Commission gathers community input on Proposition 1 Innovation Partnership Fund

The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission hosted a virtual listening session in September to gather community input on the Innovation Partnership Fund (IPF), the five‑year, $100 million program created by Proposition 1.

Sarah Brooks, senior director at SellersDorsey, told participants that Proposition 1, which passed in March 2024, revamps the Mental Health Services Act into the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) and establishes the IPF as a $20 million per year stream for five years — a $100 million total — to be administered by the commission for behavioral health beginning July 1, 2026. Brooks said the statute already defines the IPF’s purpose and target populations and that some implementation details (governance, metrics, technical assistance) will be developed later.

The IPF’s statutory scope, as read in the session, limits eligible investments to projects that advance statewide BHSA goals and county integrated plans; the presenters specifically cited the statutory reference shown in the slide deck (WIC 5892) and said additional guidance is available from the Department of Health Care Services’ BHSA policy manual. The commission staff emphasized that statutory definitions of priority populations and eligible program types cannot be changed through this listening process.

Why it matters: the IPF is intended to fund innovative behavioral‑health projects that target populations with the highest needs and the greatest barriers to care. Community members at the session pressed staff to clarify how the fund will treat prevention and early intervention, how effectiveness will be measured, whether funded projects can be nonproprietary and scalable, and how the fund will support workforce pipelines and culturally and linguistically specific programs.

Key details from the presentation and discussion

• Funding and timing: Sarah Brooks said…