The mobile crisis intervention service CAHOOTS is essential and needs to be continued. That was the message from those who attended Thursday night’s town hall meeting held at the University of Oregon, following the elimination of CAHOOTS services in Eugene earlier in the week.
Presenters—including former and current CAHOOTS employees—told the audience how the Eugene community benefits from the work they do on the streets. This included de-escalating situations that could warrant use of force by police, or ending up with someone being taken to a hospital.
Alese Dandy Colehour had been working with CAHOOTS until recently, but is now with White Bird Clinic—the nonprofit that operates CAHOOTS. Before the crowd of roughly 200 people, Colehour presented a community survey done in conjunction with Portland State University.
“94% of respondents supported CAHOOTS being paid with tax dollars,” Colehour said. “So we want to hold the cities accountable to that.”…