In May 2015, NACo and partners at the CSG Justice Center and APA Foundation launched Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails and announced a Call to Action demonstrating strong county and state leadership and a shared commitment to a multi-step planning process that can achieve concrete results for jails in counties of all sizes. As part of this Call to Action, county elected officials are being asked to pass a resolution and work with other leaders (e.g., the sheriff, judges, district attorney, treatment providers, and state and local policymakers), people with mental illnesses and their advocates and other stakeholders to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails.

Stepping Up participants receive an online resources toolkit to assist with efforts, including webinars, online tools, events and a comprehensive online resource library.

Join Stepping Up

Sign up to receive regular updates about the initiative here. To join the initiative, your county must pass a Stepping Up resolution. A template resolution is available here. Once passed, please forward a copy of the signed resolution to info@stepuptogether.org.

Participating Counties

View resolutions passed by each of the participating counties.

Program Contact

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Elise Simonsen

Associate Program Director – Behavioral Health & Justice