Where Is This Happening?

A 2024 national survey identified at least 1,800 mobile crisis service providers in the United States.¹ According to data compiled by the Associated Press, 14 of the 20 most populous cities have programs running or in development, with combined annual budgets exceeding $123 million as of June 2023.² NYU’s Barry Friedman, quoted in the New York Times, identified “more than 130 alternative response programs operating across the country.”³

---

The Scale

1,800+

Mobile crisis teams operating nationwide according to a 2024 national survey.¹

The landscape includes four tiers:

Tier 1 — Major Cities With Scaled Programs: Denver · Seattle · Portland · San Francisco · Los Angeles · San Diego · Phoenix · Albuquerque · Austin · Houston · Chicago · Minneapolis · Indianapolis · Columbus · Philadelphia · Nashville · Milwaukee County · portions of New York City · Washington, DC⁴

Milwaukee County has operated Milwaukee Mobile Crisis for 30 years and served more than 6,000 patients last year, a 33% increase over the prior year.⁵ In Harris County, Texas, Commissioner Ellis’s December 2025 newsletter reported that HART surpassed 25,000 calls, with 88% coming directly from 911.⁶

Tier 2 — Mid-Size Cities: Durham · Madison · Sacramento · Santa Rosa · Tulsa · Oklahoma City · Salt Lake City · St. Petersburg · Baton Rouge · Louisville · Springfield (IL) · Arlington (VA) · Stockton · Whatcom County (WA) · Gresham (OR) · Iowa City · Dayton · Marion County (OR)⁴

Tier 3 — Smaller Cities and Rural: Fairbanks, Alaska · Parsons, Kansas · Sebring, Florida · 18 rural counties in central and northern Iowa · Eagle County, Colorado⁴

Tier 4 — Statewide Implementation:

Ohio: Youth mobile crisis services operational in all 88 counties. $51 million investment by Governor DeWine (R), according to Spectrum News.⁷

Minnesota: State law requiring dispatchers to refer mental health calls to crisis responders. 85 of 87 counties now have active programs, as reported by KSTP.⁸

New Jersey: Statewide mobile crisis teams through 988 infrastructure. 69,000 calls handled in 2024, according to South Jersey Local News.⁹

Indiana: “Mobile Crisis Accelerator Program” providing up to $1 million per organization, according to the Indianapolis Recorder.¹⁰

Beyond City Boundaries

Campus Programs

UC-Irvine · UC-Berkeley · UC-Davis · UC-Santa Cruz · CSU Long Beach · Oregon State · University of Utah · University of Washington¹¹

According to Inside Higher Ed, UC-Davis’s crisis team “receives between five to six calls per day.”¹² CSU Long Beach’s program director: “When our police department responds to crisis situations on campus, they’re in uniform and they’re carrying a firearm. Even before a word is said, it just has a different optic.”¹³

K-12 Schools

In San Diego County, over 700 schools have been trained on how to access mobile crisis teams, according to the Times of San Diego.¹⁴ In Connecticut and Oklahoma, youth-oriented programs have been linked to “decreases in school arrests, improved school attendance, and a decline in police calls,” according to SAMHSA’s 2025 guidelines.¹⁵

Military and Tribal

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and tribal communities including the Viejas Reservation now receive mobile crisis services from San Diego County’s 44-team program, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.¹⁶

Statewide Models

Four approaches to statewide implementation are documented.

Minnesota passed a law in 2021 requiring dispatchers to refer mental health calls to crisis responders. By 2025, 85 of 87 counties had programs.⁸ Brent Anderson, operations director of Dakota 911: “Good, open communication between the first responder agencies and dispatchers — that’s the foundation of why things are working.”¹⁷

Ohio invested $51 million in youth crisis services for anyone under 20. According to Spectrum News, the program provides dispatch within one hour, six weeks of follow-up after the initial crisis, and extended in-home services when needed. No family receives a bill. Governor DeWine (R) championed it. The program is expanding to all 88 counties.⁷ SAMHSA’s 2025 guidelines cite both Connecticut and Oklahoma as states where youth-oriented mobile crisis programs have been linked to “decreases in school arrests, improved school attendance, and a decline in police calls.”¹⁵

