Philadelphia ended its $3.8 million contract with mental health services provider The Consortium Inc., money that allowed the group to work with 2,500 city residents with limited ability to pay.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration took action last month after The Consortium, which is based in West Philadelphia, let its nonprofit status lapse amid allegations that it submitted audits. of finance in the city with a “fraudulent” letter claiming to be from accounting. firm, according to a July 18 announcement from the city, first reported by Axios.
City Attorney Renee Garcia said these problems reflect a pattern of governance issues and poor financial management at The Consortium, and that renewing the contract “puts the City’s operations at risk and is very important to the residents of at risk of receiving mental health services.”
The Consortium has provided mental health, substance abuse, and psychiatric treatment for youth and adults under various contracts with the city for more than five decades. It also provides mobile emergency unit coverage for West and Southwest Philadelphia.
John White Jr., president and CEO of The Consortium, said his organization is trying to get the administration to reverse that decision. He blamed the problems on a former employee who he said did not provide the proper documentation to maintain the agency’s tax-exempt status, the status of their contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Human Services. Intellectual Disability.
The same employee was responsible for problematic surveys sent to the city, White said.
The organization has received its status from the IRS and is working to submit new financial assessments for 2022 and 2023. It has already provided the city with an approved assessment for 2021, White said.
He said: “We noticed the problem, we fixed the problem.”
The consortium will continue to receive city funding until the end of the year, giving the city time to find a new provider and provide a transition period for patients.
“The city will work quickly with the Consortium for a smooth transition as Philadelphia’s mental health is a top priority for the Parker Administration,” a city spokeswoman said.
Telephone disaster
The consortium benefited from a high profile in Philadelphia. When the Biden administration officials launched the national mental health system – 988 – in the summer of 2022, they came to Philadelphia for an event at the headquarters of The Consortium.
The West Philadelphia organization became involved in the news two years ago, after two Philadelphia police officers shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old who was suffering from mental health problems. Wallace was a patient at The Consortium and received care there a few days before his death a few blocks away.
Despite being so close, and despite three 911 calls saying Wallace was in crisis, no one contacted The Consortium. The incident served as an example to others in city government of the need for a strong behavioral response in addition to, or in contrast to, the police response.
After this incident, the city invested heavily in mobile crisis units. The Consortium is a comprehensive telecommunications services provider in West Philadelphia.
The largest amount of funding The Consortium receives annually from the city — about $1.5 million — supports mobile crisis response, the organization said. They were sent about 1,200 times last year in West Philadelphia, Southwest Philadelphia, and other areas of the city by 2023.
Last week, The Consortium launched a Change.org petition urging the Parker administration to reverse course. It received more than 1,100 signatures.
“My hope is that the city will see what it has to lose,” White said.
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