Bay Area

Mayor London Breed Announces Plan to Create Street Wellness Response Team to Expand Services for Those in Need

SCRT launched its fourth team on Monday, May 10. These teams are currently operating in the Tenderloin, the Castro/Mission, the Bayview, and the Northeast/Waterfront/Chinatown area. The program will be fully deployed by the end of the summer after a fifth team comes on board to cover remaining geographic areas while a sixth team provides city-wide 24/7 coverage.

Published

5 years ago

May 14, 2021

Mia Lane

Mayor London N. Breed today announced a plan to create a new Street Wellness Response Team to improve outcomes for people in need on San Francisco’s streets and advance the City’s efforts to implement alternatives to police responses to non-violent calls.

The Street Wellness Response Team will provide an appropriate medical and social service response for people who require immediate assistance but do not have emergent behavioral health care needs.

San Francisco’s Street Crisis Response Teams (SCRT) will continue operating to address the needs of people experiencing behavioral health crises.

“Building on the early success of the Street Crisis Response Team, we are continuing our work to make a significant change to improve how we effectively serve people in need on our streets,” said Breed. “Many calls to 911 or 311 about someone who appears to need help on our streets don’t require an armed police response, and often the services and care people need would be best provided by a paramedic or outreach worker instead of a police officer.

“As we work to recover from COVID-19, part of making our city stronger and healthier requires pushing forward on our efforts to help people experiencing homelessness and who are on our streets in need of assistance and connections to housing. The Street Wellness Response Team will work alongside the Street Crisis Response Teams. Together, these Street Response Teams will meet people where they are and provide the level of care that is needed.”

The Street Wellness Response Team will consist of community paramedics and EMTs from the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) and Homeless Outreach Team members from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH).

They will be dispatched to focus on well-being checks and situations that require immediate attention, but do not meet the threshold of an acute behavioral health crisis. This includes situations such as someone with obvious wounds, people who are lying down or sleeping, or someone inappropriately clothed for the weather.

SFFD community paramedics, which also support the Street Crisis Response Team, will perform medical, behavioral, and social needs assessments, render immediate aid if needed, and along with the homeless outreach worker, will be able to offer meaningful connections to services and housing.

The new team will be deployed on 12-hour shifts in an SFFD vehicle and have the ability to provide transportation services to individuals who might need that as part of the engagement.

As with SCRT, the new Street Wellness Response Team will be able to respond directly to 911 and 311 calls for service. The team will analyze 911 and 311 calls for service to strategically assign teams to be in areas where there is high need and proactively respond to people in distress on the street who are not in an acute behavioral health crisis.

Integrating these teams with 911 and 311 dispatch will also help with tracking data and outcomes to ensure the efficacy of the program.

Existing outreach teams like the Homeless Outreach Team and Harm Reduction Outreach teams will continue to operate, complementing the Community Response Teams by providing ongoing, specialized outreach to people experiencing homelessness who need support to stabilize and move from streets to housing.

The Mayor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Years 2021-22 and 2022-23, which will be submitted by June 1, 2021, will include $9.6 million to fund five teams over two years. If this team is approved in the Budget when it is finalized at the end of July, they would begin the operational planning, developing protocols — including risk assessment and dispatch—and launch at least one team by January 2022 and build up to five teams total by April 2022.

“The San Francisco Fire Department’s Community Paramedic Division stands ready to build another team to deliver the much-needed services to people of the City and County of San Francisco,” said Chief Jeanine Nicholson of the San Francisco Fire Department. “Mayor Breed has recognized the positive impact that community paramedicine has had with the recently implemented Street Crisis Response Team and EMS6. The SFFD looks forward to being a part of the solution to improving people’s lives as well as overall street conditions.”

“The Street Wellness Response Team will provide dignified and compassionate care to people experiencing homelessness on our streets and in our neighborhoods,” said Shireen McSpadden, director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “We appreciate this investment in making our communities safer and more humane for all residents of San Francisco.”

