With support from Arnold Ventures, the National Association of Counties (NACo) invites county and city elected officials to apply to the Familiar Faces Leadership Network.
According to the NACo website, familiar faces—individuals with complex behavioral health needs who frequently cycle through jails, homeless shelters, emergency departments and other local crisis services—often do not have the support needed to ensure treatment engagement and successful outcomes. Counties and cities’ complex social services systems can be fragmented, leaving vulnerable individuals to fall through the cracks. NACo’s Familiar Faces Initiative empowers communities to share data and integrate care options between health and justice systems so they can intervene earlier, improve outcomes and reduce incarceration and hospitalization rates.
The Leadership Network will support up to 10 county or city leaders with an interest in creating or expanding cross-system data-sharing efforts. This is an opportunity for counties and cities to develop strategies for convening stakeholders from across their behavioral health and justice sectors to institute high-impact policy changes that address the needs of their most vulnerable—and also most costly—residents.
Interested community leaders are encouraged to apply to participate in the Familiar Faces Leadership Network. To apply, please complete the application (link below) and submit it by June 3, 2022 to Nina Ward, Senior Program Manager for Behavioral Health and Justice at nward@naco.org. NACo will select 10 leaders based on application responses, geographic spread and county demographics.
