Sunday, March 01, 2020

Struggle to create county Crisis Diversion Centers draws closer to goal

Greater Cleveland Congregations nears success in drive to create diversion centers

The mental health centers that were a key demand of the community’s progressive leaders during the intense political battle over the financing of renovations to Quicken Loans Arena seem closer to being born following the Criminal Justice Action mass meeting orchestrated by Greater Cleveland Congregations this past Thursday at Olivet Institutional Baptist Church.


Over one thousand GCC members from dozens of area congregations across the county packed Olivet’s sanctuary, located in the heart of Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood, for updates and action on what has largely been an under the radar struggle over the past three years to secure the necessary political and financial support to reimagine and reform the county’s broken justice system.
The assembly heard from their leaders, celebrated their power, received testimony from mothers of two young men whose lives might have been saved by a more enlightened justice system, approved a roadmap to create two new crisis diversion centers, and at the end, received endorsements and pledges from community health leaders and key public officials to make the centers a reality.
Citizens and experts agree that crisis diversion centers would keep people out of jail who don’t belong there, and also save lives and money. But public policies don’t get implemented just because they make sense, even where government is progressive. And moving the public apparatus of a defensive, decentralized, dollar-strained and often dysfunctional county government is no easy task.
GCC’s efforts in 2017 to secure the crisis centers were joined and supported by noteworthy allies, including the SEIU, AFSCME, and ATU labor unions, along the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, were insufficient to galvanize the community into addressing the issue at that time.
On Thursday, as the coalition of forces, including key public officials in the criminal justice and health systems who have since come aboard, appears on the brink of establishing the centers, GCC paused to acknowledge its early allies in the struggle.
It is now clear that the initial rebuff by the array of private and public interests against creating the centers was not the end of the discussion. Seated front and center on stage were the present and former presiding and administrative judges of the county court system, the county prosecutor, and the chief of staff for the county executive. The public systems they represent are all now at the table, working to make the diversion centers a reality.
[This post will be updated momentarily. Thank you for your patience.]


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