The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Department of Public Health
250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108-4619
MAURA T. HEALEY KATHLEEN E. WALSH
Governor Secretary
KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD
Lieutenant Governor Commissioner
Tel: 617-624-6000
www.mass.gov/dph
November 5th, 2024
Steven T. James
House Clerk
State House Room 145
Boston, MA 02133
Michael D. Hurley
Senate Clerk
State House Room 335
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Mr. Clerk,
Pursuant to line item 4512-2020 of Chapter 126 of the Acts of 2023, the Department is
submitting this report on the “Equitable Approaches to Public Safety Program.” The report is
only focused on activity from July 1, 2023 through December 23, 2023.
Sincerely,
Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD
Commissioner
Department of Public Health
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Equitable Approaches to
Public Safety
Legislative Report
November 2024
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Legislative Mandate
Line Item 4512-2020 of Chapter 126 of the Acts of 2022:
For a matching grant program to be administered by the department of public health to support
municipal public safety reform; provided, that funds shall be made available to municipalities
pursuing public safety reforms and alternative investments to promote equitable public safety
and public health outcomes; provided further, that eligible reforms and investments shall
include, but not be limited to: (i) utilizing jail diversion programs, including restoration centers;
(ii) hiring de-escalation specialists or implementing de-escalation training; (iii) hiring behavioral
health specialists or utilizing other behavioral health supports; (iv) training in evidence-based or
evidence-informed mental health and substance use crisis response or alternative emergency
response; and (v) hiring or contracting alternative emergency response professionals; provided
further, that preference in awarding matching grants shall be given to municipalities proposing
alternative emergency responses conducted by unarmed community-based human service or
behavioral or mental health providers who shall be unaccompanied by law enforcement but
who may call on law enforcement as needed; provided further, that municipalities receiving
matching grants shall demonstrate a measurable benefit to public health for the residents of the
municipality, based on criteria established by the department, and that the municipality is
pursuing new practices or reforms, or expansion of prior successful practices, that support
criteria established by the department; provided further, that prior to receiving matching
grants, municipalities shall provide a comprehensive implementation plan to the department of
proposed public safety reforms and investments; provided further, that the department shall
give priority to applications that propose to invest a majority of grant funds with community-
based human service, substance use disorder treatment, behavioral health or mental health
providers; and provided further, that not later than March 1, 2024, the department shall submit
a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means that shall include, but not be
limited to: (a) a list of all municipalities that received matching funds; (b) the amount of
matching funds awarded to each municipality; and (c) a description of the reforms and
investments implemented in each municipality awarded matching funds, prior appropriation
continued..... $3,500,000
Background
Line item 4512-2020 of the FY24 budget allocated to the Department of Public Health (DPH)
$3,500,000.00 to develop and sustain a grant program for municipalities, with the requirements
that (1) municipalities provide matching funds and that (2) priority be given to proposals that
give the majority of funds to community-based human service, substance use, or mental health
providers. This legislation outlined certain types of reform that are eligible for funding, while
allowing DPH to develop criteria for reforms that could receive funding under this procurement.
The eligible types of reforms named in the legislation included:
• Utilizing jail diversion programs, including restoration centers;
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 • Hiring de-escalation specialists or implementing de-escalation training;
• Hiring behavioral health specialists or utilizing other behavioral health supports; and
• Training in evidence-based or evidence-informed mental health and substance use crisis
response or alternative emergency response or hiring or contracting alternative
emergency response professionals.
DPH engaged in a lengthy process of stakeholder engagement and subsequently released a
request for response (RFR). The Department issued contracts to the awarded vendors and is
working closely with funded communities on program implementation. In October of 2022, a
prior applicant, was funded due to a budget increase. In addition, in January 2023, the RFR was
re-opened to seek up to two more participant communities. However, there were no
applications submitted while the RFR was re-opened.
Equitable Approaches to Public Safety Program (EAPS)
In October 2021, DPH selected 5 municipalities for funding to develop and implement public
safety reform and alternative investments. In November 2022, a sixth municipality,
Northampton, was added based on a change in legislative language and increase in allocation of
funds.
