The H.E.A.R.T. Coalition has had a big November! At the Nov. 7th Raleigh City Council meeting, the city manager’s office presented an update on alternative response programs. The information presented was very much in line with the initial H.E.A.R.T. proposal.
Some of the main takeaways were:
- Recommending ACORNS (Addressing Crises through Outreach, Referrals, Networking, and Service) to stay under the police department.
- The proposed timeline for a Raleigh Alternative Response Model is November 2023 – March 2024 which would include: two listening sessions, two community workshops, a feedback telephone line, five popups with the Community Engagement Van, an open house, and an online poll.
- The City is looking forward to continued conversations with external partners like the H.E.A.R.T. Coalition, Faith leaders, WakeMed, Allied Health, Wake County, Healing Transitions, Oak City Cares, etc.
- The City plans to request funding to pilot a crisis call diversion line under the department of emergency communications in FY25.
You can watch the full presentation here.
In addition, this week H.E.A.R.T. Coalition partners RTI’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE) and Durham Tech hosted a screening of the new documentary HEART: Serving our Neighbors in Crisis. Following the screening there was a panel discussion with members of the HEART team.
If you have not seen this documentary, stay tuned for more viewings.