Advocacy

Safe Cities Network’s policy priorities reflect the many factors impacting one’s well-being and resilience, including the social factors of physical and mental health such as our living conditions and neighborhoods, economic stability, access to resources, and social status.

We support the policies that strengthen our mental health systems’ ability to meet the needs of all people and communities. From prevention to supporting people with serious mental health challenges, we work to ensure resources for mental health support at all levels.

We advocate for culturally relevant mental health resources and resources that are targeted to the needs of specific populations, including youth, Veterans, older adults, LGBTQIA+ people, and immigrants.

We recognize that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) with mental health challenges have faced misdiagnosis, a lower standard of care, and incarceration at higher rates than their white counterparts and seek to ameliorate these inequities through changing policies and systems.

Safe Cities Network promotes resilience and policies that emphasize prevention and early intervention throughout the community. By ensuring adequate mental health education and resources for families with young children, school-aged children, as well as the adult population, we can prevent and reduce the impacts of trauma and reduce mental health crises leading to dropping out of school, incarceration, homelessness, and suicide, as well as violence and mass shootings.