Behavioral Health Coordinating Council

An Illinois State University researcher says more than half of the McLean County jail population has a mental or behavioral health condition. Mental health programming at the jail is one of the topics ISU's Stevenson Center is studying right now.

Normal City Manager Pam Reece says some of the mental health and behavioral health initiatives McLean County runs are, in effect, pre-funded.

The McLean County Board Executive Committee on Monday approved an audit of the county’s 1% mental health and public safety sales tax fund. The full board will consider the resolution at its regular meeting Thursday.

The tax money would instead stay with the municipalities during that time. The County Board’s Executive Committee is expected to consider the measure during its 4 p.m. meeting on Monday.

Home Sweet Home Ministries will present a grant proposal Monday that, if approved, would cover almost half the money needed to build a proposed shelter village for the unhoused in Bloomington called The Bridge.

McLean County’s Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council is recommending around $1 million from the $1.5 million 2025 budget to go toward a non-congregate project for the unhoused population.

The McLean County Board will change to a Democratic majority next month. That hasn’t happened before. Democrats and Republicans are forecasting nuanced changes in how the railroad runs.

After 14 years on the county board's district largely serving south Bloomington, Susan Schafer will end her term this year after losing in Tuesday's election. She said her legacy is in health.

Meetings for the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council — a newly independent body that convenes area health and social service experts with government officials to discuss community behavioral health efforts in McLean County — are going private for the first time in the group’s history. Members say it should improve dialogue and get better results.

The newly formed Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council — named after the fund Bloomington and Normal shared sales tax dollars create — had its first meeting on Monday, when members approved $1.5 million for new behavioral health initiatives in 2025.