The Consortium, one of Philly’s leading mental health agencies determined to stand strong

Thera Martin theramartin10@gmail.com

Remember a year ago, last July 2023, when an individual snapped in Southwest Philadelphia? The person was dressed as a woman in Muslim garb and had an assault weapon hiding under the covering. The person was a man disguised as a woman. You recall this news story: A shooter wearing a bulletproof vest and a ski mask fired randomly at vehicles and pedestrians Monday night in southwest Philadelphia, killing five people and wounding two others, authorities said.

Then Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle M. Outlaw told reporters the “armed and armored” assailant was firing seemingly at random people, including a mother driving her twins home in the Kingsessing neighborhood, on July 5, 2023.

The aftermath of that mass shooting left an entire community shaken to its very core. One of the major resources that came to the aid of that community was The Consortium with Mental Health Services. They weren’t just there for a day or two when the TV cameras were on. Consortium staff were there for weeks and months after.

Remember the name Walter Wallace, killed by police in 2020 in West Philly? He had been receiving mental health services at The Consortium. The day his life was ended, if only The Consortium mental health counselors had been called first, Walter Wallace might still be alive today. I could offer a list of episodes where staff from The Consortium were on hand and through their mental health expertise, were able to calm down any number of tense situations between someone with a mental health crisis and community, and or with police.

Fast forward to the end of the month of July 2024. It was July 30th that I heard a news story about The Consortium, indicating that they may lose major funding from the City of Philadelphia, and it's not clear why.

The Consortium is a nonprofit organization that’s been around for 55 years, and over that time, they’ve had a stellar reputation. Throughout its history, The Consortium has pioneered providing behavioral health services with ‘compassion first’ priorities (coupled with) excellence in mental health treatments and collaborative understanding.

Here’s The Consortium's Mission Statement: The Consortium strives for the empowerment and recovery of all who seek assistance with behavioral health, support coordination, and substance use through the provision of holistic community-based services, always being respectful of choice and inspiring hope. We rely on the support of people like you to help us fulfill our mission. The West Philadelphia Community Mental Health Consortium, Inc. (The Consortium, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) organization.

For over five decades, The Consortium has helped more than 250-thousand people throughout the Tri-State area overcome the challenges of mental illness and substance abuse. From their home base in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they have created a compelling record of helping people reach their full potential while strengthening Philadelphia communities, one person at a time, one family at a time.

The Consortium was the first mental health agency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a board of directors elected by the community--itself, guaranteeing the first of its kind community input. They were the first methadone clinic in the state of Pennsylvania, and their six behavioral health centers (located in Philadelphia) empowered people with state-of-the-art behavioral health counseling.

To hear that, suddenly, The Consortium could possibly lose 3.7 million in City funding as of July 2025 is concerning.

I was given the opportunity to interview John White Jr., President of The Consortium, as he was a guest on The Electric Magazine on WURD Radio on Saturday, August 3, 2024. When asked what supporters of the Consortium can do to help, John White responded, “I’m not sure other than to continue to speak the truth about what the Consortium is and what it's about; to say that we’re disappointed and hurt by the city’s decision would be a dramatic understatement. In the 55 years we’ve been doing this, The Consortium has been providing services and meeting the needs of the people in West Philadelphia and beyond. The city’s decision to terminate the contract at the end of the year is really devastating. I know that people might be confused. Some may not understand what is going on. They don’t understand why; truth be told--we don’t understand why either. It’s not about the performance of the agency. It's trivial what was said by the City Solicitor yesterday. It was abhorrent. What we have tried to do in all of our public comments is to be measured and reasonable and deal with the facts. There was not one factual statement made by the City Solicitor yesterday. None of the comments that were made were factual. Be that as it may, we are going See “The Consortium” page 10

John White, Jr.

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to continue to press on. It’s important, not for me, but it is important that the legacy of the agency be preserved, the people who do the work, who provide those services be protected, and that the people who depend on us to provide behavioral health and drug services and family services, it’s about them, to the extent that they’re able to see the value of the agency, the value of the work, and the value of the people.'

John White Jr. says, 'The comments that were made about the Consortium a few days ago by the City Solicitor were an insult not to him but to every single one of the staff at the Consortium who works hard every day and who make sacrifices to do what we do. It is an insult, and I am very disappointed. At the same time, I’ll overcome the disappointment. I won’t focus on the Judas of today. I’m going to focus on the promise of tomorrow, and I’ve got to believe that somewhere along the line, someone is going to prick not the conscious but the common sense of the people who are in charge, the people who make the decisions, to understand that the threat to not have that culture present, (The Consortium), in our community, to not be sensitive to our needs, to not be sensitive to the way our services are delivered, would be a major giant step backward for mental health in Philadelphia.”

“That’s really all I can tell you at this point. We’re going to keep fighting for our employees, fighting for our name, and I’m fighting for the folks who we serve-this is a serious fight. At the end of the day, I’ve gotta believe that if they (City officials) actually look at the facts, they will see how important the Consortium is to the people of Philadelphia.“ Currently, if concerned residents of Philadelphia who believe in the work of The Consortium log onto their website, they’ve launched a petition drive to present to city officials to demonstrate the support from the community.

An article published in The Axios online newspaper on July 30 indicated The city mentioned supporting the Consortium through financial struggles, including providing the nonprofit with $8 million to settle back taxes owed to 'various governmental entities' and improve its operations, per the letter. John White says the $8 million payment was part of an agreement with former Mayor Jim Kenney's administration for the city to purchase the University Avenue building where Consortium is headquartered.

The Axios article also reported that John White says the nonprofit has paid back about $1 million it borrowed to cover payroll expenses.

The city is indicating it will work with Consortium over the next six months to find new providers to 'ensure a smooth transition. Meanwhile, John White says he's making it his mission to get the contract reinstated.

This concern over major funding for The Consortium being cut by the city of Philadelphia is a story that is not over yet. Things may and can still change before the end of the year.

We’ll keep you posted in the ScoopUSA. If we are able to get an interview with the City Solicitor, we’ll also share that in ScoopUSA as well.