March 2016

All of the incredible mental health respite work that Respite Partnership Collaborative grantees are doing in the community is making a difference! We would like to share grantee impact stories from various organizations. This story from Wind Youth Services provides a glimpse into the value the community places on the organization’s services.

We had an exciting start to 2016 with a powerful and successful Community Stakeholder Meeting. TLCS, Inc. staff and a respite guest spoke on the community need that respite programs fulfill, outlining the impact of mental health respite services on individual lives and the unique difference the programs truly make.

Representatives from American Institutes for Research shared project learnings and evaluation findings. See the presentation. In addition, a panel of diverse mental health respite grantees shared what respite means in their programs and in their communities, and provided recommendations for starting respite programs in other areas.

The final Grantee Learning Community Meeting for the Respite Partnership Collaborative project was held on February 18. This meeting brought together grantees from all three rounds of RPC funding to share what they have learned and to look at next steps. Grantee respite programs have made an impact on the lives of more than 5,500 individuals in Sacramento County since 2013.

The Respite Partnership Collaborative grantee video project continues! Each RPC grantee will be offered an opportunity to produce a two-minute video that highlights their organization, their mental health respite work and the impact they are having in the community. The videos are for organizations to tell their story of respite, such as on their web site, for funders, at community presentations and as a general way to get the word out into the community.

The first video completed was for TLCS, Inc., highlighting voices of staff, management and clients. Watch the video on YouTube. Videos for Turning Point Community Programs’ Abiding Hope Respite House and Iu-Mien Community Services are now in production.

Another video in production focuses on the dedicated volunteers who serve as members of the Respite Partnership Collaborative and have worked to implement the MHSA Innovation Plan. This video is scheduled to be finalized in April.

The December 17 and February 18 MHSA Steering Committee meetings included followup discussions on the potential sustainability of Round 3 respite services. A Church for All, Gender Health Center, Wind Youth Services and the Sacramento LGBT Community Center were recommended for county funding under Prevention and Early Intervention Programs.

This newsletter is for you and is by you! Please share stories, photos and upcoming events to be included in the next newsletter.

If you or your organization tweets, please use the hashtag #RespiteSac to call attention to the work you are doing!

Follow the RPC on Twitter.

RPC Meetings
April 5 – 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
May 3 – 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
June 7 – 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Community Stakeholder Meeting
May 19 – 1 p.m. to 4 p.m

Wind Youth Services in partnership with Sacramento News and Review created A Place for Me, a publication on youth homelessness in Sacramento. Stories from homeless youth, data points and suggestions on what community members can do make this a powerful resource. It was created with funding from Sierra Health Foundation in partnership with Wind Youth Services, Tubman House, Sacramento LGBT Community Center, California Youth Homeless Project and N&R Publications.