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Lisa Mansouri has spent four years in Santa Monica working with mentally ill and mentally ill homeless persons at Step Up on Second Street, a program recognized in a recent national report as one of the best in California for long-term mentally ill persons. David A. Dowell, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology at California State University Long Beach. He has published evaluation research on U.S. and Spanish mental health programs, particularly psychosocial programs for long-term mentally ill persons.

This policy analysis article examines how California State University-Long Beach, an institution where upward of 22,000 student applied for roughly 3,400 freshman slots and where the transfer class had to be reduced because of mandatory enrollment reductions, tested race-neutral admissions models in accordance with Proposition 209, which prohibits race/gender preferences. Testing occurred in the fall of 2002 and 2003 within a complex context where escalating demand for access came at a time of budget reductions and enrollment downsizing.

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The 18-year Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was a complex and ambitious social experiment. This review identifies nine of the major goals of the program and examines available evaluative information on how well each was achieved. The most significant achievements of the program include increasing the quantity and range of public mental health services. Equality of access to services was also improved but all inequities were not removed. Problems continue to exist in funding services on the basis of need, in providing services to chronic clients, and in coordinating services. Prevention efforts suffered from uncertainties and perhaps overly optimistic expectations. The achievements of the program are currently threatened by third-party reimbursement mechanisms, the loss of federal leadership and oversight, and the loss of a community orientation in public mental health services. A great deal can be learned from the achievements and the shortfalls of the CMHC program that may be useful in state and federal mental health planning.