Wes Moore, city leaders discuss mental health disparities

BALTIMORE — Governor Wes Moore, Lt. Governor Aruna Miller, and local health leaders gathered in Baltimore for a mental and behavioral health roundtable discussion. A big topic issue was teen violence, and tackling its root causes.

"It is time for us to get this right and in maryland we plan on it," said Governor Wes Moore.

The recent string of youth violence in baltimore has prompted an urgent call to action and push for change.

"No one should be loosing their lives to violence, but in particular the future snuffed out of these young people, lives and potential that will never be realized because of something simple," said Mayor Brandon Scott.

The city is working alongside the state of maryland to provide increased support services for children and their families.

"Looking at this as a holistic issue and working to address not just people losing their lives to gun violence but really also tackling the root causes," said Fareeha Waheed, Baltimore City Trauma Task Force.

Leaders recognize the health disparities within communities; food and housing insecurity, lack off mental and behavioral health services all have detrimental effects.

 "Different communities are treated differently on these issues and we have to be able to deal with the fact that there is a social economic and racial component on the way we deal with these things," said Governor Wes Moore.

The department of us health and human services investing in schools, to ensure kids have the assistance they need early on.

"Access to the care they need now not when they are teenagers and have bad problems not when their adults and have really bad problems, when they are small," said Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Governor Moore plans to allocate $122 million to aiding local police departments and a record $1.4 billion to mental health and substance programs.  "That includes both dealing with the trauma dealing with the retaliatory violence that we continue to see in our neighborhoods, and yes it also includes we have to get these illegal guns out of our neighborhoods."

Moore partnered with over a dozen local health leaders and assured them that they have the support and investment they need to increase services and impact change in Baltimore.