The Coalition of Voluntary Mental Health Agencies, Inc. (The Coalition) represents over 100 not-for-profit agencies, which serve more than a quarter of a million clients in all five boroughs of New York City. We are the largest coalition of community-based mental health providers in New York State.
Coalition member agencies provide the full spectrum of community-based mental health services, to both insured and uninsured recipients of care, in every neighborhood of this very diverse city. These services include outpatient treatment, outreach, rehabilitative, clubhouse and community residential services.
Our members range in size from small grassroots organizations with budgets of several hundred thousand dollars to large mental health service groups with budgets of well over $100 million. The Coalition itself is funded primarily by member dues. Coalition agencies reflect the disparate racial, ethnic and linguistic populations of New York City, and serve the full range of clients seeking mental health services including seriously and persistently mentally ill adults, seriously emotionally disturbed children, individuals with HIV/AIDS, the elderly and the homeless. A significant number of persons served by our agencies are legal immigrants who are eligible but have not applied for United States citizenship.
The Coalition serves as an important source of education, information and policy analysis for its members. It links the mental health system and non-mental health service systems (e.g., board of education, agencies resettling immigrants and refugees, child welfare agencies, HIV/AIDS service providers etc.) and provides advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill, specialized technical assistance, publications, forums for information-sharing such as conferences and workshops, and special projects including housing development and assistance with managed care.
In 1996 the Coalition was awarded grants with the Legal Action Center by the United Hospital Fund and The New York Community Trust. The product, a report by the two organizations entitled “Finding the Right Fit: Managed Special Care in New York State,” analyzed behavioral managed care experiences around the country, compared to proposed public managed care systems in New York State and made policy recommendations for New York State policy makers on managed care for special needs populations.
Currently, The Coalition is conducting intensive managed care technical assistance projects for its members and interested others. In addition, along with The New York Association for New Americans(NYANA) we are engaged in preparing psychiatrically disabled immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
The Coalition was established in 1972 in large part to advocate on behalf of the mentally ill, to assure that the psychiatrically disabled have access to adequate community support, treatment and services. The Coalition has taken a lead in trying to assure that government (particularly New York State and New York City), as guarantor of the social safety net, provides sufficient resources for community-based mental health services. The Coalition employs a government affairs consultant in Albany, works in alliance with like-minded groups on key issues, and this past year led a very successful advocacy effort to restore community mental health funds originally slated to be cut from the budget.
Advocacy at the federal level began only last year and is much more modest. At the federal level, the Coalition has participated in efforts to gain mental health parity in insurance and to assure that mental health services remain covered under any permutation of Medicaid reform. In October 1996 we also submitted comments to the Immigration and Naturalization Service/INS on its proposed revised regulation concerning disability waivers of the English proficiency and civics requirements for naturalization.
.
