NORTHAMPTON – The city of Northampton recently announced that resident Sean Donovan will become the implementation director for the city’s newly-conceived Department of Community Care, starting on Dec. 15.  

In July of 2020, the city created the Northampton Policing Review Commission (NPRC); a 15-member resident commission appointed by Mayor David Narkewicz and the City Council to conduct a public policy review and community conversation around policing and community safety and recommend reforms to the current organizational structure.  

In March of 2021, the commission submitted a final report titled “Reimagining Safety” with recommendations on how to improve policing services in Northampton to allow for a more equitable structure.  

One of these recommendations included implementing a Department of Community Care, which would be a new city agency that responds to calls related to mental health, substance use, social service-related requests, and other crisis situations of Northampton residents and visitors as an alternative to traditional police response.  

Donovan’s job as implementation director will involve working with and reporting directly with the mayor to assemble the new city department, including, developing the department’s organizational structure and staffing, job descriptions, operating policies, and training and license requirements, as well as coordinating with other city departments, forming an advisory committee, developing a budget, and pursuing state and federal level grants.

According to Donovan, his first couple of months will specifically involve community and stakeholder outreach and connecting with people who have been most impacted by policing including, houseless people and representatives of houseless people, as well as people who are drug users and people who represent supports for drug users. He also plans on talking with people who have encountered police because of psychiatric labels.

Donovan has worked with Holyoke’s Wildflower Alliance, a peer-led support and advocacy organization, as a transportation project coordinator. With Wildflower Alliance, he has also worked in mixed-forensic psychiatric units with people who have had criminal and civil commitments, particularly with those in homeless shelters and on the streets. “I know what it’s like to be on the ground with folks in these positions,” said Donovan.  

Beyond that, Donovan has also developed training and curriculum around harm reduction and suicide prevention practices, as well as worked with non-profits and marginalized communities around the Pioneer Valley. “I really plan on carrying on those experiences with me and all the connections with people into this new role,” said Donovan.  

When it comes to the NPRC report, Donovan said that he believes the commission was able to develop a real, “essential” document for how cities and towns can envision a world where policing is not solving most the world’s problems. “It’s not always a good fit for a lot of the things we struggle with like when it comes to conflict and looking for support,” said Donovan, when talking about police services. “The reimagining police report gives us a lot of great touchpoints for years to come of how this new department can develop pretty widely around other alternatives,” he said.

When it comes to mental health support, Donovan said the future goal with this department is to determine what that terminology often means. “When people struggle with substances, oftentimes that has a lot of roots in people not getting their basic needs met,” said Donovan. “We can be developing first responders that have the experience of being drug users, being people impacted by policing in a psychiatric state…[people] who really have empathy and understanding of how to connect with people in those moments.”

Narkewicz’s fiscal year 2022 budget adopted by the City Council included $423,955 for the Department of Community Care and the senior-level project coordinator. The city also received an additional $150,000 from state Sen. Jo Comerford to support the initiative.