February 2021 Newsletter

Dear MHAS Supporter,

I'd like to start off this newsletter by acknowledging and celebrating Black History Month as a central piece of our country's history.

Our mission here at MHAS is to protect and advance the legal rights of children and adults with mental health disabilities. We cannot faithfully execute our work without critically thinking about and challenging the ways in which structural racism affects our clients' everyday lives.

In L.A. County, our service area, Black people make up 8% of the population, but comprise:

• 29% of the people in jail

• 34% of people experiencing homelessness

• the demographic with the highest prevalence of disability at 34%

We also cannot discuss mental health, race, and incarceration as stand-alone issues when we know that the largest mental health facility in L.A. County (and possibly the entire country) is a jail.

These conversations are uncomfortable, but necessary to ensure that everyone is safe, protected, and included. As a country, we can and should do better.

Sincerely,

Jenny Farrell
Executive Director