Multnomah county mobile crisis team partnerships enhancement - multnomah county health department (mchd) proposes the multnomah county mobile crisis team (MCT) partnerships enhancement project,…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Multnomah County $750,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to enhance mobile crisis team capacity and establish direct behavioral health response to 911 calls independent of law enforcement.

The Multnomah County Mobile Crisis Team Partnerships Enhancement Project will develop staffing capacity and partnership agreements enabling the county's behavioral health mobile crisis teams to respond directly to 911 crisis callers in Multnomah County, Oregon, without law enforcement involvement. Measurable objectives include convening key partners to create a mobile crisis team services implementation plan by January 31, 2027, and updating it annually, alongside hiring additional mobile crisis team and 911 behavioral health assessment staff and implementing continuous quality improvement activities. The initiative targets youth, veterans, and justice-involved individuals, who experience elevated rates of mental health and substance use issues, suicide, and overdose. The project aims to increase diversion from criminal justice involvement and reduce deaths from suicide and overdose by enabling law enforcement to cease responding to behavioral health crisis calls that mobile crisis teams can handle independently.

Performance of work occurs in Portland, Oregon 97233. The award period runs from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2030. This is a project grant assistance type.

Multnomah county mobile crisis team partnerships enhancement - multnomah county health department (mchd) proposes the multnomah county mobile crisis team (MCT) partnerships enhancement project, serving the geographic area of multnomah county, oregon. Currently, partnership protocols do not allow mchd's behavioral health mcts to act as first responders to 911 callers independent of law enforcement. The proposed project would create the staffing capacity and develop the partnership agreements necessary to enable behavioral health mcts to respond directly and independently to 911 crisis calls. Law enforcement will especially benefit from this capacity building, as they will no longer be overburdened by responding to 911 calls that could be handled by behavioral health mcts alone. Beneficiaries of the project's services include all people experiencing a behavioral health crisis in multnomah county. Subpopulations of focus will include youth, veterans, and justice-involved individuals, as these groups experience especially high rates of mental health and substance use issues, including suicide and overdose. Strategies to achieve this system enhancement include planning activities with key partners; developing new partnership agreements and protocols; hiring additional MCT and 911 behavioral health assessment staffing; and continuous quality improvement. The project's goal is to increase diversion of individuals in crisis from criminal justice involvement and reduce deaths from suicide and overdose by establishing multnomah county MCT ability to respond to 911 callers in crisis independent of law enforcement. Measurable objectives include 1) convene key partners to strengthen multnomah county's mobile crisis response system by creating a MCT services implementation plan by 1/31/2027, and updating the plan at least once per subsequent year in the project period based on cross-system mapping and continuous quality improvement. 2) create an additional MCT and associated infrastructure to respond to 911 calls independent from law enforcement, beginning service delivery by march 31, 2027. 3) each year of the project period, deliver 6 evidence-based crisis trainings incorporating education on the project's system enhancements each year for MCT staff; first responders (fire, EMS, law enforcement); 988 and 911 personnel; and behavioral health professionals (24 trainings by september 29, 2030).