Early last month, the Department of State Hospitals (DSH)
Diversion and Community Restoration Team released a
Departmental Letter that provides guidance to counties on how
to receive $100,000 annual funding to assist counties in
coordinating and facilitating County Stakeholder Workgroups that
target strategies and seek solutions to reduce the
criminalization of individuals with serious mental illnesses and
reduce the number of individuals who are determined to be
incompetent to stand trial (IST) on felony charges.
All counties are eligible to receive annual
funding for participating in the collaborative community
stakeholder workgroup program. Counties are not required to have
a current contract with DSH for a Diversion or Community Based
Restoration (CBR) program to be eligible for this funding. To
receive funding under this program, a county shall submit a
Letter of Intent (LOI) to DSHDiversion@dsh.ca.govby January 31, 2023, to receive funding in FY
2022-23. Once approved, counties shall enter a five-year
contract with DSH and adhere to the program requirements to
receive annual funding from DSH as outlined in the contract.
In light of the Administration’s IST growth cap and penalty that
will be implemented this year, it is critically important that
counties not only take advantage of every dollar available from
the state, but show a willingness to collaborate across agencies
and departments to improve local efforts to reduce the number of
IST commitments to the state. Thus, CSAC strongly
encourages all counties to submit a
letter of intent by the January 31 deadline.
