ACTION: Ann Arbor Administration Denies Proposal For An Unarmed Crisis Response Program

In spite of overwhelming community support for an unarmed crisis response program [UCRP] in Ann Arbor, support from residents and city elected reps alike… during a closed city council session on December 18, 2023 Ann Arbor City Administrators denied a proposal for the UCRP RFP [Request For Proposals] the city issued last year. City Administrator Dohoney in a press release from December 27, 2023 states that the city plans to “…outline a new RFP timeline in January 2024.”

I wrote about this proposed program back in April 2022 when our city’s Independent Community Police Oversight Commission [ICPOC] was about to discuss a resolution with recommendations for the city re: the scope and services such a program should include.

Since April of 2022, a new community organization emerged from the efforts of a Washtenaw County-wide group, the Coalition For Re-envisioning Our Safety [CROS], called Care-Based Safety [CBS].

The city issued an RFP for a UCRP in the summer of 2023 with a due date of September 21, 2023 for all proposals. CBS was the only applicant. Residents, CBS staff and volunteers were caught off guard when the city made the denial announcement in December 2023 referred to in the first paragraph. This denial was communicated nearly 3 months after the RFP due date in September 2023.

The city has a procurement department staffed with professional RFP evaluators. Direct communication with applicants when there are multiple proposals submitted might create an unfair decision-making process. However, in this case CBS was the sole applicant for this pilot program grant. Further, it is within the scope of our procurement staff to reach out to applicants for “best and final offers” when there is some aspect of the vendor proposal that is unclear or requires more information etc.

This leaves me to wonder why staff did not take this step? Also makes me wonder why elected reps did not advocate staff reach out to CBS for clarifications when informed of this administrative decision to deny the CBS application…?

What you can do to support unarmed crisis response in A2

In the wake of this denial, CBS has reached out to residents and community supporters in an appeal to the city to reconsider its decision to deny the CBS application. CROS and CBS are planning to turn out as many supporters as possible to the next City Council meeting on Thursday January 11 at 7pm

[CBS was originally organizing for a Monday January 8 meeting, but city officials moved the meeting to the 11th, likely d/t the national championship college football game UM is playing on the 8th.]

The link above in “CROS and CBS are planning…” takes you to a webpage on the CROS site with more detailed background of what happened and how you can help support their efforts to bring an unarmed crisis response program to Ann Arbor.

See below for an email message I sent [based on CROS request for support] to the Ann Arbor Mayor, City Council, Administrator Milton Dohoney and his deputy John Fournier.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.

Happy new year y’all!

EMAIL to the City of Ann Arbor elected reps and city administrators:

Dear Council Members, Mr Dohoney and Mr Fournier:

I am writing you again about the city Unarmed Crisis Response Program [UCRP] RFP application denied by city procurement staff, Mr Dohoney without any public discussion a few weeks ago.

I am profoundly disappointed by this action because I think we could have been more proactive, especially our elected representatives, in engaging the only applicant for this grant-funded pilot program. If some elements of the CBS application were unclear or not satisfactory for staff, CBS could have/ should have been engaged on those items and given a chance to clarify their approach[es] outlined in detail in the 100+ page application.

Now, we are further delayed from seeing this process produce a city-funded organization to implement a much-needed unarmed crisis response agency.

Why Should We Approve The CBS Application?

We need an approach to unarmed crisis response [UCR] centering the self-determination of the individuals/ families served. This is at the core of CBS’s approach to UCR.

CBS consists of staff and volunteers with decades of community organizing/ outreach experience in Ann Arbor/ Washtenaw County. For any UCRP to be successful IMO, there are two primary foundations of that success: 1) Strong relationships with residents, especially vulnerable residents, and grassroots orgs/ churches and 2) Strong resident, especially vulnerable resident trust.

I can’t think of any other community entity in Ann Arbor, let alone Washtenaw County having both of these elements.

Finally, CBS is realistic about what it can accomplish with the moderate amount of resources the city is offering for the pilot project. A key piece of building trust with community members who have a history of distrust with other community crisis response, is to set realistic expectations from the outset. In my clinical social work background, one of my primary directives is, “under promise, over deliver.”

Thank you for reading, your consideration and for your service to city residents.

Happy New Year and Go Blue.

Greg Pratt, LMSW