Stephanie Hepburn is a writer in New Orleans. She is the editor in chief of #CrisisTalk. You can reach her at .
It’s been a tough six months, says Moki Macías, executive director of the Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative, an Atlanta-based non-profit providing jail diversion and a police response alternative for people experiencing quality-of-life challenges. PAD faced an uncertain future with the city despite winning a competitive bid in July.
Community crisis programs nationwide frequently experience similar struggles, often navigating bureaucratic challenges, policy shifts, budget cuts, delays and nonpayment. In many cases, these programs can’t withstand these roadblocks and have no choice but to shutter their doors.
PAD services halted on Dec. 31 when its contract expired, disrupting its ability to respond to Atlanta 311, the program’s jail diversion partner and the city’s non-emergency line. (For the past four years, when calls warrant an in-person response, 311 agents will submit an outreach request to PAD and a two-person community response team is engaged.) The interruption came seven weeks after the Atlanta City Council approved a new $5 million, two-year contract with the nonprofit.
Back in April, the city issued a request for proposals, seeking bids from organizations qualified to provide mobile community referral and diversion services. PAD was the only bidder. “We went through the entire process and negotiated a budget, scope of work and contract language,” explained Macías. The next step was for the city council to authorize executing the contract award. That’s when delays began. According to Macías, the initial delay stemmed from a councilmember wanting to be present for proposal discussions but a subsequent hold from city administration “signaled that something was off track.”
That PAD was the only bidder is no surprise. The program was designed specifically for Atlantans and emerged through collaboration with the city’s administration, law enforcement, social service providers, faith leaders and community members affected by policing and incarceration.
Since July, PAD has operated without a formal contract, providing services in good faith. “Our understanding was that we had been provided the award and therefore, the contract would be retroactive,” said Macías, adding that she let the city know it would be difficult to continue providing services without a contract. City council responded by authorizing a temporary month-to-month extension of the previous contract, allowing PAD to be paid for services already provided and authorizing it to continue working under the old contract until the end of the year.
“We needed to ensure we had the financial resources and commitment to continue providing services to people in the community,” she said. “Our priority was also that our team could maintain their livelihood.”
For months, she and her employees were living in limbo.
The nonprofit’s services are part of Atlanta’s public safety strategy. “That contract funds our entire community response team,” said Macías. “The city putting approval of the awarded contract on hold has meant an incredible amount of uncertainty for the people going out into the community every day responding to calls.”
Councilmember Alex Wan had planned to bring the legislation off the health agenda on Oct. 30 but had been advised by the administration not to do so because it had just issued a 14-day special emergency procurement. Wan shared that the administration felt the special procurement was warranted because the city’s new diversion center — and the facility’s capabilities — might alter the scope of services needed by PAD.
“I do hope that PAD is participating in that special procurement opportunity,” said Wan.
Macías, who has been integral to the center’s development, says the committee meeting was the first she’d heard of the emergency procurement. “We received no information and weren’t invited to apply.”
Community members addressed the city council on Nov. 13 with their concerns. Denice Wade, senior program associate at The Carter Center Rule of Law Program, shared that she witnesses daily the effect of extreme poverty and mental health challenges on Atlantans because of system inadequacies.
“PAD has been filling a gap to get people the care they need and make sure they are not criminalized in the process,” said Wade.
Devin Franklin, senior movement policy council for the nonprofit law firm Southern Center for Human Rights, criticized the city’s handling of the contract, calling the process “deliberately politicizing.”
“The city launched a secret special procurement process that effectively subverted and undermines the lawful award to PAD,” Franklin said. “When PAD inquired about more information on the procurement process, the city refused to provide additional information.”
The next day, a letter from the administration requested the cancellation of the “mobile community referrals and diversion” special procurement “as no responses were received.”
“So, basically, we had two processes — an open public process and a special invite-only process — in which PAD was the only agency that submitted a proposal to provide these services,” said Macías, “which should not be surprising because we created the model.”
For the past seven years, PAD, alongside its partners like the city of Atlanta and Fulton County, has been working to create the Center for Diversion and Services, sparked by feedback from law enforcement and community members. “We surveyed over 200 people who would potentially be guests of the center — people experiencing homelessness or substance use challenges,” said Macías. PAD’s partners and participants were also surveyed. She says the nonprofit worked with the current administration, the previous administration, the county and many community partners, like the Georgia Justice Project, to develop and find private funding for the center. “We’ve been a core part of bringing the diversion center into being.”
The center is expected to open within the month.
PAD will be a core part of the center’s operations, providing case management to all who come into the center, which will be run by Grady Health System and open 24 hours, seven days a week. The center will be peer-led and provide comprehensive health assessments and medical care, with those needing higher-level medical care being transferred to Grady’s main campus.
The facility will have resting and recovering spaces and, according to the city’s justice reform initiative website, will provide access to food, clothing, bathrooms, showers and laundry service. PAD’s care navigators will help participants develop long-term plans and connect them to on- and off-site services for housing, jobs, and treatment and assist them in navigating the criminal legal system.
Macías says the pre-arrest diversion center won’t lessen the scope of PAD’s work since most of its referrals come from “community members calling 311 to avoid police.”
She explains that 311 has become a part of the broader crisis response ecosystem as it can dispatch PAD, an in-person, non-police community mobile response, and “provide warm transfers to a whole host of other resources,” including the Georgia Crisis and Access Line and peer-to-peer warm lines. Agents can also provide a warm transfer to 911 but, in accordance with the PAD model, they must do so with the caller’s consent.
A statement released from Mayor Andre Dickens’ office on Jan. 2 said the administration offered to extend the month-to-month contract with PAD until the signature process was complete. “After negotiating in good faith, and arriving at a new agreement with PAD, their executive director has announced that they are suspending their work with the city of Atlanta, nevertheless. The previous agreement lacked the necessary performance metrics that would ensure taxpayers were getting the services for which they paid. The updated contract, complete with new performance metrics, was agreed to by PAD.” In the interim, the city’s HOPE team, a nine-officer unit within the Atlanta Police Department, provided diversion services.
What has helped during these uncertain times, says Macías, is the strength of relationships and community partnerships. These are protective factors she believes are critical to a program’s success and resilience. “The protective factors are the exact same as for the people we serve,” she said. “First and foremost, it’s relationships; it’s about how deep and wide your relationships are. Community creates resilience.”
On Friday, PAD announced that the city had officially awarded it a contract for mobile referrals. The city executed the agreement yesterday. “PAD community response and pre-arrest diversion services are restored,” Macías said by email.
