On Wednesday, Mayor Brandon Johnson reopened the previously closed Roseland Mental Health Clinic, fulfilling another of his campaign promises. Other public officials present at the ribbon cutting were Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige and alders Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd Ward) and Ronnie Mosley (21st Ward).
The CPDH-operated clinic, now known as the Roseland Health Hub, will offer no-cost mental health and sexual health services to city residents, regardless of insurance or immigration status.
In 1989, the city had 19 mental health clinics, according to Johnson. Since then, the Roseland Mental Health Clinic was one of 14 city-run facilities that’s been closed over time.
“We are here today because of the incredible fight of a Black and brown coalition of people that understood that we did not need to separately fight for scraps, that we could come together and fight and win beautiful, amazing things for our communities,” Rodriguez-Sanchez said during today’s press conference. A longtime advocate for reopening shuttered clinics, she chairs the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations.
“This is what happens when we come together, and at a time of so much division, when some forces are pitting Black communities against Latino communities,” Rodriguez-Sanchez continued.
In 2011, the Chicago City Council voted 50-0 to approve former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first budget, which included closing six of the city’s 12 public mental health clinics. Four of the clinics were located on the South Side.
The reopening of the Roseland Health Hub builds on more than a decade of organizing efforts led by community organizers, residents, and elected leaders to reopen shuttered city-owned mental health clinics.
It’s also a step forward for Johnson, who promised to implement Treatment Not Trauma. The ordinance calls for establishing 24-hour mental-health crisis response teams within the city’s public health department and reopening closed mental health clinics.
During today’s press conference, Johnson also announced that CPDH’s 911 alternative response CARE (Crisis Assistance Response & Engagement) program would expand to include two additional police districts —the fourth and 12th districts, which will cover parts of Avalon Park, South Chicago, Burnside, Calumet Heights, South Deering and the lower West Side.
“The CARE Program is something the people of Chicago have been asking for for decades. It is a measure that is making our city better, stronger, safer, more compassionate and healthier,” Johnson said.
CARE is an alternative response model that began as a pilot in 2021 under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. It dispatches behavioral health clinicians to 9-1-1 calls identified as involving mental health issues. Under Johnson, the program has since shifted to a non-police response model.
“That’s what my administration will always be about, showing up for the people of Chicago. So we are building towards a true behavioral health continuum of care that integrates mobile crisis response with vital and brick-and-mortar services so that every Chicagoan in need of mental or behavioral health services has a number to call, a team that can be sent, and a place to go,” Johnson said.
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