The New York City Council is reportedly making a final attempt to save at least a few of the nine mental health clubhouses that are at risk of closing. The contracts keeping these clubhouses open are set to expire on September 30.
The spaces provide essential social services and a sense of community for many people who suffer from serious mental illnesses, and New Yorkers who are participating in these areas have been fighting to keep the doors open. However, some of the leaders of the clubhouses have stated that even with a new $2 million infusion of discretionary spending in the city budget. It is uncertain as to how many clubhouses can be funded and for how long.
Earlier this year, the Adams administration kicked off a rush to save the clubhouses after it altered the requirements to receive funding as part of an effort to serve more people through fewer, albeit larger locations. The administration is reportedly doubling its own spending on the model with an increase to $30 million per year, which is set to include funds for new clubhouse service providers. These funds would serve 13 locations in total.
Nevertheless, some clubhouse operators are left out of the funding. Out of the 16 existing clubhouses, operators of nine of them either applied and got rejected or did not reapply for funding due to an inability to meet the new health department requirements.
Some clubhouse operators say moving their members to new facilities would mean leaving existing, tight-knit support communities. Since the council has full discretion over the new $2 million in spending, it is not subject to the same regulations as the Adams administration had put in place. However, the amount is not enough to cover an entire year of expenses for all the centers currently at risk of folding.
Furthermore, it is not a recurring source of funding, so clubhouses will likely need to find more sustainable solutions if they depend on the funds to keep their doors open. City Council member Linda Lee and her colleagues are reportedly working to establish a way to properly disperse the $2 million.
Lee said, “During a budget where we all were fighting for such important initiatives, I’m just happy that we were able to get this in there.”
Chelton Loft, which has been in Harlem for 35 years, is one of the clubhouses that lost its contract with the city. Chief strategy officer for the nonprofit fed cap group, which runs Chelton Loft, Jim Malatas, noted that if the clubhouse is selected for some of the $2 million funding, it “will go a long way in providing us some financial relief as we find long-term financial solutions to keep our doors open.”
According to Malatras, many of the 130 members of Chelton Loft choose smaller clubhouses because they are “more intimate.” Essentially, clubhouses are partly run by the members who use them.
President of Goddard Riverside, Roderick Jones, said he was thankful for the support of City Council members such as Gail Brewer, Representative of Top Clubhouses district, “They heard the voices of clubhouse members across the city, who, through self-determination, rally to keep their communities together.”
Dice Cooper, Director of Lifelinks — a clubhouse based out of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens — said he would like to take advantage of the money to stay open, but the decision is ultimately up to NYC Health + Hospitals. He said that he is under pressure from NYC Health + Hospitals management to close even before funding runs out.
Lee and Cooper are both concerned that some of the newer, bigger clubhouses that have been awarded city contracts in the latest funding round will not be ready before the existing clubhouses close.
