Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr.: “Each year, hundreds of New Yorkers are found unfit to stand trial and quickly returned to their communities without adequate supports to prevent the same thing from happening again and again. By signing the SUPPORT Act, Governor Hochul is helping ensure that New Yorkers don’t fall through the cracks of our mental healthcare safety net. I thank the Governor for taking this important step, and applaud our partners on this legislation – New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and New York State Assemblymember Tony Simone – for their never-ceasing advocacy. I look forward to working with all of our legislative partners next year to (keep improving our mental health infrastructure to ensure a continuum of care and long-term stability for people living with serious mental illness.” 

The SUpport and Provide Psychiatric Outreach and Rehabilitative Treatment Act, or “SUPPORT Act,” Would Require Hospitals and Other Mental Health Facilities to Assign Care Management Team Before Defendant’s Release

“By addressing fundamental needs like access to a safe home and mental health care, we can improve public safety in our communities,” said District Attorney Bragg. “While New York has an extensive array of governmental and community-based service providers, individuals with the most deeply entrenched mental health issues often lack the trust in these systems to even try and access them. Meeting people where they are and building trust is the best way towards long-term solutions for these individuals and the communities in which they reside. The Bridge exemplifies what Neighborhood Navigators are all about: peers with lived experience meeting New Yorkers where they are and helping to lift them up, connecting them to the help they need. I know this investment in The Bridge is an investment in New Yorkers, their mental health, their safety, and their future.”