National Commission

Expanding First Response Commission

The CSG Justice Center’s national Expanding First Response Commission is comprised of a diverse group, including direct service professionals; elected officials; people who have previously been incarcerated and have experience with addiction, poverty, trauma, and mental illness; practitioners; and research experts. This first-of-its-kind commission originally launched in 2023 with 21 leaders at the helm. Now, with its newest members, the commission aims to continue shaping the conversation on and offering recommendations for the advancement of community responder programs nationwide.

headshot of John Moon, former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired Assistant Chief of Pittsburgh (PA) Emergency Medical Service

No one thought about bringing the emergency room to the person [before us]. So, we had to train the community as well as the local emergency rooms on what to do.

John Moon, former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired Assistant Chief of Pittsburgh (PA) Emergency Medical Service

Guiding Principles for the Commission

Commission members meet regularly with the following principles guiding their work:

ENGAGING stakeholders and experts to develop strategies that sustain community responder models and build best practices for how they can operate as strong parts of comprehensive crisis and safety systems.
UNIFYING voices of national and local experts to promote community responders as part of effective crisis systems and as significant, legitimate, and professional first responders within these systems.
CONNECTING siloed sectors of community responder program work (i.e., dispatch and law enforcement partnership, city management, fire/emergency medical services, and elected officials) to develop a shared understanding and set of steps to advance these models.
ELEVATING informed voices to shape the recommendations of the commission.
MAKING SPACE for community responder models as vehicles for national innovation in public safety and crisis systems.

headshot of John Moon, former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired Assistant Chief of Pittsburgh (PA) Emergency Medical Service

It’s OK to give (the crisis response) hat back to the professionals because the type of calls (the police) get; we don’t really need those calls… You need a professional because the keyword is, they’re going through a crisis. They don’t need a badge and a gun. They need someone to help navigate them through the system, so they can get the help that they need.

Chief Anthony Holloway, St. Petersburg (FL) Police Department

Commission Members

2025 Commission Members

**Dr. Amy Barden, Ed.D**
Chief of Seattle Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department,
WA

**Reverend Dr. Charles F. Boyer**
*Co-founder, Salvation and Social Justice, Trenton, NJ*

**Annie Burwell**
*Program Manager, Crisis Response Unit, Round Rock Fire Department, Round Rock, TX*

**Michele Calvo**
*Executive Director, Opioid Response and Policy, Department of Health, Trenton, NJ*

**Yecenia Casiano, MS**
*Senior Project Coordinator, Child Health and Development Institute, Farmington, CT*

Candace Coleman
Community Strategy Specialist, Access Living, Chicago, IL

**Chaniel Running Crane-Grant**
*Program Coordinator, Blackfeet Healing to Wellness Courts, Blackfeet Nation*

**Andrew Dameron**
*Director, Emergency Communications for City and County of Denver, CO*

**Cristine Soto DeBerry**
*Executive Director, Prosecutors Alliance, San Francisco, CA*

**Michael Feinmel**
*Deputy County Manager of Henrico County, VA*

**Dr. Christina Finello, PhD, Esq.**
*Executive Director, Pennsylvania Behavioral Health Council, Harrisburg, PA*

**Ken Fitzwater, MA, LPC**
*Chief Clinical Officer, Prestera Health Services, Barboursville, WV*

**Sheriff Ed Gonzalez**
*Harris County Sheriff, TX*

**Sen. Keturah J. Herron**
*Kentucky State Senator, Louisville, KY*

**Chief Anthony Holloway**
*Police Chief, St. Petersburg Police Department, FL*

**Toni Jackson**
*Director of Community Response, Atlanta Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative (PAD), GA*

**Connie Johnson**
*Executive Director, Colorado 911 Resource Center, Denver, CO*

**Dr. Stephen D. Loyd, MD**
*President of the Tennessee Medical Board, Chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, Nashville, TN*

**Councilmember Mary Lupien**
*Rochester City Council, NY*

**Tansy McNulty**
Founder and CEO,
1 Million Madly Motivated Moms, Las Vegas, NV

**Carol J. McVey**
*Director, Office of Adult Mental Health, Georgia Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Atlanta, GA*

**Dr. Rebecca Neusteter**
Executive Director,
University of Chicago Health Lab, Los Angeles, CA

**Captain Matt Parrish**
Fire Captain,
Columbus Division of Fire, OH

**Rep. Dr. Tim Reeder, MD**
*North Carolina House of Representatives, Ayden, NC*

**Jessica Samples,MHPS**
*Peer Training Specialist, Vibrant Emotional Health, Rockwall, TX*

**Benjamin Strick, LCSW**
*Vice President of Adult Behavioral Health, Spurwink, Portland, ME*

**Jennifer Thomason, LCPC**
*Regional Chief Operating Officer, Centerstone, Alton, IL*

**Dr. Amy Watson**
*Professor, School of Social Work, Wayne State University, Milwaukee, WI*

**Robyn Williams**
*Deputy Budget Director, Office of Financial Management, Seattle, WA*

2023 Commission Members

**Lorraine Davis**
*Founder and CEO, NATIVE, Inc., Bismarck, ND*

**Dr. Edward Fernandez**
*Clinical Director, EAC Network, Queens Community Reentry Assistance Network*

**Mark Gale**
*Criminal Justice Chair, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Greater Los Angeles County, CA*

**Dr. Matthew Goldman**
*Medical Director, Comprehensive Crisis Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health, CA*

**Chief Toryono Green**
*Fire Chief, City of Tacoma Fire Department, WA*

**Brittany Lovely**
*Systems Change Consultant, Washington D.C.*

**Sheriff Dr. Currie Myers**
*Sheriff (retired), Johnson County, KS*

**Carolyn Presnell**
*Community Engagement Director, Weld Seattle, Seattle, WA*

**Mariela Ruiz-Angel**
*Director, Albuquerque Community Safety Department, Albuquerque, NM*

**Tiffanie Sneed**
*Senior Legal Advisor, Town of Chapel Hill, NC*

**Carlos Sosa-Lombardo**
*Director, Department of Community Resilience, City of New Haven, CT*

**Senator Jill Vogel**
*State Senator, Virginia District 27, Warrenton, VA*

**Dr. Amy Watson**
*Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee*

All Commission Members

Candace Coleman
Community Strategy Specialist, Access Living, Chicago, IL

**Sen. Keturah J. Herron**
*State Senator, Louisville, KY*

Reports and Other Resources

Report on Emerging Practices for Community Responder Programs

This report, based on six months of conversations with the initial members of the Expanding First Response Commission, details some of the emerging practices that program leaders can use to elevate and replicate community responder programs nationwide. 

VIEW COMMISSION REPORT

Sharing the Load: How to Empower and Leverage Diverse Expertise to Expand First Response

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the first iteration of the Expanding First Response Commission, some members joined CSG Justice Center staff and Chief John Moon for a lively discussion about the commission’s findings and how communities can advance the future of first response through community responder programs. Chief Moon also spoke about Pittsburgh’s Freedom House and the ways it’s been used as a model for programs since.

Watch this recorded webinar