Hillview Mental Health Center was founded in 1966 as part of Pacoima Memorial Hospital and continued as an independent entity after the Hospital closed in 1984.  Hillview provides services under contract with LAC-DMH, guided by Chief Executive Officer Eva McCraven and Chief Financial Officer Carl McCraven.  It was among the first agencies in the County to develop Assertive Community Treatment and AB2034 programs, and the first mental health agency in the San Fernando Valley to develop permanent low-income supportive housing for adults with mental illness and specialized community housing for Transitional Age Youth with special needs.

AB 2034, passed in 1999, funded demonstration programs to reduce homelessness among the mentally ill.  Although the programs showed impressive successes, AB 2034 was defunded in 2008-2009 as a result of the recession and state budget crisis.

AB3777, the Wright-Bronzan-McCorquodale Act of 1988, funded three demonstration Integrated Service Agency programs for the mentally ill.  The most well-known of these was MHA’s The Village in Long Beach, which became a model for MHSA.

The Mental Health Services Act of 2005 was passed by California voters as Prop 63 in 2004 to expand the innovative service programs already begun in the state for the severely and persistently mentally ill.  The State Department of Mental Health and the mental health advocates who wrote the legistlation saw the implementation of MHSA as requiring a “transformation” of the entire system to provide accessible, integrated, recovery-model services for this difficult population.  New initiatives in prevention and early intervention, workforce training, and stigma reduction were also part of the legislation.  Plans were to be developed with active stakeholder participation, including families and consumers, and outcomes monitored by a new Oversight and Accountability Commssion.  To fund the new programs and services, the MHSA created a new revenue source for mental health services through a surcharge tax on incomes over $1 million.  Although the legislation has had significant impact on programs and services throughout the state, budget shortfalls since the recession of 2008 have prevented realization of the planners’ vision for MHSA.

URL: https://mhsoac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/MHSA%20Jan2020_0.pdf

Data Reports on availability of beds and services in the early 2000s

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Project Return self-help clubs were started on the East Coast as a way for mental health clients to provide assistance and support to each other.  The Los Angeles Project Return Network begain in 1981 under MHA’s umbrella and grew to more than 60 clubs across the county.  In 1992, Project Return:  The Next Step evolved from the original club network into a larger client-run organization which offers opportunities for education, employment counseling, and community service, as well as social interactions.

URL: http://prpsn.org/