Council ad hoc committee approves motion to study crisis-worker training and workforce incentives

The Los Angeles City Council ad hoc committee on alternative crisis response on an unspecified date approved a motion instructing city departments to report on strategies to cosponsor workshops and otherwise expand education and career pathways for unarmed crisis response and outreach workers.

The motion, introduced by Councilmember Blumenfield and approved as amended, directs the Civil and Human Rights and Equity Department and the Youth Development Department to report on steps necessary to cosponsor workforce-development workshops. The committee added the Economic and Workforce Development Department as a reporting party and asked the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) and Personnel Department to provide an analysis of how other jurisdictions support education and workforce development for unarmed crisis response teams. The CAO was also asked to collaborate with the County Department of Mental Health (DMH) on joint recruitment and training efforts.

The motion won approval on a voice/roll call vote: Blumenfield — aye; Hernandez — yes; Bridal — yes; Price — yes; Councilmember Lee was recorded absent. The clerk announced “4 ayes” before declaring the item approved as amended.

The change followed public comment from residents and advocates who urged the committee to expand recruitment and training beyond youth programs. Jason Enright, a resident of Council District 2 and a member of the North Hollywood Northeast Neighborhood Council, told the committee he “strongly support[s] the motion to, learn more about how we can incentivize and create programs to train people for these jobs,” and said training should include adults changing careers. Enright also referenced a fatal incident in Koreatown — saying that a DMH clinician on scene sought LAPD assistance and that officers subsequently forced entry and fatally shot the individual — and urged policy change to better protect people with mental health issues.

Carolina Goodman of the LA Forward Unarmed Crisis Working Group and RD Plashear, a resident of Council District 1, both emphasized recruitment, wider advertising of training opportunities, and the need for better city–county communication so the closest qualified team is deployed. Goodman said “providing professional unarmed crisis response teams will require salaries commensurate with their knowledge and expertise,” and urged outreach beyond traditional channels.

The approved motion incorporates those themes: expanding departmental coordination, analyzing career-pipeline strategies used elsewhere, and identifying opportunities to align city and county workforce development. The motion did not specify a deadline for the requested reports or the exact contents of the analysis.

Committee co-chair Hernandez and co-chair Blumenfield framed the motion as a complement to county efforts to recruit clinicians and to the city’s own unarmed model of crisis response programs. The committee did not take further action on budget allocations at the meeting; it instructed staff to return with the requested analyses.

Next steps: the departments named in the motion will prepare the requested reports and analyses for committee review; timing and required deliverables were not specified on the record.