Today on City Cast Portland, host Claudia Meza is talking with Willamette Week city hall and politics reporter Sophie Peel about the future of Portland Street Response. Especially now that its founding program manager, Robyn Burek*, has resigned.
Studies have shown that the roughly two-year-old program has been successful in not only assisting people experiencing mental and behavioral health crises but also reducing police and hospital intervention. In other words, Portland Street Response is meeting all of its goals, but even still, funding for future operation and expansion is uncertain.
Here's a comprehensive article from The Oregonian about where things stand with PSR: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/06/portland-street-responses-future-hangs-in-balance-i-feel-like-its-about-to-implode.html
*A quick note that during our conversation with Sophie Peel, Robyn Burek announced her resignation. So you will hear Sophie refer to Burek as the program manager of PSR in the following conversation. But as of this recording, a successor has yet to be named.
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