A resolution approving a proposed Agreement between the City and County of Denver and Mental Health Center of Denver to expand the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program. Approves a contract with Mental Health Center of Denver for $1,391,579 and through 12-31-22 to expand the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, including emergency medical technicians and behavioral health clinicians engaging those experiencing crisis related to mental health issues, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, from the current limited scope into a citywide program (202160835). The last regularly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 3-7-22. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 10-27-21.
Thank you, Councilmember Flynn. And we sincerely appreciate Councilmember Ortega's work on this resolution. All right. We don't have anybody else in the queue for that one, so we'll go ahead and move on. Madam Secretary, thanks for putting the next item up on our screens. Councilmember Canete, please go ahead with your comments on Resolution 1207, please. Thank you. Council President. This is a $1.4 million contract with Mental Health Center of Denver, who also is contracting with Denver Health to expand the Stier program, which is our support team assisted response. This is the alternative to policing that launched in the summer of 2020 and has been continuing and has grown slightly. And this is an important contract for our community to celebrate for several reasons. First, this contract is going to provide five museums. They're not available right away. As you may know, there are supply chain issues, but our provider is agreeing to fill the gap in the middle. But we will be able to have five vans providing service through more of our city to people who are in crisis and don't necessarily need the armed police response that we heard about and appreciated a little bit earlier tonight. We've already got seven new clinicians hired and six new EMT and medical techs to provide, you know, medical assessments to provide trained mental health services. And they estimate that this contract is going to result in 10,000 contacts. I share this information because, you know, this contract is not new. But one of the things I talk about every time I talk to a class or, you know, I'm asked to give a talk about some of the challenges our city faces. I share with people that we have models that work. Our challenge is often that they are not to the scale that we need them. Right. Supportive housing works. We don't have enough of those units coming online are supportive. Our tiny home villages work. We don't have enough of them. Right? Star is an example of a program that has worked for those that it has had contact with in minimizing unnecessary arrests or unnecessary costs. Right. Whether that be a jail cost or an emergency room cost. And it has done so for less than 1% of the calls coming into the city that it might be eligible for . So it matters that we're scaling it up. It matters as well, because we know that this program doesn't just belong to a city agency. Tonight's contract is important because it's the first time this contract's being brought forward by our health department, who is an expert in people who are experiencing mental health crisis and need medical care. Right. So it's the right agency leading it. They do it in partnership with others, but it belongs to the community. That's what this program it was really born from community advocates, parents, caregivers, people who wanted to see us doing something different. And this contract includes some important things that that community's advocated for. It includes a third party evaluator, the Urban Institute. This is a very highly respected national organization. So don't take our word for how this program's doing. We'll have a third party evaluator. It includes a community advisory committee that includes individuals named by those who advocated for and created the first advisory program for this program and said, we want these individuals to be part of this new city sponsored advisory committee. And the city responded. And so we have community advisors providing oversight and input and feedback and having eyes on this program. We have a third party professional evaluator on this program, and we have an important expansion to serve more people. So it's on consent, I hope, and plan that it's season consent, but it's important to just take a moment every now and then celebrate the council partnerships that brought this to fruition. Councilwoman Gilmore, in particular, we spent a lot of hours together with this agency, and we appreciate your, you know, taking our input and allowing us to be partners in the process as well. And generally, this entire council has championed the program. So so that's why I called it out tonight and, you know, can happily go forward the rest of the night on consent, but hopefully with a little more awareness of the important, important steps that are happening tonight. Thank you. And thank you to the providers out there on cold nights and hot nights and tough nights providing this service. We thank the clinicians and the EMT and medical techs who will be out there. And we also look forward to there is an RFP out right now for a nonprofit partnership, and we hope to have more community agencies as partners in the program as they respond to that RFP. So thank you to all of you on the ground doing the work. INKS Madam President. Thank you, Councilmember Kinney, and appreciate you calling this out because of the amazing work that the star team does. And how important it is for our city. And I appreciate you highlighting that a bit more for us this evening.