We made a promise.
For years, we told our neighbors struggling with addiction and mental illness that help is coming. Because for far too many people, the front door to mental and behavioral health care is a chaotic emergency room or a cold jail cell. The new Crisis Receiving Center (CRC) we have been working towards is the true open door to the care so many of us need. While GCC has been driving the effort, Eric Morse and The Centers have taken on the responsibility of turning a proven model of compassionate and effective care into a reality for thousands of Cuyahoga County residents.
However, we are now at risk of breaking our promise. Because of shrinking budgets, we are told “tough choices” must be made. The ADAMHMS board, which had approved the funding, now says we must choose between the CRC and smaller, existing neighborhood providers. This is not a “tough choice.” This is a failure of what Pastor John Lentz of Forest Hill Church has called our “moral imagination.” While mental health funding faces all kinds of “tough choices,” nearly $1 billion in public money is being funneled into professional sports, including a $600 million state commitment for a new stadium for the Browns and over $200 million for upgrades to Progressive Field. What about making a moral choice, a brave choice? There’s plenty of public money available for professional sports, apparently. We must find a way to fund both the existing neighborhood providers and the CRC. Because the crisis is only getting worse.
Without the CRC, thousands of children and adults in crisis will have nowhere to go for emergency care. Cutting the CRC’s operational funding only ensures the system remains overloaded and fragmented. Together we strengthen the entire continuum of care.
We cannot tell our neighbors that the current system is good enough simply because we lack the imagination and the will to finish what we started. To the ADAHMS board, let’s work together to make this happen. Don’t be the reason we lose this opportunity. Let’s honor our promise and build the CRC.
