Screening committee hears call to value community‑defined evidence in executive director search

The Executive Director Screening Committee of the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission met to review candidates for the commission's vacant executive director post and heard a public comment urging candidates to have “experience, knowledge, and respect for community defined evidence practices.”

Chair Jay Robinson confirmed a quorum at the start of the meeting and moved the panel into a closed session to review, consider and recommend candidates for the vacant executive director appointment; the committee reported back after the closed session that “no action was taken.”

Laurel Ben Hamida, identifying herself as representing MAS Social Services Foundation and REMCO, spoke during the public comment period about the importance of community‑defined evidence practices in California behavioral health. “Most people in mental health know a lot about traditional evidence based practice... But it's known now that often the data gathered for evidence based practices does not include community, people from communities of color, immigrant and refugee communities, native Americans, people with disabilities,” Ben Hamida said, and asked the committee to seriously consider candidates who can work with community‑based organizations and recognize those practices.

Ben Hamida cited the California Reducing Disparities Project as one source of community‑defined practices and gave an example attributed to the late Janet King, saying that a Native American health center’s opening led to measurable community changes in Oakland’s International Boulevard area. Her remarks were the only substantive public comment made on the closed‑session agenda item; meeting staff noted zero general public comments and one online comment for the agenda item. Public comment for agenda items was limited to three minutes.

The committee established quorum with the required minimum of five commissioners present before the closed session. Meeting staff instructed commissioners joining remotely to move to a separate closed‑session link; when the committee reconvened, staff reported that no action had been taken during the closed session. The meeting adjourned shortly thereafter; the committee did not specify next steps for the executive director search during the public record of this meeting.