No state funds for proposed True North Behavioral Health campus

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.