Title
Community Assistance Program (CAP) Expansion Implementation Update - Citywide
Description
This report provides the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee with an update on the Community Assistance Program expansion efforts.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
In June 2021, the City Council approved $15 million in the Fiscal Year 2021-22 City Budget to expand the Community Assistance Program (CAP). CAP is a proven model to assist residents experiencing a traumatic event, behavioral health crisis, or other social welfare concerns. CAP is the foundation of our efforts to address those community needs that don’t expressly align with the mission of traditional emergency and public safety services. To meet the diverse needs of those we serve, the CAP team continues collaborating with community partners and connecting individuals with appropriate resources.
The CAP expansion has made considerable progress over the 2023 year to achieve long-term program success and sustainment. The vision is to increase the number of Crisis Response Units (CRUs) to ten and Behavioral Health Units (BHUs) to nine. A multidisciplinary team of City departments has been working to support this vision. In summary, there have been several key accomplishments made in 2023 across staffing, call response, locations, and services highlighted below:
The expansion of CAP included the support of 128 FTE positions. CAP partnered with Human Resources to complete multiple recruitments and is continuing to recruit to fill open positions. Filled positions include the Program Administrator, Casework Services Coordinators, Curriculum/Training Coordinator, Management Assistant II, part-time and full-time Crisis Intervention Specialist and Supervisors, including Behavioral Health Dispatchers. In June of 2024, CAP collaborated with Human Resources to create a new job family to address hiring challenges. In November 2024, CAP partnered with the Mobile Career Unit to hold a hiring event. Terros Health Inc. also participated in the November hiring event to address the need for Peer Support Specialist on the BHUs. The success of this event is yet to be determined as the city completes reference and background checks for the candidates.
The additional CAP staff will expand the availability of the five (5) Behavioral Health Units and six (6) Crisis Response units. Currently, the BHUs provide coverage 20-hours a day, 7 days a week. The six CRUs provide 24-hour coverage, 5 days a week and 22-hour coverage 2 days a week. The increase in overall CAP response and capacity will benefit the community positively. The addition of Behavioral Health Dispatchers will increase coverage to 24 hours a day, 7 day a week coverage.
CAP continues to collaborate with Phoenix Police Communications to support two CAP Supervisors Police Communications to assist with identifying calls eligible for alternative response. In January 2025, staff expanded the time a CAP Supervisor is in Police Communications from 24 hours to 31 hours per week.
With the increase of new CAP staff, training and development remains a focus. CAP’s on-boarding process equips staff with the tools and resources to serve the community. CAP staff receive extensive training and education before their assignment to response units. In addition to routine training, the CAP team constantly seeks opportunities to better serve the community. An example includes CAP units having a supply of Narcan (naloxone) on BHUs and CRUs. This additional service was added after working with the Office of Public Health. CAP continues to work with community partners to provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) courses to our staff.
One of the goals of creating the BHUs is to create an alternative response to incoming 9-1-1 calls that does not require police, fire, or EMS response but needs behavioral resources. In November 2024, Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab, featured the City of Phoenix CAP in a publication titled, “Embedding Behavioral Health Professionals in 911 Call Centers: Approaches to Alternative Response Workforce.” The case study highlighted the Community Assistance Program and another alternative response model to provide context on benefits of embedded behavioral health dispatchers and factors for implementation. The publication may be found at https://govlab.hks.harvard.edu/embedding-behavioral-health-professionals-911.
CAP’s BHU program launched in July 2022 with a limited response area and a single BHU team. In the first month, the unit responded to 18 calls for service identified by police communications and transferred to a BHU dispatcher. As additional BHU teams were staffed and response went Citywide, calls transferred from police communications have increased. Currently, calls transferred from police for BHU response is trending as a 136% increase when comparing the first 11 months of 2023 to the first 11 months of 2024.
As CAP increases staffing and units for service, location expansion planning has also been a priority in 2023 and will continue to be in 2024. CAP currently has eight locations across the City. In 2023, the Mayor and City Council approved leasing three additional locations for CAP units, two in Central Phoenix and one in West Phoenix. CAP will occupy the Grand Canyon University building at 2657 W. Camelback in December 2023. This location will initially house one BHU. CAP anticipates occupying the Downtown Phoenix Inc. location at 1 E. Washington by first quarter of 2025. CAP Administrators have moved into a new location at 801 S. 16th Street and Fire Station 62 is now ready for occupancy. All sites will eventually house a BHU team. With the 2024 General Obligation (GO) Bond approval, the Fire Department will work with CAP to modify the old fire stations in the bond to house CAP units as a permanent space for future growth.
Looking ahead to 2025, CAP will continue to focus on filling remaining vacant positions to bring more units into service, investing in the development and training of staff, building additional locations, and streamlining processes to improve community outreach and services.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays, Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer, and the Fire Department.