Closing The Gap: How The 2012 Mental Health Clinic Closures Hurt Chicagoans
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed half of the city’s 12 public mental health clinics in 2012. Four of them were located on the South Side.
By Nereida Moreno
Closing The Gap: How The 2012 Mental Health Clinic Closures Hurt Chicagoans
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed half of the city’s 12 public mental health clinics in 2012. Four of them were located on the South Side.
By Nereida MorenoFor the latest in our series Closing the Gap, Reset is exploring disparities in mental health care and how the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way we think about this issue. In this interview, we look back on the controversy surrounding former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to close half of Chicago’s 12 mental health clinics in 2012.
Two members of Southside Together Organizing For Power, or STOP Chicago, discuss the impact of the clinic closures, their push for more mental health resources in Black and brown communities and why Mayor Lori Lightfoot should honor her campaign pledge to reopen the shuttered facilities.
GUESTS: Cheryl Miller, public health organizer at STOP Chicago
Matt Ginsburg-Jaeckle, STOP Chicago board member