
- Amherst, Mass.
- Baltimore
- Cambridge, Mass.
- City of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kan.
- Los Angeles
- City of Madison and Dane County, Wis.
- Portland, Ore.
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Tucson, Ariz.