No state funds for proposed True North Behavioral Health campus
State funding wasn’t awarded to build a proposed behavioral health campus that supporters said would have met intersectional county needs. Local leaders say problems have been identified and solutions are still needed.
California’s Department of Health Care Services announced a new round of funding via the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) yesterday. The state distributed $1.18 billion this round, bringing its investment in the program to about $6 billion since Prop. 1 was passed.
Shasta’s proposed True North Behavioral Health regional campus, which would have provided psychiatric and crisis services to California’s rural North State, was not awarded funds.
The project — which was spearheaded by the nonprofit Arch Collaborative over a 16-month period — was designed by a coalition of Shasta community members. Late last year, the proposal received written support from more than 50 leaders and organizations whose work connects to those with mental health concerns and substance use disorder across the North State.
The True North campus was slated to cost $216 million with about $150 million of its budget depending on state funding. The application for the project was submitted by Signature Healthcare Services, a for-profit mental health services provider which would have built and operated the campus had funds been awarded.
The company’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Planning, Eric Kim, said today that without state funds the project won’t move forward as envisioned, adding that the healthcare company will “continue to explore what is possible” to provide desperately needed health care in the North State.
The True North campus would have included a crisis stabilization unit, a social rehabilitation facility, youth residential beds, psychiatric beds and an intensive outpatient care program. The interconnected services within the facility were designed to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and the Shasta County Jail for those facing acute mental health crises.
A vocal minority of critics
Over recent months, much of Shasta County’s leadership supported the project, including a number of behavioral health professionals as well as Supervisors Matt Plummer and Allen Long, Sheriff Michael Johnson, and District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett.
But at the eleventh hour, just before the grant application was due, some county leaders attempted to halt its progress. The opposition was led by County Supervisor Kevin Crye and Health and Human Services Agency Director Christy Coleman. In response to their concerns, during a special board meeting late last year, three supervisors voted to send a letter of opposition to the project.
The decision prompted significant community outcry. Weeks later Coleman changed her mind about the project and petitioned supervisors to send a second letter to the state in support of the project. All voted to do so, though Crye continued to express concerns about how the project might impact county costs.
Why no state funds? And what’s next?
Arch Collaborative CEO Kimberly Johnson said today the state did not provide a reason for why the True North project wasn’t awarded funds. In a press release she speculated that political tensions could have contributed to the project’s failure to garner state funds, but said the scope and cost of the project were also likely to blame.
“A project of this scale and ambition, proposed in a region navigating significant political complexity, inevitably faced headwinds,” Johnson said. “Combined with the financial scale of the request, I believe those dynamics ultimately presented a level of risk the state could not take on.”
Johnson said she stands behind the work of her team and the collaboration of regional leaders who helped design and propel the project forward, emphasizing that state leaders should not forget the unique challenges to meeting the health care needs of the people of rural Northern California.
Arch Collaborative Board Chair Dean Germano — who founded the federally-funded Shasta Community Health Center which serves many of the region’s highest need patients — shared similar sentiments, adding that the work invested so far won’t go to waste.
“What was built over these 16 months; the relationships, the data, the regional alignment, does not disappear because of one funding decision,” Germano said.
Supervisor Plummer — who’s been one of the project’s most visible supporters — said today he’s proud of everyone who cast and coordinated a big vision noting that failure is one potential outcome of taking significant risks.
He said the community’s voice through the collaborative process has made very clear some of the key needs when it comes to behavioral health, something he and others take seriously.
“We’re not going to give up on meeting them,” Plummer said. “The work is not done.”
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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This is just a sliver of the bigger picture where far right rhetoric is driving money away from our community.
While this is a setback, it would be a stretch for Kivin Cryer and his small handful of supporters to proclaim that Crye killed the project.
In a typical MAGA white nationalist Whiskey Pet fashion, Crye, proclaimed from the pulpit, “If there’s any way, shape or form, any glimmer that we can kill this now,” he would. And then proceeded to use The book of Joshua, describing the execution of the five kings by ramming a sword through their heads to aggressively eliminate True North, which he perceived as a threat to the country.
Interestingly, Crye, who regularly attacks the state government, receives over $ 400,000 in annual income from government-funded contracts; his business is not exactly self-supporting. But the likely reason True North did not receive the funding is a lack of money, not Crye and his swords.
Crye’s mentor, Trump, and his administration’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” significantly impacted both health care and education funding in California and specifically hit Shasta County hard. This is where much of the state funding for projects like True North comes from. We can indirectly thank Trump and MAGA for True North not getting funding this time around.
