Kitsap County has awarded a combined $10.4 million in grants to dozens of agencies supporting behavioral health services and the county’s own therapeutic court system through the annual allocation of its human services tax.
The one-tenth of 1% sales tax generates funds specifically for mental health, substance abuse and diversionary courts programs. Since its adoption in 2013, the tax has delivered millions of dollars to help residents with behavioral health challenges avoid costly and often detrimental encounters with the criminal justice system.
Funding for the 2025 fiscal year, approved Monday, will serve over 12,000 residents facing behavioral health challenges, according to the county. It will deliver $5.4 million to treatment providers; $1.8 million to therapeutic courts; and $3.2 million for capital projects. Funding supports 23 ongoing projects and two new programs.
Among the new projects is a $90,000 allocation to Communities in School Peninsula, a school drop-out prevention organization currently serving 10 schools in the Peninsula School District and three in South Kitsap. Julie Walters, the agency’s development director, said county funds will help them expand into two additional South Kitsap Schools to provide both academic and behavioral health resources to students in need.
County officials also awarded $150,000 to Peninsula Community Health Services to support programing and start-up costs for a 22-room medical respite center on Sixth Street in Bremerton. The facility is expected to open near the end of 2025 in the former Kitsap Rescue Mission site.
The center would provide temporary shelter for up to 30 days to people discharged from the hospital that are experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. These patients generally cannot recover from an injury or illness while living unsheltered, but are also not ill enough to require hospital care.
PCHS CEO Jennifer Kreidler-Moss said they were happy to receive funding but said it was “unfortunate” the county did not fully fund their request of over $293,000.
“Being short money for staffing will significantly impact our ability to be successful,” she said.
One-tenth allocations also support three housing projects for those previously involved in the criminal justice system; housing and shelter beds at the Suquamish Wellness Center; A Saint Vincent DePaul shelter expansion; and repairs to the Fuller House, a West Sound Treatment center dwelling for chronically homeless women and their children.
“The request for funding greatly exceeded the available funds,” said Helen Havens, Vice Chair of the Mental Health, Chemical Dependency & Therapeutic Court Community Advisory Committee, which reviewed funding applications and made recommendations.
“We fully funded some smaller projects however most were cut to some degree and others not funded. “This process was painful because every program met a need and was worthy.”
Conor Wilson is a Murrow News fellow, reporting for the Kitsap Sun and Gig Harbor Now, a nonprofit newsroom based in Gig Harbor, through a program managed by Washington State University.