NOLA MCIU Community Advisory Board Application

NOLA MCIU Community Advisory Board Application

In June 2023, Resources for Human Development (RHD) – in partnership with the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) – launched the New Orleans Mobile Crisis Intervention Unit (MCIU). The program’s mission is to create a fourth branch of the emergency response system that can more effectively respond to community members with unmet behavioral health and social needs. The MCIU will be staffed by licensed mental health professionals, certified peer specialists, and crisis workers who closely coordinate with 911 call-takers to respond to behavioral health crises as an alternative to EMS, fire, and police.

To promote community oversight and ongoing collaboration with program leaders, NOHD is launching a Community Advisory Board (CAB) for the MCIU in partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice. Broadly, CAB members will be tasked with sharing feedback on MCIU policies and performance with NOHD and RHD staff, as well as other relevant agency representatives, to ensure that program activities reflect the insights of directly impacted community members and ultimately meet community needs.

CAB meetings will focus on a range of topics, including:

programmatic updates;
community education;
coordination with other community resources; and
strategies for ensuring transparency and data-driven implementation.

If you have experience as a behavioral healthcare consumer, as a family member or caregiver for someone with behavioral health needs, and/or as a behavioral health service provider, please consider applying to join the CAB. Applicants must reside in Orleans Parish and be knowledgeable about the needs of people living with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. Applicants should also consider their availability to participate in quarterly meetings, as well as a few monthly meetings when the group first launches, over the course of MCIU’s first full year of operation. All community members selected by Vera and NOHD staff to serve on the CAB as private citizens – and not as representatives for public health or safety agencies – will be provided with a stipend for their participation in meetings. Individuals selected to join the CAB as members can expect meetings in an open forum with public comment opportunities.

Please note that in selecting community members for the CAB, Vera and NOHD staff will prioritize the inclusion of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; members of local immigrant communities; LGBTQ people; people with disabilities; and people who have experienced or are experiencing homelessness. Vera and NOHD staff also aim to convene a group that represents a geographically broad cross-section of the community. Additionally, representatives of various stakeholder agencies (e.g., the New Orleans Police Department and Orleans Parish Communications District) will be directly invited by NOHD staff to participate in CAB meetings as non-voting members for their insight into MCIU operations, including MCIU collaboration with 911 call-takers and other first responders.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14.

Name*

Please include your first and last name.

Contact info*

Please share your email address or phone number (or both if you feel comfortable doing so). We will use this info to follow up with any questions about your application and keep you updated on your application status.

Gender

This question is optional. It is included because Vera and NOHD staff want to ensure that a broad cross-section of community members is represented on the CAB.

Race/ethnicity

This question is optional. It is included because Vera and NOHD staff want to ensure that a broad cross-section of community members is represented on the CAB.

Neighborhood

This question is optional. It is included because Vera and NOHD staff want to ensure that a broad cross-section of community members is represented on the CAB.

Your Interest and Experience

We are expecting applications from more individuals than we are able to accept for the CAB, as we believe a cap on membership is important to facilitate productive conversations. With this in mind, we are asking applicants to answer the following questions so we can better understand their interest in this opportunity and the relevant professional and/or lived experience they might bring to it.

If you would prefer to answer these questions over a brief phone or Zoom call, please let us know, and we will follow up with you soon to schedule that conversation.

Why is the MCIU program important for the City of New Orleans?

300 words max

Based on what you feel comfortable sharing, please briefly describe any lived experience you have as a behavioral healthcare consumer, as a family member or caregiver for someone with behavioral health needs, and/or as a behavioral health service provider that might be relevant to the work of this group.

300 words max

Why do you want to be a member of the CAB?

300 words max

Please share an example of an instance when you recognized an issue related to crisis response in New Orleans. How would you address the issue? Alternatively, what additional information would you like to have in order to address the issue?

300 words max

What questions do you have about the CAB?

This is an optional question. If you would like more information about specific aspects of the CAB, we can follow up with you.

Send me a copy of my responses

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