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Board presses for Community Health Link update as members raise layoffs, service continuity concerns
Summary
Board members pressed for updates on Community Health Link’s announced closure/transition and reported layoffs; the board voted to request a CHL representative to brief the board and to ask the city for a report back on the local impacts of the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Board members pressed staff for more detail about Community Health Link (CHL) service redistribution and workforce impacts after CHL notified the state of a June 30 closure date. The commissioner for health and human services said CHL has been negotiating distribution of services among several nonprofits (behavioral health network partners including BHN, OpenSky, CSO and CMHA) and that contract transfers are ongoing; she said state oversight is required for many transfers and that staff would request CHL or acquiring agencies to brief the board once details are finalized.
Members raised reports in the press alleging substantial layoffs (one board member cited "238 people") and expressed concern for both service recipients and CHL staff. The commissioner acknowledged layoffs and departures as part of the transition but said details were limited while transfers are in process. The board voted to request a CHL representative appear before the board for an update when possible.
Separately, board members discussed the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and potential local impacts—health‑care workers and others vulnerable to immigration enforcement—and moved that the commissioner coordinate a city report back on contingency planning and likely impacts at the next meeting. The motion passed unanimously. The board emphasized protecting service continuity and tracking grant and contract transfers so that clients’ care is not interrupted.
