CARE FIRST Campaign in Santa Clara County

Join SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) at Sacred Heart in its CARE FIRST campaign to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and improving access to behavioral health in our county!

The current budget does NOT address community based, non-carceral alternatives. The budget funds, to the tune of $689,000,000, a new jail, but no non-carceral behavioral health facility!

ASK: We need people power. Justice needs you. Our affected brothers and sisters need those who live in Santa Clara County to call and email the Supervisors.

Emails: Click here for SURJ's page with contact information, sample text and guidelines for emailing county supervisors in support of CARE FIRST JAILS LAST in the budget.

Calls: Make this ask: We urge the Board literally to put "Care First" by prioritizing the approved noncarceral Behavioral Health Facility in the FY2022-2023 Capital Improvement Budget, authorizing a bond to fully fund it, and deferring the line item for the new jail from the FY2022-2023 budget.

Our SURJ faith group is recommending that you add that you are praying daily that they will make the right decision.

Please call and email all the supervisors but we are particularly targeting Supervisors Lee and Chavez this week (regardless if you live in their districts). They are the likely swing votes.  Identify as a member of SURJ and tell all of the supervisors why preventative services and alternatives to incarceration matter to you personally.

Please save June 13, 14 and 16th which are the dates of the next round of county budget workshops.