Missouri and Gov. Jay Nixon are garnering well-deserved national recognition for initiatives to serve people with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges.
Most recently, United Cerebral Palsy ranked Missouri third in the nation for providing services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to their families. The ranking also named Missouri second most-improved since 2007.
A number of Nixon's initiatives are connected with his 2010 Partnership for Hope and his 2013 Strengthening Missouri's Mental Health Initiatives.
The Partnership for Hope provides home- and community-based services to Missourians with developmental disabilities and their families. Nixon's office said the program was the first of its kind in the nation, now helps more than 2,700 people and has brought the waiting list for in-home services for low-income Missourians with developmental disabilities down to zero for the first time in decades.
Under the Mental Health Initiatives, mental health liaisons have been established throughout Missouri to help local law enforcement agencies and the courts coordinate and access mental health services. Working with Cole County's liaison, Jefferson City police have created a Crisis Intervention Training program to train officers to deal with people during a mental health crisis.
In response to the United Cerebral Palsy ranking, Nixon said: "When I took office in 2009, many Missourians had spent years waiting to get the community-based services they needed to live fuller, more productive lives. This national ranking is a great testament to the efforts of our Department of Mental Health, provider agencies and local Senate Bill 40 boards, which continue to make a real, life-changing difference for thousands of Missourians and their families."
The governor's efforts have earned bipartisan plaudits. In a column published in Sunday's News Tribune, state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said: "It has not received much press, but Gov. Nixon's efforts in mental health services have made Missouri a national leader in this area."
Leadership decisions and actions invariably elicit both support and opposition.
On this issue, however, there is little room for disagreement.
In work and deed, Nixon has championed community-based services for residents with mental health issues and with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our state is a better place as a result of those efforts.