Northampton health department warns grant cuts could shrink Community Care response

The Northampton Department of Health and Human Services presented its fiscal year 2026 budget request at a public budget hearing and told the City Council that personnel costs and a growing reliance on grants drive the department’s operations while several grant streams that support emergency preparedness, vaccine outreach and the Division of Community Care (DCC) may be lost in FY26.

Commissioner Meredith O’Leary told the committee the department’s FY26 request reflects a modest increase over FY25 and that roughly 86 percent of the department’s budget is for personnel. She said grant-funded payroll makes up a large share of that personnel total and that the department has built a high fringe rate and host fees into grant proposals to cover city-held costs.

“Grant funding has been essential in transforming our capacity,” O’Leary said, describing years of growth that allowed the city to expand from a small health office into an integrated Health and Human Services agency. Deputy Commissioner Michelle Farri and DCC Director Donovan Gibbs gave details on operations and client volumes.

O’Leary and staff warned the committee they are likely to lose three major funding streams in FY26, which they estimated would total about $855,000 in reductions. The grants named were the Equitable Approaches to Public Safety (EAPS) award (about $450,000), the federal Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant (FEP, roughly $120,000) and an infectious-disease vaccine outreach grant referenced in the presentation (amount not specified). The department also described recently awarded and ongoing grants that support work through 2032 if funded, including a Massachusetts Department of Public Health-BSAS “Diversion to Care” award and a DOJ-funded “Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use” (COSIP) grant.

If EAPS funding is not available, the department said, the DCC would lose staff it had hired to expand coverage, reducing surge capacity and limiting evening and weekend response options. Farri said DCC served more than 1,200 distinct people last year and that engagements increased roughly 50 percent year over year. She described DCC as a low-barrier, no-ID-required access point that accepts referrals by phone, text and dispatch and that coordinates with police, fire and emergency medical services as well as social service partners and community legal aid.

Farri and O’Leary said regulatory and logistical barriers that previously prevented Northampton dispatch from referring some medical-type calls to DCC have been addressed, and dispatch now places off-hours referrals into a queue DCC can review. DCC’s current model uses a daytime “communication specialist” (an internal dispatcher) plus community responders and a supervisor; Farri said adding an evening shift would require a second communication specialist, additional responders and a supervisor to keep operations safe and compliant with state rules.

The department’s presentation described the public health budget structure and emphasized that grant awards have covered about 70 percent of DHHS operating funds in recent years, with roughly 30 percent coming from the city general fund. O’Leary detailed how, since 2015, the department has drawn nearly $14 million in grant funds while the city’s General Fund contribution was much smaller by comparison. The department also said it has returned funds to the city in host-fee and fringe contributions from grants over time.

Public commentators urged greater municipal support for DCC and for housing affordability. Speakers during the DHHS public comment period included Ward 3 resident Ace Taylor, Ward 4 resident Michael Stein, Ward 1 resident Lee Graham and others; their remarks ranged from urging reallocations away from police budgets toward community care to asking for clarity about legal and regulatory impediments to nonpolice response.

Councilors and staff asked detailed operational questions about how DCC tracks call volume, how volunteer medical reserve corps would be used if grant-funded staff were lost, and whether EAPS or similar funding remained in any House or Senate budget drafts. O’Leary said EAPS had appeared in both House and Senate versions at times but that at the moment the department had been told it was removed; later in the meeting staff relayed a late update that a senator was still advocating for it in the Senate budget.

The finance committee opened the public hearing for the FY26 budget for DHHS during the presentation (motion to open public hearing; mover/second not specified; outcome: approved by voice vote). The hearing remained open for additional public and council questions; the committee recessed after the schools presentation and later adjourned the full council (motion to adjourn full council made by Councilor Elkins; seconded by Councilor Maiori; outcome: approved by roll call).

What the department requested and what it may need to change remains contingent on state and federal appropriations. O’Leary said the department will continue to seek new funding and to cross-braid existing grant support to sustain staffing and services but warned that losing multiple core grants in a single year would force the department to “reimagine” vaccine delivery, emergency preparedness and DCC coverage.

Ending: The DHHS presentation closed with an appeal to the council to consider the programmatic tradeoffs implicit in grant losses and with a request for continued municipal support while the department pursues alternative funding and operational adjustments.