During the rollout of SCRT, the City has continued to focus on the next steps needed to provide better services and outcomes for people on the street and end the use of police as first responders when an armed response is not needed. Led by the Mayor’s office, City departments including SFFD, Department of Emergency Management, San Francisco Police Department, the Department of Public Health, HSH, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, City Administrator’s office, and Public Works, have been identifying and analyzing further calls that could be diverted from the police and handled by different non-law enforcement entities in a manner that is safe, sustainable for the long-term, and delivers better service for those in need of assistance.

In 2019, there were approximately 18,000 calls for assistance regarding “well-being checks” that were fielded by both 911 and 311 in which the police were ultimately deployed to respond.

This is one of the highest-volume call categories currently being answered by police after the calls regarding “mentally disturbed adults” that have already been diverted to SCRT. To address these “well-being” requests and provide more proactive outreach, Breed is proposing these new teams to operate in concert with SCRT and the City’s continuum of services.

“There is a lot of stigma against people having a mental health crisis on the streets,” said Miguel Levya, a peer counselor for SCRT. “We find we can de-escalate most situations by treating them the way everyone wants to be treated – with kindness and respect. This offers the best approach for getting them the help they need and resolving any disturbances that have happened.”

Street Crisis Response Team Background

In June 2020, Mayor Breed announced a roadmap to fundamentally change the nature of policing in San Francisco and issued a set of policies to address structural inequities. She proposed four priorities to achieve this vision: ending the use of police in response to non-criminal activity; addressing police bias and strengthening accountability; demilitarizing the police, and promoting economic justice.

The Street Crisis Response Team launched in November 2020 to change the way San Francisco responds to non-violent, mental health crises on our streets. The SCRT pilot program offers a unique model for the nation with a behavioral health and harm reduction approach to people in distress. Each SCRT neighborhood team consists of a paramedic, a behavioral health clinician, and a peer health worker.

By April, the teams had responded to more than 700 calls with an average response time of 15 minutes. The vast majority of those calls, or 82%, were dispatched from 911. All in all, the SCRT diverted 19% of “mentally disturbed person” calls from dispatch, demonstrating that the SCRT program can be a clear alternative to law enforcement. In 53% of the cases, the SCRT was able to resolve the crisis on the scene, and in 37% of the cases, the client was transported to the hospital or a social or behavioral provider who could provide more intensive medical support or behavioral health treatment.

The San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Communication is the source of this report.

Mia Lane

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Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Community Celebrates Turner Group Construction Company as Collins Drive Becomes Turner Group Drive

The event drew family, friends, and longtime supporters of Turner Group Construction, along with a host of dignitaries. The mood was joyful and warm, filled with hugs, handshakes and belated New Year’s greetings. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and a festive display of gourmet cupcakes as they conversed about the street sign reveal.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

The Turner Construction group members.

By Carla Thomas

It was a family affair on Friday, Jan. 23, at the corner of Hegenberger Road and Collins Drive in East Oakland as community members, local leaders, and elected officials gathered to celebrate the renaming of Collins Drive to Turner Group Drive. The renaming saluted the Turner Group’s 45-plus years of economic development and community investment.

Special guests included former Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, veteran broadcaster Valerie Coleman-Morris, Chevron Senior Public Affairs Representative Andrea Bailey, community leaders Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson and Beatrice “Aunt Bea” Johnson of the Oscar Grant Foundation, and Oakland City Councilmembers Ken Houston, Carroll Fife, and Kevin Jenkins. Members of WEBCORE, the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC), Swinerton and Alten construction companies, activists Elaine Brown and David Newton, and many others joined the celebration.

Inside the event tent, an emotional Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston spoke of his deep connection to the Turner family.

“I grew up on the same street with the Turners,” he said. “When my father passed away, their parents and siblings embraced me like family. This is our city, and it’s an honor to name this street Turner Group Drive because of the love and effort this company and family have given. Many dreams came out of this building. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Turners.”

Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, whose father once taught the Turner brothers, added, “Len Turner is an amazing person. He’ll help anyone.”

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee praised the company’s legacy, noting its creation of the Construction Resource Center, which trains and mentors the next generation of builders and developers through partnerships across the region. “This is a great day for Oakland and a profound acknowledgment of the Turner Group’s contribution to our community,” she said.

