Should the government expand civic engagement programs to improve minority groups' access to mental health resources?
This bill mandates the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) to target high proportion ethnic and racial minority areas and establish interprofessional behavioral health care teams. It hopes to achieve the aforementioned goal through a series of grant funding to HSS and other qualified mental health groups.
Sponsor: Rep. Bonnie Coleman (Democrat, New Jersey, District 12)
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Opponents say
• "White Americans seem to be more vulnerable to certain psychosocial risk factors for a wide range of physical and mental health outcomes compared to minority groups. In other words, they are less resilient – less able to successfully adapt to life tasks in the face of highly adverse conditions." Shervin Assari, Research Investigator of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Michigan
Proponents say
• "This is a huge step and one we’ve been building toward since launching the emergency task force in April of 2019. When I began this work, it was out of a desire to bring federal resources to bear in what was clearly becoming a crisis – resources for awareness, for research, for education, and more. That’s what the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act is all about." Source: Rep. Bonnie Coleman (Democrat, New Jersey, District 12)
• "The mental and emotional toll COVID-19 has taken on Americans has further exposed the long-standing racial disparities that exist for communities of color when it comes to accessing affordable, high-quality mental health services and treatment." Source: Sen. Bob Menendez (Democrat, New Jersey)
