The Issue
For decades, Americans have called 911 when they are experiencing an emergency or need assistance. While this can be an effective and convenient way to deploy first responders—whether from police, fire, or emergency medical services (EMS)—many community advocates have argued that it too often results in police officers being dispatched to resolve situations better handled by health and social service professionals. Years of nationwide disinvestment in community health care and social services contribute to this problem. And in many communities, particularly ones with large numbers of people experiencing poverty or instability in their lives, there has been a lack of properly funded organizations and crisis systems. Because of this, they often do not have systems in place to provide the care and services needed to reduce overreliance on police to handle behavioral health crises and social disturbances.
I truly see this as part of the future, as part of helping people, meeting them where they are and connecting them to the right service—often without having to have any intersect with the criminal justice system or law enforcement.
Former Chief Paul Pazen, Denver Police Department
The Response
Since 2020, especially following the murder of George Floyd, communities across the country have been reimagining their approach to public safety by investing in programs that position health professionals and community members trained in crisis response as first responders. While the term “community responder program” is relatively new, the concept of expanding first response to include trained health professionals and community members is not. Programs such as the Freedom House Ambulance Service, founded in the 1960s, and CAHOOTS in 1989, have shown what’s possible when community members work together to address crisis, connect people to social services, and improve public safety. Now communities are expanding their first response systems to involve mobile teams staffed by professionals trained in behavioral health de-escalation, assessment, and response who can address 911, emergency, or urgent calls for service. Once advocated mostly by grassroots activists, health professionals, and community members, these programs have emerged as a strategy that people from all walks of life see as an important mechanism for supporting people in need.
Dr. Ayesha Delany-Brumsey, former director of the CSG Justice Center Behavioral Health Division, defines community responder programs, discusses why communities are building these programs, and provides tips for using the Expanding First Response Toolkit. This video is in English.
The Toolkit
This toolkit serves as a central hub for local communities and states looking to establish or strengthen community responder programs. Drawing on the experience of emerging models across the country, the toolkit presents key topics that are crucial to the success of any program. It is also updated regularly with program highlights and additional resources for the field. Each topic area includes:
- A snapshot of the issue,
- Important considerations for successful implementation, and
- Essential resources, which may include practical strategies, field-based examples, instructive videos, and more.
In addition, the toolkit includes an assessment tool to help communities determine where they are in planning, implementing, or sustaining their program and information and resources developed from working with a national group of commission members. Used together, these resources can help communities expand first response efforts to improve health outcomes, strengthen connections to services, and reduce unnecessary police, fire, and EMS system involvement.
For us it was really important to hear what the community was saying, to put faces, names, and lived experience behind the numbers. That created an outcry from the community from which people were overwhelmingly saying there should be something different.
Reverend Dr. Charles Franklin Boyer, Salvation and Social Justice
Program Highlights
Learn how existing community responder programs are taking action in each of the topic areas of the toolkit.