New Jersey built upon 988 infrastructure. A counselor assesses the crisis and can dispatch a two-person team “without law enforcement or other emergency personnel.” The state handled 69,000 calls in 2024.⁹ A new report published in the journal Psychiatric Services examined the rapid expansion nationally, finding that various investments have accelerated the “third branch of public safety” but efforts have been “hampered by limitations of the behavioral health workforce.”³⁹

Indiana used a competitive grant model — up to $1 million per organization — to seed programs statewide.¹⁰

Montana invested $8 million in statewide expansion with a dedicated workforce curriculum, according to state program documentation. Helena’s program has helped nearly 1,000 people experiencing a mental health crisis since launching.²¹ However, two programs in Great Falls and Billings subsequently shut down, leaving six units statewide. A February 2026 NPR investigation documented that “financial support for them is often inadequate and inconsistent.”⁴⁰

The Rural Question

Kaiser Health News reported on rural challenges. As reporter Tony Leys documented: “Even though mental illness is just as prevalent in rural America, those areas are bigger and have fewer mental health professionals than cities do.” One program “serves 18 mostly rural counties in central and northern Iowa.”¹⁸ Professor Amy Watson of the University of Illinois described the workforce dimension: “Just about half the population of the U.S. lives in behavioral health workforce shortage areas.”¹⁹

Jeff White, a rural Iowa resident who struggles with depression and schizophrenia, told Kaiser Health News: “They don’t know how to handle people like me.” Now, instead of calling 911, he can contact a state-run hotline and request a visit from mental health professionals. The service costs him nothing.¹⁸

Parsons, Kansas (population 9,000) has a program; its police chief wrote op-eds in support, according to American Police Beat Magazine.²⁰ Helena, Montana Police Chief Brett Petty told the Independent Record: “Expanding mobile crisis response services means increased safety for individuals, for law enforcement officers, and for our community at large — everybody wins.”²¹ Fairbanks Deputy Police Chief Rick Sweets told a local PBS affiliate: “Law enforcement officers aren’t the right people to respond to most mental health crises and jail is not the place to do mental health work.”²² In Juneau, Alaska, Police Chief Derek Bos told the Juneau Empire that the city’s new mobile crisis team “will reduce unnecessary law enforcement involvement” in behavioral health crises.⁴¹ Sebring, Florida launched a mobile team from an existing crisis stabilization clinic to serve the surrounding rural area.⁴²

Comparable Programs By Size

Large Cities (500,000+)

Denver’s STAR program is the subject of the Stanford University evaluation that found a 34% reduction in petty crime in covered areas (Science Advances, 2022).²³ San Diego County operates 44 teams across municipal, campus, military, school, and tribal settings, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.¹⁶ Austin’s EMCOT was designated a “national role model” by HHS; 24 of its 71 crisis employees work in the 911 dispatch center, according to KVUE.²⁴ Philadelphia commits $9 million annually and averages 20 calls per day diverted from police.²⁵ Minneapolis has handled 16,000 calls with zero serious injuries.²⁶ Portland designated crisis responders as first responders with full employment benefits and expanded to 24/7 coverage.²⁷

In Los Angeles, the L.A. City Administrator’s Office found that crisis responders “are highly efficient” and produced “6,900+ hours of law enforcement patrol time saved” in their first year.⁴³ In Chicago, WGN News reported that the FACT team has “completed more than 4,400 calls” and “resolved 94 percent of calls without law enforcement.”⁴⁴

Mid-Size Cities (100,000–500,000)

Durham’s HEART program has responded to over 32,000 calls. The NBER evaluation found $902 in net savings per call. The program won the ICMA 2025 Award.²⁸ Tulsa launched its mobile crisis team through the fire department and was able to go 24/7 from the start by leveraging existing fire infrastructure.²⁹ Madison’s CARES team handled over 3,500 calls in 2024 on a budget of $1.7 million.³⁰ St. Petersburg’s CALL program has handled over 6,500 calls with zero serious safety incidents; its police chief explicitly rejected the co-responder model.³¹

