Latest news with #CaringforDenver
Axios
09-06-2025
- Health
- Axios
What's next for the police response alternative STAR as it turns 5
Five years after launching, the Support Team Assisted Response Program — otherwise known as the STAR program — sits at a crossroads. The big picture: The program dispatches a paramedic with a behavioral health clinician to low-risk calls, most often for people dealing with mental health distress or substance use issues. Program manager and supervisor Marion Rorke tells us the program serves as an alternative to sending Denver police, who now sometimes call STAR themselves when they realize it's better equipped to handle certain calls. State of play: STAR has turned into a national mode l, but in order to one day become a 24/7 service, it needs more funding — which seems unlikely given Denver's current budget woes. What they're saying: "Every single call that the STAR van responds to — in lieu of law enforcement — could potentially be a life saved," local police reform activist Alex Landau told Denver City Council last week as it recognized the program's fifth anniversary. By the numbers: The program responded to 25,144 incidents between June 1, 2020, and June 3, 2025, per data provided by the city's department of public health, which runs STAR. When it launched, STAR had a single van with two people staffing it per shift. It now boasts eight vehicles, plus a rotating staff of 16 Denver Health paramedics and 16 clinicians from WellPower, a mental health care provider, who still work in teams of two. How it works: STAR runs from 6am-10pm daily, with Denver 911 responsible for dispatching its team instead of police or ambulances. STAR can connect people with additional services, even transporting them to places like behavioral health centers or referring them to other local health care services. Nearly 60,000 calls were STAR-eligible over the past five years. The intrigue: Rorke tells us she's working to codify a community advisory committee that provides direct feedback and recommendations to STAR's operation, something local advocates say is crucial to its success. That could mean making this community board a charter requirement, giving the panel more authority. Between the lines: STAR's current budget is $7.2 million, including $5.3 million directly from the city, and the rest coming from Caring for Denver grant money.
Axios
14-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Looming federal cuts spark confusion and worries among Denver nonprofits
The executive director for the mental health nonprofit Caring for Denver says slashed federal funding could lead to higher demand for its already-scarce grant dollars. Why it matters: As local nonprofits scramble to determine how cuts will affect their ability to provide services, those that don't rely on federal dollars, like Caring for Denver, are trying to see how they can step in. By the numbers: The nonprofit, which generates its grant money through local sales tax, provided $43.7 million in 103 grants to 98 organizations supporting mental health programs last year, documents show. State of play: Colorado is home to 34,251 nonprofits contributing roughly $62 billion in total economic impact, including supporting 262,000 jobs, per a 2024 report from the Colorado Nonprofit Association. "We're already seeing the strain across the sector, but it's the Coloradans who depend on these services who stand to lose the most," Paul Lhevine, Colorado Nonprofit Association president & CEO, said in a statement. Context: Cuts from the Department of Health and Human Services are worrying some Caring for Denver grantees, the nonprofit's executive director Lorez Meinhold says. "We're all trying to understand how we can best support, but we also cannot replace all the dollars that have been lost, or still may be lost," Meinhold tells us. Caveat: Meinhold emphasizes Caring For Denver's money can only be used for programs supporting mental health and substance use treatments. Zoom in: The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless last year received just over $300,000 from Caring For Denver to provide recovery and housing support for its Native American services program. Already, the Coalition this year lost federal money that paid for two staffers who helped families get housing and a FEMA grant that provided hotel and motel vouchers for homeless families, spokesperson Cathy Alderman tells us. Those were relatively low-cost line items — roughly $240,000 total — but still impactful, Alderman says. Threat level:"What we are anticipating, and it's very worrisome, is the upcoming potential cuts to Medicaid and potential cuts to HUD," Alderman tells us. That could put some people's housing at risk, Alderman says, because it could mean losing money for direct rental payments. Losing Medicaid would be interrelated, she says: "If people don't have Medicaid coverage, they're less likely to pay for housing." What's next: Nonprofits serving the local LGBTQ+ community are also bracing for blowback.
