NNED Virtual Roundtable: Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color

May 25, 2021 | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm EDT

2021 Virtual Roundtable Series: Community-Based Organizations Build Pathways to Behavioral Health Equity for Communities of Color

Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities, community-based organizations (CBOs) have elevated their response to the behavioral health needs of racially/ethnically diverse communities. The 2021 National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED) Virtual Roundtable three-part series presents the innovative and resilient work of CBOs in a time of healing and recovery.

Part 1 – Adapting to the Behavioral Health Needs of Underserved and Racially/Ethnically Diverse Youth
Part 2 – Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color
Part 3 – Creating and Enhancing Pathways to a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Behavioral Health Workforce

NNED Virtual Roundtable banner image with two people talking to each other across a table.

Part 2 – Partnering to Strengthen the Behavioral Health Infrastructure and Capacity in Communities of Color

More than ever before, the behavioral health services provided by community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve racially/ethnically diverse communities are essential to support the recovery and healing of the people most impacted by COVID-19. Current funding approaches are challenging to navigate. Oftentimes, it is even more difficult for CBOs that don’t have the infrastructure to respond to these opportunities to sustain their work.

Foundations and government agencies are recognizing the importance of funding with flexibility so that CBOs can effectively serve racially/ethnically diverse communities. Funders are establishing relationships with CBOs to drive effective solutions for these communities, while also looking inward to implement changes in their practices and policies. This includes inviting CBOs to provide input on application processes, simplifying the criteria and fields in requests for proposals (RFPs), and ensuring a faster turnaround time to get funds to CBOs.

Join this NNED Virtual Roundtable to consider new ways to tap into philanthropic and governmental funding to meet the behavioral health needs of racially/ethnically diverse communities. Behavioral health-focused CBOs will share how they are leveraging funding opportunities and their successful partnerships with funders — how they were created, cultivated, and grown before and during the pandemic.

Objectives:

Understand how both funders and CBOs are responding to disparities in funding and behavioral health services within the current context of COVID-19.
Learn about unique funding partnerships between government agencies/foundations with CBOs serving diverse racial/ethnic communities and underserved populations.
Identify fiscal challenges and solutions related to behavioral health services faced by CBOs, including billing and reimbursements.

The event was shared on Facebook Live at fb.com/nned.net and closed captioning is available.

View Resources and the Recording!

This NNED Virtual Roundtable is hosted by the NNED National Facilitation Center and SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity in partnership with SAMHSA’s Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office.

Panelists

Coretha Claiborn | ALAMO Addiction Recovery Center

Executive Director
ALAMO Addiction Recovery Center

Coretha Claiborn has been in the addictions field over eighteen years. She is a former member of the Armed services and has worked for the following organizations: Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Corrections, Community Service Boards and has been in Private Practice for over 11years. In addition to running her private practice she has also served as the Executive Director for the ALAMO Addiction Recovery Center a residential program for men in Recovery. This program provides cognitive behavioral therapy, support meetings, anger management, peer support services and case management to the residents and also serves as an outreach program to the community. Mrs. Claiborn has served in several organizations to include the Rotary Club, Petersburg Reentry Council, NAADAC and several other organizations in the community.

Jennifer Numkena Downs, LCSW | Indian Health Service

Nashville Area Behavioral Health Consultant and Urban Coordinator
Indian Health Service

Jennifer Downs, a member of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, is the Indian Health Service (IHS) Nashville Area Behavioral Health Consultant and Urban Coordinator. During her time with IHS, she served in various roles supporting domestic violence prevention efforts, behavioral health recruitment and retention, policy development, national and local level partnerships and technical assistance, and the COVID-19 Incident Command Structure. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and provides direct services through the Telebehavioral Health Center of Excellence.

Valerie L. Liggins | The Cameron Foundation

Program Officer
The Cameron Foundation

Valerie Liggins is a Program Officer with The Cameron Foundation, located in Petersburg, Virginia. The Cameron Foundation is a private, place-based, health legacy foundation. Valerie is responsible for the health and human services portfolio at the Foundation. In 2013 she was instrumental in proposing and implementing the Foundation’s strategic shift towards the social determinants of health and health equity. She planned and developed the Foundation’s first Request for Proposal process focused on Policies, Systems, and Environmental Strategies. Valerie worked with a local planning group to bring the region’s first school-based health center to a local high school in the Foundation’s service area. Valerie’s work with the Foundation also included working with Foundation leadership to complete a Homeless Services evaluation of resources in the area that resulted in a three-year grant that led to the first Continuum of Care Coordinator hired to address Homelessness in the region. Currently, Valerie is convening a focus group on Behavioral Health that includes leadership from the local school systems in the area and key stakeholders to discuss gaps and resources to address the behavioral health needs of students, families, and staff in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Victor Loo | Seattle Counseling Service

Executive Director
Seattle Counseling Service

Victor Loo, a first-generation immigrant from Singapore, is the Executive Director of Seattle Counseling Service (SCS), the oldest behavioral health agency in the country to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. As a gender non-conforming individual, Loo advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion to increase access and reduce disparities for immigrants, refugees, BIPOC, LGBTQ individuals and vulnerable individuals who lack access to quality mental health, substance use disorder, primary care, and social determinants of health services. He previously worked at Asian Counseling and Referral Service as its Director of Practice Innovation and Interim Director of Recovery Services and holds many leadership positions across the professional mental health community, including serving on the steering committee for the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health. Loo is also a certified personal fitness trainer and an androgynous model, who has been on multiple magazines’ covers.

Facilitators

Lucas Peterson | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Government Markets County/Community Liaison
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Lucas Peterson is a healthcare professional and community organizer who is passionate about mental health/substance use parity, racial health equity, and health literacy. He has over 14 years of healthcare experience with roles ranging from direct care, health policy, business operations, program management, and stakeholder engagement. This includes working in group home settings, community inpatient and outpatient hospital, state government, state operated facilities, community health centers, and health plans. Currently, Lucas is a Medicaid County and Community Liaison/Behavioral Health Program Manager for BlueCross Blue Shield of Minnesota. In addition, Lucas is a council member of the Cultural and Ethnic Communities Leadership Council (CECLC), a legislative mandated council charged with advising the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services on how to reduce disparities and make services they administer more racially equitable.

Rachele Espiritu | Change Matrix, NNED National Facilitation Center

Founding Partner
Change Matrix

Director
NNED National Facilitation Center

Rachele Espiritu brings substantive experience in the areas of children’s mental health, substance abuse prevention, elimination of disparities in behavioral health, cultural and linguistic competence, public health and program evaluation. Her expertise extends to strategic planning and implementation, organizational and systems change, culturally competent program evaluation (including outcomes planning and logic model development), and developing and supporting networks. Rachele has worked with a variety of federal, state, and community representatives to build capacity for children’s behavioral health care services and collaborating systems. Rachele, as a previous faculty member at Georgetown University, co-authored a monograph on a public health approach to children’s mental health.