Boston Public Health Commission Plans $1.7 Million Mental Health Crisis Response Pilot

BOSTON -- May 21, 2026, Boston City Council hears competing visions for community mental health crisis response in BPHC budget hearing. The Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by District 6 Councilor Ben Weber, grilled Boston Public Health Commission Executive Director Dr. Bisola Ojukutu and Office of Violence Prevention Director Isaac Yablo on the commission's fiscal year 2027 budget, with most of the tension centered on a proposed $1.7 million, 22-month peer-led mental health crisis response pilot that BPHC plans to launch in one Boston neighborhood this fall through a forthcoming RFP. More than a dozen members of the Boston People's Response Campaign countered with demands to reject Mayor Michelle Wu's budget and allocate $4 million for their own non-police, non-carceral, citywide model, first designed with community input in 2020 and 2021. "This is truly a life and death matter, a life and death matter for only $4 million in the upcoming budget," said clinical social worker Maya Meles-Chircay during public testimony. Violence prevention data from Yablo showed citywide shootings remain below last year and the five-year average, the Violence Intervention Program has expanded to 10 neighborhoods including Charlestown and East Boston, and the Life Course Unit became an official partner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections in early 2026. The commission also reported a 30 percent increase in health insurance enrollments in FY26, with more than 1,100 individuals enrolled or re-enrolled amid concerns over federal Medicaid restrictions.