The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board voted to channel $150,000 to the Southeast Community Services Center during a monthly board meeting, according to a trust spokesperson.
“This collaborative project will have a tremendously positive impact for not only Trust beneficiaries receiving needed services in Juneau, but for the nonprofit agencies providing those services,” said board chair Chris Cooke in a news release. “This grant is a great example of the Trust’s support for improvements to the continuum of community based services that are so essential in improving the lives and circumstances of our beneficiaries.”
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The center is a planned hub for community service organizations to be built alongside the new Glory Hall on a campus near the airport. Organizations such as NAMI Juneau, United Way of Southeast Alaska and the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition are currently committed to long-term leases, said AMHTA chief communication officer Allison Biastock in the news release.
“We are thrilled to partner with the trust in bringing this innovative project to fruition,” said United Human Services of Southeast Alaska Executive Director Joan O’Keefe in the press release. “The SCSC will be at the heart of a collaborative social services campus designed to address the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. By working together to strengthen the way our services are delivered, we will improve outcomes for seniors and people who experience disabilities in our community.”
Other partners in funding the SCSC include the City and Borough of Juneau and the Juneau Community Foundation. Funds for the Glory Hall, one of the other tenants of the campus, were approved earlier in October by Juneau’s Assembly.
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