Governor’s Briefs: California Awards $30.5 Million for Youth Mental Health and Governor’s Appointment

California Awards $30.5 Million for Youth Mental Health, and Support for Parents and Family Caregivers

SACRAMENTO —  California July 6 awarded $30.5 million to 63 groups to support youth mental health through community and evidence-based practices, supporting parents, grandparents and other family caregivers.

The $30.5 million in grants were awarded by the Department of Health Care Services or DHCS to 63 groups. Both evidence-based practice and community-defined evidence practice models funded include: positive parenting practices, incredible years, healthy steps (Medi-Cal Dyadic services benefit), parent child interaction therapy and a variety of other community-defined parenting support programs.

By scaling successful models throughout the state, DHCS aims to improve access to critical behavioral health interventions, including those focused on prevention, early intervention, and resiliency/recovery, for children and youth. There is a specific focus on children and youth from Black, Indigenous, and people of color and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) communities.

These awards were funded through the CYBHI, a $4.7 billion investment in behavioral health. They focused on equity, centering efforts around children and youth voices, strengths, needs, priorities and experiences, especially for those most at risk; driving transformative systems change; and using ongoing learning as the basis for change and improvement in outcomes for children and youth. CYBHI is a major element of the Governor’s transformation of California’s mental health system – including the new ballot measure proposed for March 2024 with a bond to build housing with accountability (AB 351, Irwin) and reforms to the Mental Health Services Act to deliver services with results (SB 326, Eggman).

Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom June 30 announced the following appointment:

Kamilah Willingham, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Willingham has been a public speaker, writer and consultant since 2015. She was a program and outreach director at the California Women’s Law Center from 2015 to 2016. Willingham was a program associate at Just Detention International from 2013 to 2015. She was a teaching fellow at the Harvard University Department of Sociology in 2012. Willingham was a student attorney in the Family Law, Domestic Violence and LGBT Law Unit at WilmerHale Legal Services Center from 2009 to 2011. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Pomona College and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Willingham is a Democrat.