Fife echoed that sentiment: “This is a day for celebrating Black excellence. The Turner Group has poured into people and the community, showing us what’s possible.”

Among the many family members in attendance was the Turners’ 92-year-old patriarch, whose presence underscored the strength of the family’s legacy.

A touching highlight of the event came when Coleman-Morris was honored for her lasting mentorship of LaTanya Hawkins, now program manager of the Construction Resource Center. In 1979, Hawkins, then a fourth-grader, wrote Coleman-Morris a letter seeking advice. Coleman responded with words of encouragement that inspired Hawkins to pursue her dreams. The two stayed in touch for decades. On stage, they embraced as Coleman reflected on “the power of small acts of kindness to change a life.”

Coleman-Morris also shared reflections on leadership and community spirit, saying, “If we change the way we look at things, the things we see will change.” She then recited the Serenity Prayer, reminding the crowd, “We are a powerful community, we just need to believe it.”

Company leaders Len and Lance Turner closed the ceremony with words of gratitude and humor. Len thanked his mother, wife, family, legal team, and longtime supporters including Carson, Geoffrey Pete, and the late Dorothy King of Everett & Jones Barbecue. He also acknowledged the challenges the company had overcome, saying, “Without all of this support, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Through Turner Group Construction and the Construction Resource Center, the Turners have created new opportunities for underrepresented groups in the construction industry and continue to inspire the next generation of builders.

Oakland Post

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Activism

New Bill, the RIDER Safety Act, Would Support Transit Ambassadors and Safety on Public Transit

The RIDER Safety Act would allow public transit agencies to hire transit ambassadors trained in de-escalation, crisis response, and rider education and engagement. Acting as a visible, non-enforcement presence to deter low-level incidents and reduce conflict, transit ambassadors would ease the burden from law enforcement and enhance public safety.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

BART train. Photo courtesy of ABC7.

By Post Staff

A new federal bill would support transit ambassador, or transit support specialist, programs at public transit agencies across the country.

The bill, (D-CA-12), H.R. 6069, the Rapid Intervention and Deterrence for Enhanced Rider Safety Act, or the RIDER Safety Act, was introduced Jan. 30 by Congresswoman Lateefah Simon. (D-CA-12), H.R. 6069, the Rapid Intervention and Deterrence for Enhanced Rider Safety Act, or the RIDER Safety Act.

This legislation is based on Congresswoman Simon’s work at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to create a first-in-the-nation Transit Ambassador Program, which previously earned a prestigious nationwide award for “Innovation in Public Safety.”

She announced the bill at a press conference at the 19th Street BART Station alongside BART leaders and other supporters.

The RIDER Safety Act would allow public transit agencies to hire transit ambassadors trained in de-escalation, crisis response, and rider education and engagement. Acting as a visible, non-enforcement presence to deter low-level incidents and reduce conflict, transit ambassadors would ease the burden from law enforcement and enhance public safety.

This bill would also create jobs provide meaningful work, training opportunities, and a pathway for career growth in local communities. In the House of Representatives, the bill is also co-led by Representatives Shomari Figures (AL-02), Nellie Pou (NJ-09), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), and John Garamendi (CA-08).

“I am incredibly proud to champion the RIDER Safety Act in Congress and continue my work to ensure transit is safe, accessible, and affordable to everyone. We have seen the success of the transit ambassador programs here in the East Bay, and I am dedicated to bringing this proven public safety model to the rest of the country,” said Congresswoman Simon.

“These are strong local jobs for people who want to support public safety on transit and serve as a resource to individuals who may be in crisis or in need of services,” she continued. “Strengthening safety on transit benefits us all and helps ensure our public transportation systems remain places of opportunity, dignity, and trust.”

“This bill is critical to ensure the safety of every passenger who relies on public transportation across the country,” said Congresswoman Nellie Pou. “The RIDER Safety Act builds on successful transit models already implemented in communities, including the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) through the leadership of Congresswoman Lateefah Simon during her time as BART President. By providing transit stations with medically trained, unarmed personnel, we can strengthen safety standards, reduce fare evasion, and give riders a greater peace of mind when getting from one place to the next.”