Thursday, May 21, 2026, 3 p.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Dockets #0733-0740, FY27 Budget: BPHC
The Ways & Means Committee held its second hearing of the day on the Boston Public Health Commission's fiscal year 2027 budget (docket 073320740), covering child, adolescent and family health, violence prevention, behavioral health, and infectious disease. Commissioner Bisola Ojukwu presented bureau programs including school-based health centers, the Office of Violence Prevention, the Live Long and Well equity agenda, infectious disease preparedness for summer events, and a planned $1.7 million, 22-month community-led mental health crisis response pilot with an RFP to be issued in the next few weeks and launch targeted for fall 2026. Councilors questioned the panel on the pilot's design, safety, oversight, domestic violence services, and maternal health investments. Roughly twenty members of the public testified, most affiliated with the Boston People's Response Campaign, urging the Council to reject the mayor's budget and instead fund their $4 million non-police crisis response pilot; the Peace Institute requested a $1 million annual three-year commitment. No votes were taken.
2:55 and.
3:38 I'm.
3:46 Like.
4:23 I'm.
4:29 Going.
6:20 Good afternoon.
6:22 Um, sorry for the record.
6:24 My name is ben weber.
6:26 I'm the district six city
6:27 councilor and the chair of the
6:29 committee for ways and means.
6:32 Today's MAY 21st, 2026 and the
6:35 exact time is 3:06 P.M..
6:38 Uh, I have a few plenaries to
6:39 go through.
6:41 Uh, this hearing's being
6:41 recorded.
6:43 It's also being live
6:44 streamed@boston.Gov.
6:47 City council tv and broadcast
6:49 on xfinity channel eight rcn
6:51 channel 82 and uh and five
6:52 channel 964.
6:54 The council's budget review
6:56 process encompasses a series
6:58 of hearings beginning in APRIL
6:59 and running through JUNE.
7:01 We strongly encourage residents
7:02 to take a moment to engage in
7:04 the process by giving testimony
7:05 for the record.
7:07 You can do so in several ways.
7:09 Number one, you can give
7:10 testimony at one of our public
7:10 hearings.
7:13 Um, you can do so by uh,
7:15 attending the hearing in person
7:17 and signing up on the sign in
7:19 sheet uh, near the entrance.
7:20 We'll call on you in the order
7:21 of your arrival.
7:23 You can also testify at a
7:24 hearing virtually.
7:27 Uh, to do so, use the online
7:29 form on our council budget
7:31 review website or you can email
7:35 the committee at
7:37 squirm@boston.Gov or email our
7:39 uh, legislator our budget
7:41 analyst chris michelle on a k r
7:47 and@boston.Gov.
7:47 I s h m a school
7:49 You'll get a zoom link to
7:50 testify.
7:53 Uh you can also testify in
7:56 person or virtually at our the
7:56 for.
7:57 the fourth of four.
7:59 Public listening sessions the
8:01 last of which will be tuesday,
8:02 MAY 26th at 6 P.M. Right here
8:03 in the chamber.
8:05 Again for that listening
8:06 session you testify in person
8:07 or virtually.
8:11 Um, each person what we'll do
8:13 for public testimony is we will
8:15 hear from the panel and then
8:16 we're going to get a first
8:18 round of questions from my
8:19 council colleagues and then we
8:21 will call for public testimony
8:23 at that time and then go for uh
8:24 ,additional rounds
8:27 of questioning uh, from my
8:29 colleagues um, in lieu
8:30 of testifying in person or
8:31 virtually the hearing you can
8:34 also email written testimony to
8:37 squirm@boston.Gov.
8:37 the committee at
8:39 You can also submit a two
8:40 minute video of your testimony
8:41 through the form on our website
8:42 .
8:44 For more information on the
8:45 council budget process and how
8:46 to testify, please visit the
8:48 city council's budget website
8:51 at boston.Gov council dash
8:51 budget.
8:53 Again, in-person public
8:55 testimony will be taken after
8:56 the first round of questions.
8:58 We'll hear from the panel and
8:59 first round of questions from
9:00 my colleagues will each get
9:02 about maybe six minutes if
9:03 you're trying to calculate when
9:04 you're going to testify.
9:06 Each person will be called up
9:08 uh, one at a time and you'll
9:10 have two minutes to speak.