In Santa Rosa, California, The Press Democrat reported that the mobile crisis program diverted 3,568 calls from law enforcement in a single year. The city council expanded the team to 24/7 coverage.⁴⁵ In Whatcom County, Washington, the Alternative Response Team responded to 2,410 calls in one year, averaging a 14-minute response time, according to Whatcom News.⁴⁶

Under 100,000

Parsons, Kansas (population 9,000): police chief championed the program and wrote op-eds in support.²⁰ Guilford County, North Carolina: the Rhino Times documented the 344-to-4 repeat call reduction.³² Arlington, Virginia: new MOST team with clinician, peer specialist, and outreach worker, according to ARLNow.³³

Conservative or Mixed Jurisdictions

Virginia: former Governor Youngkin (R) championed “Right Help, Right Now” with 30+ new teams.³⁴ Ohio: Governor DeWine (R) committed $51 million.⁷ Oklahoma City: fire department model.³⁵ Michigan: 80% of sheriffs and police chiefs support specialized crisis response, according to Michigan Public Radio.³⁶

By Institutional Home: Fire: Oklahoma City · Tulsa · Eugene³⁷ | Public Health: Harris County · San Diego County · Austin⁴ | Police: St. Petersburg³¹ | Standalone: Durham · Albuquerque · New Orleans⁴

The Funding Landscape

As of September 2024, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 21 states had opted in to Medicaid reimbursement for mobile crisis services.⁴⁷ Oregon was the first state approved, with Senator Ron Wyden announcing: “Oregon is the 1st state approved for Medicaid reimbursement.”⁴⁸ HHS provides an 85% federal match rate for three years, after which states transition to standard rates.⁴⁹

The federal investment has accelerated adoption. A report published in the journal Psychiatric Services examined the rapid expansion, finding that various investments have accelerated the “third branch of public safety” but efforts have been “hampered by limitations of the behavioral health workforce.”³⁹

Denver’s STAR program captures 96% Medicaid billability due to its clinician-plus-paramedic team model, the highest documented rate, according to program data.⁵⁰ However, most programs have not reported this metric, and billability depends on team composition and state Medicaid rules.

The ARPA funding cliff presents a documented risk. Multiple programs launched with American Rescue Plan Act funding that expires at the end of 2026. An NPR investigation in February 2026 documented Montana’s experience: two programs in Great Falls and Billings shut down, and “financial support for them is often inadequate and inconsistent.”⁴⁰ The transition from federal startup funding to sustainable local revenue is covered in detail in How Is It Funded?

The Institutional Landscape

Albuquerque’s Community Safety Department has responded to more than 100,000 calls since launch, with approximately 60 percent diverted from police.⁵¹ Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina described the department as a “third branch of public safety.”⁵² Durham, North Carolina and New Orleans have followed with their own standalone community safety departments.⁵³ Durham’s Community Safety Director Ryan Smith told The Assembly NC that the individual programs are “pieces of a larger idea,” dividing the department into “community response, which is the unarmed crisis teams; co-response, which pairs a police officer and mental health clinician; crisis call diversion, in which a clinician in the 911 center assesses mental health-related calls; and care navigation.”⁵⁵

In Seattle, the Seattle Times reported that Mayor Bruce Harrell announced “$26 million to establish the ‘Community Assisted Response and Engagement department’ as ‘a new branch of the city’s public safety response — along with the police and fire departments.'”⁵⁴

City Profiles

HART: Holistic Assistance Response Team — Harris County, Texas. From 500 calls in its pilot year to over 25,000. Housed in public health, endorsed by the sheriff’s office. Gydence Research poll: 88% support after exposure.⁶ Read Full Profile →](HART_Harris_County.html)

STAR: Support Team Assisted Response — Denver, Colorado. Stanford evaluation: 34% petty crime reduction. NYU: program “only had the capacity to respond to 20% of eligible calls.”²³³⁸ Read Full Profile →](Denver_STAR.html)

HEART: Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team — Durham, North Carolina. 32,000+ calls. NBER: $902 net savings per call. ICMA 2025 Award.²⁸ Read Full Profile →](Durham_HEART.html)