Mental-health victory: after a decade’s fight, more funding for public clinics!

We and the Chicago Budget Coalition rally at City Hall on the morning of Wednesday, October 27, 2021.

Yesterday the City Council approved over $2 million to expand PUBLIC mental health services. This is a historic reversal won by a hard fought battle — ten years in the making.

After countless townhalls, press conferences, marches, vigils, petitions, canvassing, and more, we succeeding in getting a majority of alderpeople to sign onto an amendment calling for expanding public mental health services. This pressure ultimately forced the mayor to reverse course and invest in public mental health in this year’s budget.

We, along with our allies in the Collaborative for Community Wellness and the Chicago Budget Coalition, won investments that will increase staffing by 72% and hire 10 more clinicians and 5 new school outreach positions. These investments also represent the first reversal of City policy and increase in funding for public mental health in ten years. The power of the people have forced the mayor to reverse her policy of disinvesting and attempting to ultimately close the public clinics; we have instead forced the mayor to expand the public clinics.

Let us be clear, this is not enough — but these positions will help people who before weren't able to access the free public mental health care clinics, and that matters. This morning Cheryl Miller, STOP’s Public-Health Organizer, said: “We will remain in this fight until there is a free public mental health center in every ward of Chicago! Right now there are more cops than counselors in our public schools. We stay in this fight until all Chicago public school students have access to the mental health care they need and deserve.”

Watch Cheryl’s speech at fb.watch/8Vor4sS7MN and read the Collaborative for Community Wellness statement here.