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Date: 9/12/2023
NORTHAMPTON — After more than three years of figuring out alternatives to policing in the community, the city of Northampton officially unveiled its new Division of Community Care on Sept. 5.
To celebrate the occasion, the city gathered for an open house ceremony on Sept. 8, at which city officials, state legislators and DCC staff spoke about the future of this new division, which is located at 1 Roundhouse Plaza.
“This is a momentous occasion that marks the beginning of a journey filled with innovation, inspiration, and boundless possibility,” said Merridith O’Leary, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services. “We’re not just inaugurating a program, we’re launching a new chapter in our collective journey towards progress and excellence.”
The DCC, which is managed under the Department of Health and Human Services, is created to support the residents and visitors of Northampton who experience houselessness, emotional distress, problematic substance use, as well as other challenges that people may face when it comes to meeting basic needs.
According to the Mayor’s Office, Northampton is the first city in Massachusetts to launch its civilian first responder team model as a “public health-led, public safety integrated service.”
Because the city recognizes racism as a public health crisis, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said that it was important to situate the DCC under the Department of Health and Human Services so people can have access to top end professionals.
“This is really, really big,” Sciarra said of the new department. “Thank you all for joining us for this truly momentous occasion as we welcome the community to meet the division of community care and celebrate the opening of the DCC community space and the work of the community care responders in our city.”
Background
In July 2020, the city created the Northampton Policing Review Commission, a 15-member resident commission appointed by former Mayor David Narkewicz and the City Council to conduct a public policy review and community conversation around policing and community safety and recommend reforms to the current organizational structure.
In March 2021, the commission submitted a final report titled “Reimagining Safety” with recommendations on how to improve policing services in Northampton to allow for a more equitable structure.
One of these recommendations included implementing a Department of Community Care, which would be a new city agency that responds to calls related to mental health, substance use, social service-related requests and other crisis situations of Northampton residents and visitors as an alternative to traditional police response.
At the end of 2021, the city appointed Sean Donovan as the department’s implementation director, with duties that include developing the department’s organizational structure and staffing, job descriptions, operating policies and training and license requirements, as well as coordinating with other city departments, forming an advisory committee, developing a budget and pursuing state and federal level grants.
Last spring, Sciarra and the City Council approved the newly-consolidated DHHS, which combined the city’s Health Department with the DCC — and named O’Leary as the DHHS commissioner.
This consolidation fulfilled a recommendation of the Northampton Policing Reviewing Commission that community care is situated under health.
Back in March, the city named Kristin Rhodes as the first director of the DCC.
The DCC
“We at the Division of Community Care believe people who are going through difficult and traumatic moments in their life, no matter the origin of that difficulty, should be able to immediately connect with a team who can meet them where they are, hear their thoughts and concerns, and offer time, connection, resources, support, and an ongoing relationship,” Rhodes said during the ceremony.
According to DCC coordinator Nataya Burch, the DCC features eight civilian community responders who will help with various emergency situations like providing referrals to those who have needs such as housing, healthcare, food, mental health services, identification, navigation of resources and access to public health nursing.
“When you come into our space, you can expect to be greeted by a community responder,” Burch said. “Responders are there to listen to those who want to talk and to sit quietly with those who are not ready to talk. They are there to meet the individual needs of those in our space and to support in a way that works best for the individual.”
According to the DCC website, all of the responders went through 150 hours of training in topics like emergency medical response, de-escalation, racial equity and inclusion, crisis response, harm reduction and more.
Burch said that community responders are available to offer services from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and the division is currently taking requests by email, walk-ins, and by call and text through their DCC phone line.
The DCC will also respond to immediate requests for help that include de-escalation, conflict resolution, shared space concerns and wellness checks.
In future phases, Burch added that the division will be integrated into Northampton’s dispatch system so they can work with other public safety partners on which calls are appropriate for the DCC.
“We have been making efforts and will continue to work towards establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with community partners,” Burch said. “We want to ensure that we can adequately assist with identifying and connecting individuals to appropriate resources and that they have smooth transition of services by offering warm handoffs.”
Aside from having responders in the community space, Burch said that a mobile team will also be available to provide the same services in the community.
“We have an incredible team at the DCC Our staff are dedicated to the work they will be doing,” Burch said. “They all came to this work for individual reasons, but with the same mission and goals.”
In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Police Chief Jody Kasper said that the leadership from the DCC have come over the Northampton Police Department to meet all of the police staff and give an overview of the services they are providing to the community.
“They’ve answered some of our questions that some of our officers had,” Kasper said. “It’s been a really good opportunity for us to get to know their perspective and responsibility.”
Although the DCC has not been integrated into dispatch yet, Kasper said that the Police Department has already asked the DCC to help them with at least one recent 911 call involving a community concern.
“We reached out to DCC and they sent responders over,” Kasper said of that one situation.
In addition to the responders, there is also a public health nurse and the division coordinator.
Eventually, the DCC will also be housed at the former First Baptist Church, which the city is currently turning into a Community Resilience Hub, a place that will help people who are homeless, in poverty or experiencing other crisis.
People can contact the DCC at 877-322-0413 through text or call.
Readers can learn more about the DCC and its resources by visiting northamptondcc.org.