At its statewide conference last week, the League of California Cities announced the winners of the prestigious Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in 2022. The award is given annually in 12 categories, with the partnership among all 19 cities and towns in Contra Costa County and Contra Costa Health (CCH) receiving the Award for Intergovernmental Collaboration for the Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (A3) behavioral health crisis response initiative. A3 seeks to transform the region’s behavioral health care and emergency response system.

Concord and other cities worked together with CCH, as well as mental health providers, community advocates and people with lived experiences or their family members to develop the new A3 system for delivering safe, appropriate care to county residents who are experiencing behavioral health emergencies.

The team worked to develop a new model in which a person in crisis has someone to talk to, someone to respond, and a place to go to receive behavioral health services. The result of the collaboration is A3 Community Crisis Response — where anyone can get professional help at anytime, anywhere in the county.

“Effectively responding to mental health emergencies by establishing A3 as the fourth arm of emergency response in Contra Costa County is transformational and will have a lasting impact on public health," Concord City Manager Valerie Barone said. "The City of Concord is so proud to be part of this process.”

Learn more about A3 on Contra Costa Health’s website at https://cchealth.org/a3.

Download a fact sheet about A3: Fact sheet | Spanish.

Watch the YouTube video.

The League of California Cities is a nonprofit statewide association that advocates for cities with the state and federal governments and provides education and training services to elected and appointed city officials. The 2022 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence winners, recognized for their outstanding programs, were chosen from 155 submissions. Learn more at www.helenputnam.org