Evanston residents calling 911 or 311 for a mental health crisis, a wellness check, or help with an unhoused neighbor will get more civilian responders after the City Council approved a more than 50% budget increase for the Crisis Alternative Response Evanston team.
The expansion means more staff, more vehicles, and longer operating hours for the four-person squad of behavioral health specialists who have handled more than 3,500 dispatches since launching in July 2024, according to CBS News Chicago reporting published June 9.
The CARE team ranks seventh nationally in call volume per resident among nearly 100 community responder programs tracked by the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. Jeron Dorsey, Evanston's deputy director of parks, recreation and community services, who oversees the program, called it "one of the busiest in the country."
What the team does
CARE members respond to low-risk calls that previously went to armed police officers. The calls come through the city's 911 line, the non-emergency 311 line, and the non-emergency police help desk, the Daily Northwestern reported Friday, July 10. The team focuses on wellness checks, contacts with unhoused residents, and mental health crises.
Team members carry no guns, tasers, or pepper spray. They are trained to administer Narcan and provide basic first aid, and they carry hygiene products and $15 food gift cards to local restaurants to help de-escalate situations, CBS News Chicago reported.
Rachel Stams, a certified crisis responder on the team, described the approach in a June interview: "People automatically are like, 'Oh, you're not necessarily here in a punitive way?' and we let them know that we're here to see if we can kind of mediate a situation or offer you resources."
One is a former Chicago Public Schools teacher; others came from social work and victims' services.
Partnerships and coordination
The CARE team works closely with Saint Francis Hospital and Turning Point's Evanston Living Room and Mobile Living Room services, according to the Daily Northwestern. Those partnerships give responders a direct path to connect residents with longer-term behavioral health support beyond the initial crisis call.
The team has completed more than 1,000 well-being checks since its launch.
Why it matters now
Mayor Daniel Biss highlighted the CARE team's creation as a key accomplishment during his Tuesday, June 23 State of the City address, according to the Chicago Tribune. The expansion comes as Chicago's own civilian crisis response program has struggled, with dispatch volume dropping nearly 70% in 2024 and limited weekday-only hours, CBS News Chicago reported.
Evanston's program is moving in the opposite direction. The city has not announced a start date for the expanded hours or the number of new positions to be added.
Dorsey signaled confidence in the program's trajectory: "Our trained civilians go out and fill in the gap to reduce that burden, which is really amazing."
