Riverside County Behavioral Health Department awarded grant for innovation campus in Coachella
June 22, 2022
NEWS RELEASE
June 22, 2022
The State of California announced Tuesday that it is awarding the County of Riverside $76 million to build an innovative Behavioral Health campus in the City of Coachella.
The Department of Healthcare Services notified the Riverside University Health System – Behavioral Health of the conditional award as part of a competitive grant opportunity known as the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program. The County of Riverside’s Behavioral Health Department is one of only two recipients in Riverside County and five in Southern California in Tuesday’s round of awardees.
This is a “once in a generation opportunity to build the facilities needed in Riverside County for those with behavioral health needs,” said Dr. Matthew Chang, director of the County’s RUHS Behavioral Health Department.
The grants are designed to support programs that “reduce homelessness, incarceration, unnecessary hospitalizations, and inpatient days and improve outcomes for people with behavioral health conditions by expanding access to community-based treatment,” according to the Department of Healthcare Services.
The County’s Board of Supervisors approved applications to the BHCIP program earlier this year, and RUHS-Behavioral Health worked closely with community partners to draft and submit its applications for two campuses known as Recovery Villages. The projects in the cities of Coachella and Hemet will provide a myriad of mental health, physical health and substance use disorder treatment services along with various levels of behavioral health treatment and housing. The campuses also will provide vocational training, housing for families and kennels for residents’ pets. Other applications are pending for the Hemet site.