Funded programs include the following 5 components:
1. Engaging the community in the development and implementation of a comprehensive
public safety reform implementation plan, using a public safety reform partnership and
broad stakeholder involvement;
2. Creating a comprehensive public safety reform implementation plan for a public safety
reform and/or alternative investment by the third month of the project period;
3. Implementing at least 1 public safety reform or alternative investment that is a new
practice or reform or is the expansion of a prior successful practice;
4. Participating in at least 2 public health cross-trainings, 1 of which must be a racial equity
training; and
5. Evaluating the public safety reform and/or alternative investment to demonstrate
effectiveness.
DPH prioritized funding municipalities that met the following criteria:
• Proposal provided more than 50% of the proposed grant funding to community-based
human service, public health, or behavioral or mental health providers;
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 • Community had a demonstrated public health need;
• The police department had either: (1) an active public safety reform partnership or (2)
was currently implementing at least 1 public safety reform initiative or investment; and
• Municipality had the capacity to collect minimum datasets and conduct a project
evaluation.
Municipalities were required to incorporate racial equity, cultural humility, restorative justice,
and stages of change theory and principles into their program, along with DPH’s community
engagement standards in their reform or alternative investment. These guiding principles are
core elements to help mitigate the inequities that marginalized communities face and to build a
public health approach to the work.
• Racial equity: Municipalities engage people of color in planning and developing
interventions, and partners with organizations with deep relationships in communities
experiencing violence.
• Cultural humility: The practice of cultural humility starts with the acknowledgement
that people’s backgrounds (familial, cultural, geographic, etc.) shape their experiences in
important ways. It also requires a commitment by municipal workers and service
providers to reflect on how their own biases and those of others may interfere with the
success of the people they serve.
• Restorative justice: Restorative justice processes aim to repair social harm through
honest, nonviolent dialogue about conflict and violence. EAPS grantees use this
approach to restore a sense of well-being to victims of harm, those who inflict harm on
others, and surrounding community members.
• Stages of change theory: Municipalities recognize that individual behavior change is
difficult and can take multiple attempts, with relapse being a core part of change. They
incorporate motivational interviewing as a tool to assess an individual’s willingness to
change and work with people at all stages of change.
• Community engagement: Successful public safety reform partnerships will engage with
members from the community, not just community-based organizations that serve
them. It is expected that the municipality and the Public Safety Reform Partnership will
ensure active and meaningful participation by the communities most impacted by
criminal justice system.
The table below specifies the allocation of EAPS funds to the 6 municipalities selected.
Grantees Amount Requested and Awarded
Town of Amherst $450,000
City of Lawrence $450,000
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 City of New Bedford $450,000
City of Revere (Community Action Program Inter-City) $329,000
Town of Winthrop $449,825
Town of Northampton $450,000
Update on Programmatic Activities:
As of December 2023, five of the six municipalities are operational and responding to the public
safety needs in their communities. One of the funded municipalities has had some barriers to
getting their program up and running. We are working with them diligently to assist them in
getting their program operational so they are able to serve their community. Details on the mix
of reforms and alternative investments that are being implemented by the different
municipalities are summarized below.
The Town of Amherst
On September 19, 2023, an Interim Leadership Team consisting of the Director of the Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion Office, Pamela Nolan-Young, the Fire Department Chief Tim Nelson,
Sergeant Janet Griffin of the Amherst Police Department, and Community Responder for Equity,
Safety & Service. (CRESS) Implementation Manager Kat Newman of the CRESS Department,
assumed leaderships of the CRESS Department to provide temporary support and guidance to
the department in the absence of a permanent director. During this time, the Leadership Team
has identified areas of improvement and experienced both challenges and successes. Included
below is information on the number of responses, impact, successes, and challenges:
Impact Responses:
- The CRESS Department has been on our town’s dispatch system since December 18,
2023. All six CRESS Department staff will complete a 1.5-hour dispatch shadow shift by
the end of December.
- The Leadership Team, two Responders, and a member of the Town’s IT department met
with Qualtrics to follow-up on software suggestions from the UMass Donahue Institute’s
final report published in June of 2023. The procurement of this software, which is
planned to be acquired within the first quarter of 2024, will replace the current in-house
(Microsoft Forms) system of reporting.
o On November 6, 2023, a new in-house form was launched to better capture the
work that the CRESS Responders are doing. At the time of this update,
approximately 85 reports have been submitted. From these reports, a weekly
excel file as well as a sample “snapshot” word document of the week in review
was created.
