Crisis to Care
The Progressive Caucus's 2025 Budget Campaign
Crisis to Care is the Progressive Caucus’s 2025 (FY26) budget campaign calling for $61 million in investments to tackle the dual mental and public health crises that have long gone unaddressed in New York City.
Our Crisis to Care plan sets out with a simple premise: to ensure our city fully funds services for people who need care and provides dignified conditions for the workers who deliver that critical support. We view the plan as the first leg of a multi-year, public safety campaign to invest in frontline workers and everyday New Yorkers, to lean into evidence-based solutions that follow best medical practices, and to build up our city’s comprehensive mental health network.
We break this funding down into two buckets, and include a third that outlines actions our caucus commits to taking.
Building up our mental health network
Building up our mental health network ($55.1M) refers to a collection of interconnected services that provide ongoing care and support for individuals with mental health issues, substance use disorder and those suffering with either issue within the criminal justice system. The collective goal of this two-part bucket is as follows: eliminate the waitlists for critical services and build up the network’s physical infrastructure. The plan aims to:
Eliminate waitlists for critical mental health and survivor services:
- $22M in baselined funds to create additional Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams on DOHMH’s mental health waitlist. It’s currently stagnant in funding at $42 million with a long waitlist. This would bring the total to $64M.
- $7M in baselined funding to create additional Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams on the DOHMH’s waitlist. This would bring the total to $21M.
- $6.3M in funds for the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV).
- $4.8M to bring microgrant funding up from $1.2M to $6M.
- $1.5M for Home+ provider needs.
Expand access to respite centers and supportive housing programs:
- $4.8M more in annual funding for Justice Involved Supportive Housing to be delivered through a reissued RFP for 380 new units with service funding levels in line with those for other higher need groups like 15/15 Young Adult Supportive Housing.
- $6M in funding for 4 new respite centers to comply with Local Law 118, with $12M baselined for out year projected costs.
- $9M in baselined funds for expanded mobile syringe services programs in addition to opioid settlement dollar allocations announced in January 2025. This ask calls for additional city funds to expand peer support team capacity for increased mobile teams to serve neighborhoods currently without coverage.
Better Conditions for our Crisis Response Workforce
Scaling better conditions for a more holistic crisis response workforce ($5.5M) refers to the makeup of our crisis response and mental health workforce and their working conditions. We view peer specialists as critical to meeting needs and want to see them deployed for mental health response teams across the city’s mental health network. In addition, the goal here is to win better conditions for frontline staff in our crisis and mental health response systems. The plan calls for:
- $4.5M in baselined funds for 60 additional staff lines for well-paid Peer Specialists to staff the city’s multi-agency mental health and crisis response teams.
- $1M in baselined funds for the creation of a pilot EMS Wellness & Peer Support Program, which would include: a crisis hotline, dedicated social workers, EMS peer support staff, and monthly debriefing & support groups.
Other Actions
In addition to budget line items, Crisis to Care uplifts union campaigns within the public safety systems at the city level. It also calls for the creation of a Crisis Response Roundtable to map out the current state of the city’s crisis response infrastructure and lay the groundwork for meaningful reforms and investments in the years ahead. The Plan’s action items call for:
- The creation of a monthly Crisis Response Roundtable within the New York City Council.
- The amplification of UAW Local 2325’s pay and benefit contract demands.
Crisis to Care in the News
NYC students call on Mayor Adams to invest more in schools, child care, and immigrant aid
Chalkbeat New York
April 8, 2025
“[B]ecause of a dire shortage of youth mental health providers, Dee was stuck on a waitlist for a year before they actually spoke to a therapist, they said… ‘I was lucky enough to be one of those kids who could wait that long,’ Dee said. ‘Some kids are slowly losing themselves to the pain in their brains.’ Dee called on the city to invest $61 million in ‘Crisis to Care,” an effort to expand mental health services and reduce waitlists.
Hellgate
April 8, 2025
“Another teen, Dee, with a bright smile but a commanding look, spoke about their struggles with mental health during the pandemic, as well as the lack of funding for each high school to have a mental health counselor. ‘If you really care about New York, Mayor Adams, you’ll listen to me and add at least $61 million to the budget to help fund these necessary programs. I beg you, no, I DEMAND you add these programs to the budget to strengthen New York City and make it feel like home for everyone,’ Dee said.”
Opinion: A healthier and safer city requires real solutions
by Council Members Sandy Nurse & Tiffany Cabán
City & State NY
January 15, 2025
“The Progressive Caucus is committed to ensuring quality care for the people who need it and dignified work conditions for those who provide that care. We will soon be releasing a plan focused on the cornerstones of a strong mental health and public safety infrastructure: 1) ensuring our city delivers a crisis response system that staffs up teams with medical experts and peer specialists to meet needs; 2) scaling up a fully funded mental health care system; and 3) uplifting the material conditions of the workers who provide this vital care.”