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JBC hears proposal to fund system‑of‑care workforce center to expand in‑home intensive services for youth
Summary
State health and behavioral‑health officials asked the Joint Budget Committee to fund a Workforce Capacity Center to expand certified providers of high‑fidelity wrap, MST and FFT for children and families, requesting roughly $4 million in year one and $3 million ongoing.
Department of Health Care Policy and Financing and the Behavioral Health Administration presented a joint proposal to the Joint Budget Committee to create a Workforce Capacity Center (described also as a Center for Excellence) to scale up a system‑of‑care workforce for children and youth with high‑acuity behavioral health needs.
Presenters said the Center would support three core workforce types: high‑fidelity wrap coordinators, certified assessors and in‑home treatment teams (including Multi‑Systemic Therapy and Functional Family Therapy). The plan would braide BHA and HCPCF funding, provide training and certification, contract management for proprietary models (MST and FFT), technical assistance and a pathway toward a Colorado‑specific curriculum drawn from successful models in other states.
Staff and presenters described prior work with the Kempe Center and a decision to transition to a nationally scaled model that can be implemented faster and at larger scale; presenters said a streamlined training model plus partnerships with a state university (discussed informally) could double available provider capacity in the first year and substantially expand year‑over‑year. The departments requested about $4 million in first‑year funding with a $3 million ongoing amount in subsequent years (department officials described $300,000 in SAMHSA funds already available for pre‑training).
Committee members pressed for measurable targets and near‑term milestones and asked for quarterly progress reporting and a dashboard so the committee could track provider counts and service capacity. Several members asked that the proposal include mechanisms to capture savings or re‑invest savings (for example, reduced institutional placements) back into workforce expansion if the model proves effective.
Why it matters: State‑funded training and certification can expand capacity for evidence‑based intensive in‑home treatment, a key lever to reduce residential placements, improve outcomes, and control downstream child‑welfare and juvenile‑justice costs.
Next steps: The committee asked for an RFI‑style follow up to specify year‑one targets, expected caseloads per provider, timelines and dashboard metrics; committee members signaled willingness to fund but requested that departments return with clearer milestones.
Ending: Departments said they would move forward with pre‑training using existing federal grant funds and return with the RFI results and a reporting cadence for committee review.
