Columbia Gorge Resolution Center Awarded $50,000 OHA Planning Grant
The Columbia Gorge Resolution Center (CGRC) planning group received a $50,000 planning grant from the Oregon Health Authority on October 1st, 2021. The OHA planning grant will fund strategic planning costs for the CGRC. The CGRC would add supporting infrastructure and programming services to address mental and behavioral health inequities in the Columbia River Gorge and could potentially co-locate with Mid-Columbia Community Action Council’s (MCCAC) Navigation Center in The Dalles to provide a one-stop mental, behavioral, addiction, housing, and transition service center.
“This is super exciting to say the least,” said Lane Magill, Wasco County Sheriff. Magill facilitates the 25 person working group that applied for the CGRC grant.
The CGRC would take a multi-county regional approach to address mental health needs in Wasco, Hood River, and Sherman County.
Although specific programming and partnerships have yet to be defined and decided upon. The current vision for the CGRC is that it would be a mental health and addictions treatment facility specializing in providing access to co-occurring (mental health and addiction) treatment, psychiatric and addiction stabilization, and inpatient respite services for the community and the surrounding counties.
Magill said the CGRC would help end the cycle of repeated incarcerations of individuals with mental and behavioral health problems for low-level crimes such as disturbing the peace and help rehabilitate community members using a community restoration model.