- The Interim Leadership Team made the decision to not renew the ESO Solutions
contract as Qualtrics will be a system more compatible to our daily operations.
Successes/challenges:
Travel:
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 o CRESS Implementation Manager and the Amherst Jones Library Director Sharon
Sharry were invited to present at the Library Journal’s “Library Safety and
Security” Event hosted in Houston, TX on Wednesday, November 8th. Newman
and Sharon presented on a panel titled “Empathy and Security: Community
Relationships to Support Safety.” The CRESS Responder who has been
spearheading the CRESS-library interactions also attended. Read more about the
Library Journal Program
o CRESS Implementation Manager and Interim Police Chief Gabe Ting presented at
the 5th Annual National Law Enforcement Summit presented by the Police
Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) in Boston on Monday,
December 4th on the “Community Responder Model: How a Civilian First
Response Can Improve Outcomes for Officers” panel. Read more about the
PAARI Program
o As part of participation in the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) and Council of
State Government’s (CSG) “Unlocking Democracy” program, Amherst
participated in an in-person convening at the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy
Museum in Montgomery, AL in December.
o CRESS Implementation Manager and Town Manager Paul Bockelman spoke on a
local radio broadcast, "Talk the Talk" on Friday, October 27th: (1:30 is where the
CRESS segment begins).
o Amherst Fire Chief Nelson discussed CRESS being on dispatch on NPR on
December 18, 2023
Training:
- One CRESS Responder attended the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) block:
Western Mass CIT TTAC
o Two CRESS Responders will attend the upcoming (February 2024) block
- Sergeant Griffin instructed the 1-hour “Working with Victims of Domestic Violence:
Crisis, Trauma, and Challenges” portion of the CIT block
- Implementation Manager instructed the 1-hour “LGBTQIA+” portion of the CIT block
o Both Sergeant Griffin and Implementation Manager will instruct the same
sections in the February block
- Two CRESS Responders attended a 2-day CIT Youth training
- Two CRESS Responders and Implementation Manager attended a day-long Mental
Health First Aid training
Town and other Agency Collaborations:
- The Department of Public Works (DPW) has begun collaborating with the CRESS
Department on encampments. The CRESS Department created a pamphlet to leave at
encampment sites to introduce the CRESS Department and capabilities for future
resource assistance.
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 - In reviewing historic Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)-based data, it was shown that
there has been a 53% reduction in police response since the CRESS Department has had
a presence in the library. Due to this, CRESS has expanded the number of hours
Responders are present. The CRESS Department and Library have a monthly meeting to
connect about ongoing collaboration and address any concerns.
- CRESS Responder Tia is known for collecting various clothing and toiletries for unhoused
individuals. The CRESS Department formally launched, “Tia’s Totes.” As a way to connect
with other town department, the CRESS Department set up collection bins at the Bangs
Community Center, Town Hall, DPW, the Recreation, Fire, and Police Department, and
Library to collect donations from staff. Over 400 items were collected with some (such
as toys) donated to our town’s police department to support their annual toy drive. See
attachment D.
- One CRESS Responder worked with Amherst College to translate a portion of the CRESS
forms into Spanish.
- Two Responders had an opportunity to present an overview of the CRESS Department
and its capabilities at an undergraduate course “Advancing Diversity in Research and
Practice” in the Phycological and Brain Sciences Department at the University of
Massachusetts
Hiring
- The CRESS Department anticipates hiring three new CRESS Responders to start on
January 16, 2023
- The search for a new CRESS Director is actively ongoing, with interviews to begin the
first week of January 2024
City of New Bedford Health Department
Funding from the EAPS grant has allowed the New Bedford health Department (NBHD), New
Bedford Police Department (NBPD), Child and Family Services (CFS), and NorthStar Learning
Centers (NorthStar) to strengthen their partnership and begin to grow in innovative ways. The
goals of the New Bedford EAPS Partnership are to increase collaboration and communication
among existing programs to expand the impact with populations at high risk for entrance into
either the criminal justice system or emergency department due to behavioral health or other
issues.
With coordination from the health department, program partners have been able to meet
regularly, increase communication and collaboration and have a greater impact on the intended
population. After seeing an uptick in gun violence over the summer in the Blue Meadows
neighborhood, the NB