Thank Matt Plummer and the Arch Collaborative for all their efforts. There is hope that when a new Congress convenes next year, programs like True North might receive increased funding to support their work.
Meanwhile, FILLER UP!
Trump’s Operation Epstein Cover-up directly cost us over $11 billion in its first six days, and more than a billion a day since then, leading to higher national debt, higher gas prices, higher costs for goods and food, slower economic growth, and job risks. Some budget analysts warn that the total could eventually reach $200 billion in military spending alone.
Locally, expect to see significant cuts in Shasta County for wildfire prevention, housing assistance, transportation grants, education, public safety, social services, and health care programs, and a reduction in building starts and employment opportunities.
Happy we’re not encouraging drug use by building a tweeker rehab campus. Mental health crisis is woke speak cover-up for drug induced psychosis. I would encourage the county to hide the narcan and needle exchange and let the cream rise to the top. It’s not Maga vs. this project, it’s a philosophical disagreement over who deserves social support.
You do know that not every mental health issue is caused by drugs, don’t you?
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Also mental health issues can affect a person no matter what side of the political spectrum they’re on.
Go and tell one of the many conservatives in Shasta county who has had a friend or family member with mental health issues, that’s it’s just “woke speak cover-up” to hide drug induced psychosis.
Miss me with that. This failed proposal was trying to drop a drug rehab center in Shasta Lake City.
The second part of your reply makes no sense. Not sure SS will post, but conservative families have just as many tweekers in the tree as the liberals—the overdose at Corky’s w Andy Mangas, Jim Pope’s son, Kevin Crye’s brother. All publicly acknowledged, drug-related deaths. The issue w this very expensive campus is that– just as has been rejected in Oakland w the Athletics stadium, California taxpayers are tired of footing the bill for private equity facilities. On top of that, we wouldn’t get a sports team– we’d get tweekers bused in from Humboldt, etc.
“Woke speak cover-up” to hide drug induced psychosis were your words, not mine. Insinuating that it is the left doing something behind the scenes.
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And yes, if you read what I said, it affects both conservatives and progressives.
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So yeah, we both agree that it affects both sides of the spectrum.
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And FYI, I am a fiscal conservative. And because I happen to have some education and experience, I know that sometimes treating the cause of something is a whole lot cheaper than ignoring it and hoping the “worst” for those affected.
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You really want save money? Take care of wounds before they become a festering sore that requires amputation. Sometimes you gotta spend money to save money.
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Again, education and experience behind what I am saying as a TRUE fiscal conservative.
But believe what you want
Cover up for drug induced psychosis. Lol. The call is coming from inside the house. Have you already forgotten the fentanyl deaths surrounding some of your board and the sheriffs dept. Before you lose your voice screaming about needle exchanges you should maybe do a little housecleaning.
Drug free here Jay. Clear headed but fatigued w subsidizing bad behaviors. Cleaning up the neighborhood is a great idea. Cleaning up the middle east too.
You are obviously not educated in this subject. If you think you are the cream that should rise to the top, you’d better get an education first and stop displaying your ignorance when it comes to the medical science of the brain.
“But the likely reason True North did not receive the funding is a lack of money, not Crye and his swords.”–
Couldn’t you have said it probably died due to a shortage of funding because Gov. Employees ( city- state and federal) have taken all our tax money for salaries and pensions and left Crye and MAGA out?
Since Crye has been in office, has spending increased or decreased?
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Before you answer, you should know that spending is public info, and ANYONE can look it up for themselves.
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Very interested in how you answer…
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Or how you
suddenly go silent…
The community really dodged a bullet. This project was ripe with money being funneled to Kimberly Johnson’s non-profit along with numerous other “community leaders”. The state saw this for what it was, a money grab.
This doesn’t seem particularly mysterious. On top of being on the verge of having a ballot measure voted on that breaks multiple state and federal election laws, Crye and Co have trashed the county health department and hired an unqualified replacement for Karen Ramstrom. It’s no surprise that the state elected not to drop 150 million into this circus.
Selah
Actually, they decided not to waste $150+ million building a drug rehab campus. This makes me very happy.
No empathy. Got it.
It was a grift Jolly. You fell for it.
Lol, so says the already grifted.
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You know it’s funny, I actually have facts and sources that show it is cheaper to treat a problem than it is to let it fester into a open wound …
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Whatcha got to prove “your” claim of the grift, brother?
And they wonder why they are not able to recruit and retain top talent in the medical profession and we are having to go to UCDavis or UCSF or Stanford for excellent care. And I am not talking about neurosurgery.