11 Colorado Communities Not ‘Waiting for Washington’ to Fix Mental Health
DENVER, Nov. 1—Eleven Colorado communities are seeking funding for mental health services through ballot measures. All measures are aimed at adding treatment and prevention in schools, jails, or hospitals. The counties and their mental health proposals are listed at mentalhealthcolorado.org/ballot2018.
“I think what’s happening is a lot of communities recognize that it’s cheaper to prevent or treat mental illness than to ignore it or to criminalize it,” said Mental Health Colorado President & CEO Andrew Romanoff. “A lot recognize that waiting for Washington to solve these problems is not a recipe for progress.”
Each of the measures has a different request, but they all focus on mental health. Some of the key differences include:
- Half are schools and half are counties
- Some seem to lean more on treatment and some on prevention
- Some specified percentages of revenue, some do not
- Some have new entities and some are using current entities
- Differ in revenue: some marijuana, mill levy, sales tax
- Some are geared toward early childhood, some adults, some senior citizens
Mental Health Colorado is the state’s leading advocate for the prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and does not endorse any of the candidates.
For more information or to schedule an interview, call or email Aubree at 405-615-3845 or ahughes@mentalhealthcolorado.org.
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