Talia Smith

Project: Implementation of California’s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act

Client: California Health & Human Services Agency

Talia Smith, MPP '23, majored in economics at UC Santa Cruz. Prior to commencing her graduate studies in public policy, she served as senior management analyst with the County Administrator in Marin County and then with the City of San Rafael Department of Public Works. For her CCDE Fellowship Talia's client was the California Health & Human Services Agency. Her study, "Implementation of California’s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act," documented ongoing program establishment and service-delivery efforts in seven "Cohort 1" counties. Talia's project surveyed county-level implementation of new tools for addressing the population of those individuals - often unhoused - having untreated schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorders. The analysis led to a series of recommendations Talia developed both for the state agencies overseeing matters and for the "Cohort 2" counties set to begin implementing the law the following year.

To learn more about Talia's findings relative to such matters as planning, funding, the role of courts, housing and treatment, please download and review her executive summary.