By Genova Barrow | Observer Senior Staff Writer
When the coronavirus hit our communities in 2020, Black leaders began talking about the need to combat a dual pandemic. One is the invisible killing of people, and the other is police violence that is rooted in racism and unequal treatment.
Supporting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s declaration, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors declared racism a 2021 public health crisis and committed to addressing intergenerational inequities. Three years later, local officials say the pledge has led to greater emphasis and funding on mental health services and awareness efforts.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 to 40 years, and I’ve been around long enough to see the rise and fall,” says Paul Moore, program services manager for ONTRACK Program Resources.
ONTRACK, led by grassroots organizer Madalyn Rucker, has a contract with Sacramento County and is a leading provider of mental health services to the area’s Black community. The agency collaborates with public and private organizations to provide support to improve leadership and workforce skills, programs and systems, and to provide support for people of color and ethnic diversity across professional work groups. Serve the community.
That training includes instruction in the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS), a blueprint for delivering culturally and linguistically appropriate services to individuals and medical and healthcare organizations. included.
Moore recalls working in Oak Park in the 1990s. At the time, leaders’ support program was the Weed and Seed Program, which resulted in many black men being arrested for drug crimes.
“‘Weed’ means arresting a lot of black people, especially black men. And ‘seed’ means doing something in the community. It was a promise to reduce crime and make our communities safer,” Moore said. “And we’re looking back 30 years later at how mass incarceration has left us without budgets, unable to do other programs, and traumatizing large sections of our community.”
In the 1990s, there was a lack of funding for mental health providers.
“Programs were lacking. Black-owned, Black-run nonprofits that are addressing issues and mental health issues in our community, but we weren’t getting funding. We’ve got a lot more funding now. It’s pretty slim right now,” Moore says.
A disproportionate number of Sacramento County Behavioral Health Services clients identify as Black. The latest county data shows that approximately 23.2% of the patients the county served in 2022 were Black patients, but only 11% of the county’s population is Black. Data also shows that county mental health spending more than doubled from 2014 to 2024.
“Especially with the Black Lives Matter events that have happened here in Sacramento and across the country, I think as a result of that and other things, there are people working hard and there’s a lot of money out there,” Moore said. says.
“Since that happened, they’ve created a health and racial equity department,” Rucker said. “I think they were the fourth in the nation to actually declare racism as a public health crisis and they put money into it.”
“It’s a different atmosphere,” Moore said. “Everything has changed, even the county officials and executives who run these agencies. Attitudes have changed, and it’s been amazing.”
Moore says a willingness to “have a seat at the table” and move things beyond the bureaucratic level makes a big difference.
His boss agrees.
“We’re talking to administrators who want to change their systems,” Rucker said. “They finally understood that injustice stems from a broken system that sustains it, supports it, and literally supports it.”
As part of the contract with the county, ONTRACK is providing mandatory cultural competency training to hundreds of county public health employees. Moore said the training is critical because these employees, most of whom are non-Black, are the gatekeepers who decide who participates in the county’s beneficial mental health programs.
“There will be fewer black men kicked out of these programs, I guarantee you that,” Moore said. “They’re going to be paying attention to how the evaluations are done from the time they enter the program to the time they exit the program. What can we change that will help Black men successfully navigate these programs and stay healthy?” That’s the subtle change that’s happening in Sacramento.”
Nationally, plans focused on redressing historic discrimination and inequality have come under attack from white conservatives. Florida groups are suing to dismantle affirmative action programs and programs specifically focused on African American inclusion and achievement.
“There’s always pushback,” Moore said. “It’s the rise and fall. [funding] Now I have to put up with it. ”
Rucker said ONTRACK was initially tasked with leading seven training sessions, but has now conducted 34 training sessions. He added that his contract has been extended three times so far.
“They’re really committed to providing the resources to make this happen,” Rucker said. “I always emphasize that this is a marathon. This is not a short-term thing, it’s not going to change much, but this is how we got to a complete revolution. People are dying on the streets. No one wants to see that.”
Finding and creating a system that works has a positive impact on everyone, Rucker says.
“You spend less money making people homeless and living on the streets, you spend less money on people who don’t actually get better when you recycle them through these treatment programs. The cost of not addressing these issues is high. People are not only physically and mentally taxed, but they are also financially burdened. You may be able to invest in healthier solutions.”
Rucker says it all happens on multiple levels.
“Never underestimate how complex it is. No one will have all the answers to anything, but instead of just paying lip service, find out little by little what’s important.” That is important.”
Data journalist and Sacramento State professor Philip Reese contributed to this article.
Editor’s note: This article is part of Senior Staff Writer Genoa Barrow’s special series, “Headspace: Exploring the Mental Health Needs of Today’s Black Men.” This project is supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and is part of Healing California, his year-long reporting ethnic media collaboration with print, online and broadcast stations across California. The Sacramento Observer he was one of the first participants in this collaboration.
