Investing in Community Innovation-Lewis & Clark Behavioral Services

South Dakota Community Foundation’s (SDCF) Beyond Idea Grant (BIG) program was designed to support community-based problem solving in South Dakota. Started in partnership with the Bush Foundation in 2022, the BIG program aims to assist nonprofits to develop, test and spread their ideas and to connect leaders. SDCF recently announced BIG’s 2024 grantees, awarding nearly $1.2 million to nonprofits in South Dakota. Organizations seeking funding are finding innovative ways to solve problems in their communities, and investments from BIG are essential for that work to advance.

Funded ideas have included leadership development, food security, and mental health initiatives. Since 2022, several grant recipients have completed their projects. Lewis & Clark Behavioral Health Services (LCBHS) is one such grantee.

With support from BIG, LCBHS launched a pilot program aimed at improving the response and follow-up when there are behavioral health crisis situations in rural Union County. Throughout the project, LCBHS identified four main barriers: transportation challenges necessitating involuntary holds for travel to the Yankton crisis center, care coordination difficulties due to the proximity of Iowa and Minnesota borders, communication issues between law enforcement and mental illness board chairpersons, and the high costs and difficulty of spreading awareness about services in rural Southeast South Dakota.

LCBHS idea created a crisis outreach coordinator role, which provided a reliable point of contact between families, law enforcement and service providers, reducing officer time and improving outcomes for patients and families. Law enforcement in rural areas face considerable hurdles in behavioral health crisis response, including limited resources, staffing issues, social determinants of health affecting mental wellness high turnover rates, and transportation barriers. Communication challenges between agencies and service providers further complicate crisis care.

However, the outreach role has effectively addressed these issues. Due to the success of the BIG pilot project, the program has expanded to Clay County and introduced a part-time position in Charles Mix County. This expansion underscores the model’s scalability and effectiveness in addressing rural mental health care challenges. The position will continue to be funded through 2027 by a grant from the South Dakota Department of Social Services, Division of Behavioral Health, highlighting its sustained success and importance.