9:13 Uh, and please, you know, at
9:15 the beginning identify uh, you
9:16 tell us your name, where you're
9:17 from, what organization you're
9:19 with and then we'll start the
9:19 timer.
9:22 Um, and uh, again, if you're
9:24 watching online and want to
9:26 testify, email chris mitchell
9:32 on it's charisma docu
9:33 hand@boston.Gov and you'll get
9:35 a zoom link for the uh for to
9:36 testify.
9:38 Um so this afternoon's hearing
9:42 is on docket number 073320740.
9:44 Uh, the boston public health
9:46 commission's fiscal year 2027
9:47 budget.
9:49 This hearing will cover um, the
9:52 topics including, uh,
9:54 infectious disease, child and
9:56 adolescent family health,
9:57 violence prevention and
9:58 behavioral health and wellness
9:58 .
9:59 This is one of a series
10:00 of hearings to review the
10:02 fiscal year 27 budget is also
10:03 our second hearing of the day
10:05 with the boston public health
10:05 commission.
10:08 Uh, we covered uh, other topics
10:10 this morning including uh
10:13 recovery, uh, substance abuse,
10:15 um, and and uh several others
10:17 and we also heard from ems um,
10:18 okay.
10:19 These matters were sponsored by
10:21 mayor michelle wu and referred
10:22 to the committee on APRIL 8th,
10:23 2026.
10:25 I'm joined by my colleagues in
10:26 order of arrival.
10:28 I I'm not sure who I'm going to
10:29 guess.
10:30 Councilor flynn the odds are
10:33 then councilor louijeune then
10:34 councilor fitzgerald if I'm
10:34 wrong, councilor louijeune will
10:35 let me know.
10:36 Um.
10:38 Uh, I we've received a letter
10:39 of absence from
10:41 councilor wirral and uh, I've
10:43 also received a letter from
10:45 councilor cleta zapata who
10:47 because she is on maternity
10:48 leave.
10:49 Congratulations to her and her
10:50 newborn son.
10:52 I will parental leave.
10:54 Okay, well, if you're on
10:55 maternity leave or paternity
10:57 leave or parental leave I will
10:58 read and you're one of my
10:59 counselor colleagues.
11:00 I'll read your questions for
11:00 you.
11:03 Nobody else get any ideas about
11:04 me reading questions for them
11:06 if they're just out for any
11:06 other reason.
11:08 Um, so we're so we're also
11:10 joined by councilor culpeper.
11:14 Uh, so uh, generally we uh,
11:15 waive opening statements.
11:17 Uh, and we go to the panel.
11:20 I just uh because uh,
11:22 councilor flynn has uh has
11:23 something to get to.
11:26 Uh, so we MAY or MAY not have
11:26 questions.
11:27 I'm going to leave it to all my
11:28 colleagues to for one minute.
11:29 Opening statement.
11:31 Councilor flynn, if you want to
11:32 lead us off and then we'll
11:34 everyone get a chance for one
11:35 minute to, uh, to say
11:36 something.
11:39 Thank you, mr chair.
11:40 Thank you for giving me the
11:41 opportunity.
11:43 Thank you to doctor ojukwu to
11:45 thank you to chris from the
11:46 budget team for being here for
11:48 the important work you were
11:48 doing.
11:49 Doctor ojukwu too.
11:51 You were here for three hours
11:51 this morning.
11:53 Want to say thank you um for
11:56 your testimony, for your
11:57 leadership and for.
11:59 For staying and and listening
12:01 to the public testimony from
12:02 from boston residents.
12:04 Um, unfortunately, MISTER Chair
12:06 ,I am leaving.
12:08 I have to go to the south end
12:10 constituents.
12:10 for, uh, to meet with some
12:12 I will be watching this.
12:14 Um, remaining remaining meeting
12:17 on video this evening or
12:19 sometime tomorrow, but I I will
12:21 follow up with doctor ojukwu
12:22 after we had a good discussion
12:25 this morning about what we can
12:27 do on hiv and aids.
12:29 Um, supporting patients,
12:32 supporting people living with
12:34 aids and hiv prevention.
12:36 I want to acknowledge doctor
12:36 holger coutu.
12:38 That's a field that you've
12:40 studied in your entire life.
