More mental health services will be coming to the South Bend area next year. Nonprofit Imani Unidad has gotten a $1 million grant to launch a mobile crisis team.
Executive Director Debra Stanley says it’ll be the second of its kind in the area. She says calls will come into 911, 988 or the organization directly. Social workers will decide how best to respond, and at least a two-member team will be sent out.
“Anything that is nonviolent in nature – so, it could be an overdose, it can be a suicide – anything like that that we would need a community response,” Stanley said.
Imani Unidad will coordinate with the existing crisis response team at Oaklawn.
The $1 million grant comes from the Mobile Crisis Accelerator Program, which is funded by the state and overseen by Indianapolis-based consulting firm Black Onyx Management. It distributed the funding to organizations in five counties determined to have the greatest need.
The grant will pay for a vehicle, two licensed clinical social workers, four-full-time response team members and two part-time response team members.
Stanley says the round-the-clock response team is set to launch June 30, 2026. “We are so happy to be able to serve the community even better," Stanley added. "We have been responding to crises, and this will just increase our capacity.”
She says Imani Unidad continues to seek funding to sustain the program going forward.
