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For release April 27, 2005

Efforts by Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) and its partners to implement Prop. 63, the Mental Health Services Act, have moved into a new phase with the formation of four stakeholder groups and the availability of a recommendation form for continued public input.

The Community Services and Support recommendation form is available to the public at http://cchealth.org and is also being distributed at meetings and by mail, according to Kimberly Mayer, a program manager with CCHS' Mental Health Division.

"The county plan to improve mental health services, which is required by Prop. 63, will be strongest if members from all corners of the community weigh in about it," said Mayer. "The recommendation form is one way to do that, and it has a return address to which it should be mailed."

Another way, Mayer said, it to attend meetings of the stakeholder groups designated to address the respective mental health needs of children, transition-age youth, adults, and older adults.

Each stakeholders group will meet approximately six times over the next few months to develop sections of the county plan pertaining to its designated age group. Minutes of past minutes and dates for upcoming ones will be posted at http://cchealth.org as available.

Each group has about 22 members chosen from the total of 155 applicants representing the public, CCHS, other service providers, law enforcement, education, social server and other partners. Many of the applications were submitted during a series of six community forums throughout the county over the past two months.

Prop. 63 was passed by California voters in November and levies an additional 1% tax on individuals with taxable income of more than $1 million. Each county must consult with the community to develop a detailed plan to implement it.

Once the plan is drafted, the Contra Costa Mental Health Commission will begin a 30-day comment period. After it is approved by the county Board of Supervisors, the plan will be submitted to the state.

To download a recommendation form, go to http://cchealth.org For more information about the stakeholder groups or the county efforts to implement the Mental Health Services Act, call Kimberly Mayer at 925-957-5132.

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