12:41 And I want to thank you to your
12:42 for your commitment.
12:44 Uh, for public health
12:44 initiatives.
12:46 And I also want to say thank
12:48 you for your, uh, willingness
12:50 to work with me on asian
12:52 health, asian women's health
12:53 and uh, for being a strong
12:55 supporter of the asian
12:55 community as well.
12:56 Thank you, mr chair.
12:57 Okay.
12:57 thank you.
12:58 And just before we go to
12:59 councilor louijeune just want
13:00 to introduce our panelists.
13:02 Uh, we're joined by the
13:03 commissioner of public health
13:04 and executive director of the
13:05 boston public health
13:07 commission, doctor bissell
13:07 ojukwu.
13:09 We're also joined by, uh, the
13:10 budget director for the boston
13:12 public health commission, chris
13:12 valdez.
13:13 Uh councilor louijeune.
13:17 Thank you, mr chair and good
13:17 afternoon everyone.
13:19 Um, thank you for being here.
13:20 Doctor o, thank you for your
13:22 incredible leadership, uh, the
13:23 boston public health commission
13:23 over the years.
13:25 I'm just so glad that you are
13:26 in the position that you are in
13:27 and that you bring such a
13:28 holistic viewpoint to the
13:30 issues of public health in our
13:30 city.
13:33 Everything from uh, domestic
13:35 violence and sexual violence to
13:39 uh, black maternal uh,
13:41 morbidity morbidity rates, um
13:43 to uh issues in mass around
13:44 mass and cas um just the city
13:46 is really lucky to have your
13:47 leadership and director valdez
13:48 also thank you for being with
13:49 us here today.
13:50 I look forward to this hearing.
13:51 There are a number of issues
13:53 that are of great importance, a
13:54 lot of which that I first
13:55 mentioned.
13:56 Want to hear more about the
13:58 city's live long and well
13:59 initiative, which is a great
14:01 statement of understanding the
14:02 uh, racial health gaps that
14:06 prevent us um, from that
14:08 results in a 33 year increasing
14:10 life expectancy, uh, between
14:11 black and white communities
14:12 here in our city.
14:13 So just want to thank you for
14:14 your leadership want to dive
14:15 into those questions how we
14:16 have mental health response uh,
14:18 to a lot of to mental health
14:19 issues.
14:20 Um and again thank you felicia
14:21 .
14:21 Thank you, mr chair.
14:22 Okay.
14:23 thank you,
14:23 councilor fitzgerald.
14:26 Thank you, mr chair.
14:27 Uh, and thank you guys for
14:28 being here again today.
14:28 Um.
14:30 Looking at the topics of this
14:32 of today's hearing of uh
14:34 they're all, uh, pertinent
14:36 of the moment uh, or at least
14:38 uh, things coming up I think
14:39 about infectious disease with
14:40 the especially with so many
14:41 visitors we're going to have,
14:42 uh, this summer.
14:44 Um, I know the uh.
14:47 Uh the violence prevention and
14:49 trauma response my my maiden
14:51 speech, uh, on this floor here
14:52 was about, uh, trauma response.
14:54 And so I'm I'm happy to, um,
14:55 look forward to hearing about
14:55 the updates to that.
14:57 Um, and of course mental health
14:59 uh, a very big issue in the
15:00 different ways that we are
15:02 dealing with it and learning to
15:03 deal with and how to so, uh,
15:04 thank you so much for your time
15:05 here, uh, to educate us.
15:07 questions.
15:07 Uh, and let us ask you
15:07 Thank you.
15:07 Chair.
15:08 Okay.
15:09 thank you,
15:10 councilor culpepper, do you
15:10 have a minute?
15:11 Opening statement.
15:11 thank you.
15:12 Mr chair.
15:14 I just wanted to thank doctor.
15:20 000 dakota for what a great
15:23 look this mental health crisis
15:23 response pilot.
15:25 This is all I want to talk
15:25 about.
15:27 So we'll talk about that in
15:29 minutes because I think it's a
15:30 great pilot I've got a few
15:32 questions I want to ask you I
15:33 know we had you here this
15:35 morning but just thank you for
15:37 being with us and all these
15:39 questions and I'll be happy to
15:40 get into this mental health
15:42 crisis response quality because
15:44 I think it's a great pilot that
15:47 will lend to some of the
15:48 challenges that we're having
15:51 when it has to do with dispatch
15:52 calls that have to do with
15:52 mental health.
