In early September, the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) sent
an email to all counties that included a Departmental Letter
guiding counties on how to receive annual funds to support
coordinating and facilitating collaborative County Stakeholder
Workgroups that target strategies and seek solutions to decrease
the criminalization of persons with serious mental illnesses in
their communities and decrease the number of persons who are
deemed incompetent to stand trial (IST) on felony charges.
Attached are copies of the
Departmental Letter and the
Letter of Intent (LOI). All counties are eligible to receive
annual funding for participating in the collaborative community
stakeholder workgroup program. DSH has extended the deadline to
participate in the program. Please submit a completed LOI to
DSHDiversion@dsh.ca.gov by
COB December 31, 2023, to enter into a contract
effective July 1, 2024.
Counties that currently have community collaborative workgroup
contracts or are in the process of having a community
collaborative workgroup contract with DSH do not need to apply
again. Counties that have already submitted an LOI do not need to
apply again. As of July 2023, there were still 26 counties
that were eligible for this funding.
