Leaders of the Mountain View-based Community Health Awareness Council are discontinuing clinic services as they grapple with a large budget deficit heading into the next fiscal year.
The clinic, which has provided mental health counseling to 300-400 clients over the past two years, will go on “hiatus” effective Aug. 1, according to Anne Ehresman, interim executive director. The decision came May 24 after CHAC’s board discussed the budget for 2023-2024. CHAC faces a $750,000 budget deficit as fiscal year 2022-2023 ends.
“Getting to a balanced budget that is based only on confirmed revenues required difficult choices that we did not take lightly,” Ehresman said in a letter to staff. “But, we must focus our resources on the programs that are funded, rather than continue to operate programs at a significant loss.”
She noted that some staff positions will be impacted, with staffers notified this month.
“We have been exploring collaborations and partnerships that may allow us to restructure,” Ehresman said in the staff letter. “We will revisit this decision when additional resources/opportunities become available.”
Later, in an email to the Town Crier, Ehresman added: “It’s been a little tricky to communicate with our partners that our school partnerships are strong and stable while needing to reduce services at the clinic because of the operating deficit in that area of our budget.”
CHAC’s partnerships with local school districts are fully funded, Ehresman said, as are the nonprofit organization’s Family Resource Centers. CHAC serves nearly 6,000 students in 35 K-12 schools. But the clinic, which allows payment on a sliding scale or no payment at all, is operating in the red.
“We’ve tried to not turn anyone away,” Ehresman said. “(But) we currently have no dedicated revenue stream for the clinic.”
Help on the way?
There is hope on the horizon. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is considering a possible partnership that could involve acceptance of Medi-Cal reimbursements. In addition, supervisors were scheduled at Monday’s budget hearing (held after the Town Crier’s print deadline) to consider a $1 million contribution to “help maintain mental health services in Santa Clara County,” according to a county staff report.
The action comes after supervisors, led by District 5 Supervisor Joe Simitian, asked county staff May 9 to look into ways of helping the cash-strapped nonprofit, celebrating 50 years of operations this year.
“The challenge that CHAC has had is that they have not ever gotten the organization qualified to be a medical recipient, which means that they do the work and incur the costs but don’t get reimbursed for it,” Simitian said. “And obviously, that’s not a sustainable model.”
Simitian said the goals for CHAC are three-fold: “Make sure that the organization is stabilized financially, then move quickly to get them medically qualified so that they can start to receive income for the good and important work they do. And then, while all that’s going on, we have to have a conversation about what CHAC wants to see in the way of organizational and governance structure in the years ahead.”
Even if the $1 million in county funding is approved this week, Ehresman said it takes several months for funding to materialize. But she said she was “encouraged” by the county proposal.
“There is a path back, and it’s a pretty clear path, not necessarily an easy one,” Simitian said. “But it begins with Medi-Cal eligibility for Medi-Cal reimbursement.”
Simitian said supervisors recognize the importance of mental health services.
“These are not services people can do without, so if you don’t have a county operation, then you have to rely on your local nonprofits and you have to make sure they stay strong and capable of delivering the services,” he said.
For more information on CHAC, visit chacmv.org.
