Behavioral Health Coordinating Council

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.

The mayor of Bloomington said the loss of 100 jobs in downtown Bloomington will not be a long-term setback to revitalizing the area.

The Behavioral Health Coordinating Council narrowed its scope for 2024-2025, identifying five key areas of improvement. In short, they are to educate on area resources, advance services and access for vulnerable populations, increase safe, temporary shelter, expand the behavioral health workforce and explore opportunities to share health data across service providers.

Restructuring of McLean County’s Behavioral Health Coordinating Council is complete, and as McLean County Board Chair Catherine Metsker promised when she suspended meetings in March, the group now has a defined — and codified — structure, with clear objectives.

Previously, the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council [BHCC] — an ad hoc committee composed largely of mental health experts in the area — made spending proposals. The McLean County Board's Executive Committee approved an ordinance Monday to make the group an independent body, stripping members of that authority.