TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council approved $2 million of American Rescue Plan funds for the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County to address mental and behavioral health needs in the community.
MHRSB Executive Director Scott Sylak plans to use that money on a handful of projects and community groups to help make changes one person and one group at a time.
"This money doesn't do us any good sitting in our coffers or in the city's coffers," Sylak said. "We need to get it in the community and that's what we do well at. My board does well at getting that money out there."
The funding will be used to benefit groups and services that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by spending it on six different projects that help with mental health:
- mental wellness community grants
- a mental wellness rapid response team
- trauma and grief support
- domestic violence treatment
- Latinx-based services
- a mental health facility called Dani's Place.
Sylak said the funding isn't the only solution, but it will help.
"It's a start. $2 million, that's a lot of money for anybody. We're certainly appreciative of it," Sylak said. "One thing we always know is that need is always going to outstrip resources."
Nuestra Gente, a nonprofit that serves local Hispanic and Latino communities by providing essential services like transportation, interpretation and other resources, will be receiving $70,000, founder Linda Parra said.
"We need to talk more about mental health issues in our communities," Parra said. "In our Latino community, there is a stigma. We don't talk about mental health. The families say we don't need to talk about that, don't bother."
A portion of that will go toward hiring another bilingual assistant.
"We don't have enough bilingual professionals in those areas," Parra said. "In mental health or if you go to the hospital there are not enough bilingual doctors that can treat our Latino clients that don't speak the language."
MHRSB is planning to get started on three of those projects as soon as Tuesday, and there could be movement on the other three by the end of this month.