15:55 Thank you and thank you, chris.
15:57 Okay.
15:57 thank you,
15:58 councilor culpepper.
16:00 Uh, so I'm going to uh, hand
16:02 the floor over to the panelists
16:03 and we're going to hear from
16:05 our, uh, counselors with
16:07 questions and go to public
16:08 testimony after that.
16:08 Thank you.
16:09 Great, great.
16:11 Good afternoon and thank you.
16:11 Can I.
16:12 Can I just interrupt you for
16:13 one second?
16:13 Sorry.
16:16 We there is a celebration
16:17 downstairs so we'll keep an eye
16:18 on the music.
16:20 Uh, people feel like they can't
16:21 hear anything.
16:22 Let me know.
16:23 Uh, we'll pop that.
16:25 That's not a distraction.
16:26 Thanks.
16:27 Great.
16:28 good afternoon, chair weber
16:29 and distinguished.
16:30 City councilors.
16:32 i'm honored to be here.
16:34 Um, so this morning as chair
16:35 weber mentioned, we did talk
16:37 about live long well, which is
16:38 our city's first population
16:39 health equity agenda.
16:41 It's basically where our city's
16:44 committing to addressing the
16:46 huge and um, concerning gaps in
16:48 health outcomes and life
16:49 expectancy across our city.
16:50 We also talked about
16:52 recovery services, homeless
16:53 services and ems.
16:54 So I'm really pleased to be
16:56 back this afternoon to talk
16:57 about child adolescent and
16:58 family health, uh, violence
17:00 prevention, infectious diseases
17:01 ,community initiatives and
17:03 behavioral health and wellness
17:05 as well as a few other issues.
17:11 Okay so let's jump right in
17:12 with child adolescent and
17:13 family health.
17:16 So our caf bureau um delivers
17:17 education health services and
17:19 family supports to thousands
17:20 of families in boston.
17:22 For this presentation I'd like
17:24 to focus in on engagement
17:26 of youth because that is a core
17:29 priority of uh, the bureau in
17:31 fy 26, more than 1200 young
17:33 people received clinical
17:34 services as well as training
17:35 for job opportunities through
17:36 the caf bureau.
17:38 So as you see on the slide,
17:39 I've listed the programs that
17:42 have specifically served youth
17:44 first the boston area health
17:46 education center or basic um
17:47 exposes and educates young
17:48 people to careers in health
17:50 with the goal of growing a
17:53 diversified and culturally
17:55 responsive health workforce.
17:56 This fiscal year they have
17:58 provided programing to 118
17:58 youth.
18:00 Next, the peer leadership
18:02 institute trains young people
18:04 to be educators and ambassadors
18:05 to empower other young people
18:07 around sexual health, substance
18:08 use and mental health.
18:11 Um challenges this fiscal year,
18:12 the peer leadership institute
18:13 provided programing to more
18:14 than 40 youth.
18:17 Start strong is another peer
18:19 leadership program focuses on
18:20 supporting young people and
18:21 having healthy relationships
18:24 and decreasing intimate partner
18:24 violence.
18:26 Much of our strong support work
18:29 is focused um on online
18:29 engagement and through its
18:31 digital media efforts start
18:33 strong achieve more than 20
18:34 million social media
18:35 impressions within this fiscal
18:35 year.
18:38 I also want to mention the
18:39 youth development network.
18:41 The youth development network
18:43 engages young people who are at
18:45 risk in activities that
18:46 strengthen their connection to
18:48 school and supports their
18:49 progress towards educational
18:52 complete completion ytn or the
18:53 youth development network
18:54 offers in school as well as
18:55 afterschool programing focus on
18:56 leadership and life skills and
18:57 gives young people the tools
18:58 they need to succeed.
19:01 So within this fiscal year
19:02 through both case management
19:04 and summer programing as well
19:06 as afterschool initiatives wide
19:07 and serve 220 youth.
19:10 Last but not least we manage
19:12 and staff school-based health
19:14 centers um eight of them in
19:16 total um across our city these
19:19 are fully staffed uh during the
19:19 fiscal year.
19:21 Essentially we offer medical
19:22 services as well as mental