The legislation to establish collaboratives was passed in 1993 and Hennepin was one of the first to get a CMHC award. Initially organized into 4 regions, Hennepin County then concurrently operated the LCC (local children’s MH coordinating council) and LAC (local MH Advisory Council).

The original focus was on ‘wrap-around services’ and attempted to develop a managed care model to administer the integrated fund (but this was not supported by DHS). The LCTS (local collaborative time share dollars) began in 1995. It was decided to merge CMHC and County integrated funds into one, but struggled to get other jurisdictions (e.g. school districts) to contribute to fund. There was a focus on integrated funds exclusively on paying for individualized services for authorized children.

Over the years, the Collaborative acquired other DHS grant funds (including focus on corrections), expanded case management services and increased focus on use of Medical Assistance to enhance funding for services.

There was a loss of state funds due to state cutbacks in 2001. The CMHC helped develop Primary Project sites (via Alliance for Family and Children Services).

In mid 2000, the County merged LAC, LCC and CMHC – and it redesigned CMHC into 3-part system (parents, governance, operations). The newly names CMHC set new priorities for services and expenditures, but then the CMHC was hit with reductions in LCTS by the feds. Governance and Operations were merged in 2007. Work groups around priority areas was created in 2008-2009.

Now there is a new emphasis on integrated services and use of managed care. In many ways, we have come full circle!