What you need to know: California providers, with support from the Newsom administration, have begun construction on three new behavioral health care centers with funding from the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program. Following voter passage of Proposition 1,even more behavioral health treatment sites will be funded and built in the coming years.
SACRAMENTO – In case you missed it, California has supported the groundbreakings of three new behavioral health centers in just the last month to increase Californians’ access to both out-patient and in-patient care.
The sites includea Community Wellness and Prevention Center to serve youth in the Oakland area, an outpatient behavioral health center in Modesto to serve children, youth, and their families in the Central Valley, and a behavioral health and physical health care campus called the Wellness Village that will serve individuals of all ages in the Coachella Valley who need mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
We are following through on our promise to move forward full steam ahead on new behavioral health centers and support for Californians – especially young people – who are struggling. Just as we ask our local officials to step up, use the tools available to them, and take accountability, my administration is doing the same. These new centers will soon be providing care and services to people across our stateand are a beacon of more to come.
Governor Gavin Newsom
These efforts, part of California’s Mental Health for All Initiative, represent just a fraction of the historic investments made by this administration to provide grant funding to local governments, businesses, non-profits, and tribal organizations to construct new sites and expand existing sites.
These funds will especially help children, youth, transition-age youth up to 25 years old, and pregnant or postpartum individuals and their families with mental health and/or substance use disorders. In 2025 and 2026, even more behavioral health treatment sites for all ages will be funded and built thanks to Proposition 1.
On June 6, Safe Passages broke ground on a new Community Wellness and Prevention Center to serve youth in the Oakland area. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) awarded Safe Passages $9 million to build a safe space to address gaps in mental health and substance use disorder treatment for children and youth transitioning to adulthood. The wellness center will enable Safe Passages to serve more than 4,800 community members with critical resources and provide community-derived models of mental health services, meaning they are created and implemented with significant participation from the community they serve.
On June 10 in Modesto, construction began on a new outpatient behavioral health center to serve children, youth, and their families in the Central Valley. DHCS awarded Center for Human Services more than $5 million to build a safe space to address gaps in mental health and substance use disorder treatment. This will enable Center for Human Services to serve more than 1,425 new community members with critical resources annually.
Riverside University Health System:
On June 12, Riverside University Health System broke ground on a new behavioral health and physical health care campus called the Wellness Village that will serve individuals in the Coachella Valley who need mental health and substance use disorder treatment. DHCS awarded Riverside University Health System more than $80 million to build a safe space to address gaps in behavioral health treatment. The portions of the campus funded through this effort will enable Riverside University Health System to provide critical resources to more than 20,900 community members annually.
Why this matters
Through the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program, DHCS awards funding to eligible entities to construct, acquire, and expand properties and invest in mobile crisis infrastructure to further expand the range of community-based behavioral health treatment options for people with mental health and substance use disorders. Like Prop 1, this program aims to address various long-standing gaps in the behavioral health care system and meet the growing demand for services and support throughout the lifespans of people in need.
How we got here
DHCS was authorized through 2021 legislation to award $2.2 billion in Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program competitive grants. In addition, DHCS is authorized to distribute roughly $4 billion in Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program grants under Proposition 1 bond funds. Proposition 1 consists of the Behavioral Health Services Act and Behavioral Health Bond Act of 2024, which dedicates up to $4.4 billion for Behavioral Health Infrastructure. Please see the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program website for more information about grant recipients and additional details about all funding rounds.
Learn more about California’s Mental Health for All initiative.
