Title
Community Assistance Program Hiring, Recruitment, and Metric Report
Description
This item includes a report on the Phoenix Fire Department’s Community Assistance Program (CAP) hiring and recruitment efforts. The report also details information on CAP’s responses to calls for service.
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 in achieving 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. In summary, there have been several key accomplishments made across staffing, call response, locations, and services highlighted below:
The expansion of CAP included adding 130 full time positions. CAP has partnered with Human Resources to complete multiple recruitments and is continuing to recruit to fill open positions. Filled positions include the Deputy Director, Casework Services Coordinators, part-time and full-time Caseworker IIs and IIIs, including Behavioral Health Dispatchers, and a Curriculum/Training Coordinator. In addition to City staff, CAP has been partnering with external agencies to enhance staffing and skills. CAP hired contracted Peer Support Specialists with lived experience skills that help augment the BHU services. Recruitment for additional Peer Support Specialists is ongoing.
The additional CAP staff allowed for expanding units in service. BHUs increased from one to four units in 2023, allowing staff to offer citywide coverage and response. CRUs increased from five to six units available for response. The increase in overall CAP response and capacity has benefited the community positively.
With the increase of new CAP staff, training and development have been focused on equipping staff with the tools and resources to serve the community. CAP staff receive extensive training and education before assignment to response units. In addition to routine training, the CAP team constantly seeks opportunities to better serve the community. An example includes CAP working with the City of Phoenix Public Health Division to supply Narcan (Naloxone) to the BHUs and CRUs. CAP has also worked with a community to provide Mental Health First Aid 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 to respond to a behavioral crisis. The CAP program started in August 2022 with a limited response area and a single BHU unit. For the first month, there with 18 calls for service identified by police to be transferred to a BHU dispatcher for triage and service. As additional BHU teams were staffed and the response went Citywide, call transferred increased. Comparing February 2023 to February 2024, there was a 300 percent increase in the number of calls transferred from Police Communications to the Behavioral Health Dispatcher.
As CAP increases staffing and units for service, location expansion planning has also been a priority. CAP currently has eight locations across the city. In 2023, the Mayor and City Council approved leasing a location from Grand Canyon University. A Behavioral Health Unit (BH3) moved into the GCU building at 2657 W. Camelback in early 2024. CAP is collaborating with Downtown Phoenix, Inc. to place a Behavioral Health Unit at 1 E. Washington by mid-2024. With the upcoming build of Fire Station 62, the plans will include building out a space to house a CAP unit. With the recent 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.
With the Mayor and City Council's approval in 2023, the City Manager’s Office established a Community Mental Health Wellness & Safety Task Force. The task force is a community-led group charged with examining the mental health wellness and safety needs of Phoenix residents, educating residents on existing programs and resources, reviewing the effectiveness of City mental health-related programs and services, and keeping an open dialogue between City leadership, staff, and communities. The 17-member Task Force has completed their first meeting.
Looking ahead to 2024, 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.
Updates on hiring, recruitment, and recent dispatch data trends are included in Attachment A.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays, Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer, and the Fire Department.