Vallejo’s mobile crisis response team calls for city aid to avoid shutdown

VALLEJO - Vallejo’s new mobile crisis response program could shut down by June without financial support from the city after exhausting its funding just one year after its launch.

The IHART program is an alternative emergency response service operated by the nonprofit Felton Institute that offers mental and behavioral health support and social services without police intervention. Civilians respond to 911 calls and offer follow-up services and case management to people trying to navigate tricky bureaucratic steps toward support services, healthcare and housing. 

However, according to a report presented to Vallejo’s Measure P Oversight Committee last week, its financial future looks dim. Felton Institute CEO Al Gilbert said the company sent layoff notices to all IHART staff to execute at the end of May, after having operated on a $1.2 million budget for the last year. 

The program is largely funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, which Vallejo Police Deputy Chief Robert Knight said could only last so long without city aid.

“We didn't get it perfect when it came to funding, when it came to the programmatic side and the impact we've had on people's lives in the community, I think we did get it right,” Knight told the committee Tuesday.

Committee member Regina Briseno suggested a motion to recommend the use of Measure P sales tax revenue for the program but Chief Assistant City Attorney Randy Risner said that since the presentation was noticed as an information item on the meeting’s agenda it would have to be brought back as an action item in order for the committee members to take a vote. The City Council will consider the plea for funding on Tuesday.

IHART handled more than 1,300 crisis calls between April 2024 and April 2025 and linked more than 460 people to services. Its most recent report filed for January through March shows the program expanded to include co-response with police officers and supporting the investigations unit. It’s also embedded in four schools to link with youth experiencing trauma with the focus of restorative justice using community partnerships. 

IHART staff said Tuesday that within the last year, it’s become clear that its work has driven a growing decline in repeat 911 calls, and highlighted an increasing demand for emergency and transitional housing and mental health crisis intervention. 

“IHART continues to face challenges in securing sustainable funding to expand behavioral health support, increase operational hours, and enhance long-term client stability programs,” the January to March report noted. “The demand for after-hours crisis response, mental health specialists, and transitional support services highlights the necessity for additional resources and financial investment to sustain and grow IHART’s impact.”

Gilbert told the committee that his employees are highly trained in being embedded in communities and responding to crises without involving police officers, relieving that burden on police. 

“I think it’s unfair for us to even think about the concept that they’re supposed to be both police officers dealing with crime and also being social case workers at the same time. Because you’re asking for too much,” Gilbert said. “All I’m suggesting is, we’re not wasting your money. We’re creating an opportunity [so] that this community can have wellness and that we can, with the support of the police, continue to enhance that environment.”

Gilbert noted how much the Vallejo Police Department has supported the program and sought out funding opportunities for those reasons. 

Knight said the department recently won a new grant that covers at least $290,000 in operating funds for two years and is applying for another grant which could bring up to $1 million to cover operations for three years if approved. But those funds can’t fully cover the program without action from the city, he said.

“Grants are great, but they aren’t enough to sustain the same program over time for years and years,” Knight said. 

Committee Chair Jasmine Salmeron, who requested Tuesday’s presentation, said she wants to start having an updated budget on hand during meetings, including having a set reserve amount, in order to always know how much the committee has available to allocate at any time for these requests. Even if approved, any allocated funding would not go into effect for at least 30 days. 

Commissioner Brien Farrell said he’s concerned that without IHART, plans like the city’s struggling Broadway supportive housing project face a major lack of case management services. That project was intended to connect people to housing and supportive services, but losing IHART means losing another way to get that work done, he said. 

Salmeron told Vallejo Sun in an email that until the presentation, she wasn’t aware of the program’s funding challenges. “That crucial detail came to light thanks to a community member who voiced their concern during the public forum,” she said. 

Vallejo Homeless Union member Eli Smith told Vallejo Sun on Thursday that she hopes the city council votes to approve additional funds for IHART, saying that a crisis response team is an absolute necessity for both housed and unhoused communities. 

Smith said she’s seen IHART work with unhoused people primarily to connect them with case managers during crisis response calls, not specifically to house them, since temporary and permanent housing is scarce in Solano County. That’s a city and county resource issue, which IHART cannot solve, she said. 

“It would be terrible if Vallejo abandoned the entire concept after only one year, instead of making a commitment to rigorously develop this program,” she said. “Many of Vallejo's communities justifiably fear the police. If not IHART, then what?”