Canopy Roots BCR Evaluation
Revolutionizing Mental Health Crisis Response
January 2024 - June 2025
In the heart of Minneapolis, a groundbreaking approach to mental health crisis response is unfolding. Canopy Roots, a Black-owned and women-led organization, contracted by the City of Minneapolis, has launched a Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) program – an unarmed first response team of mental health professionals, dispatched through answering 911 calls citywide, 24/7. This innovative model represents a paradigm shift in addressing mental health emergencies, prioritizing civilian-led, trauma-informed, culturally affirming care.
But how effective is this approach? What impacts matter most to the community? Can it be scaled to serve more communities? These are the questions at the core of a pivotal evaluation project led by the Minnesota Justice Research Center (MNJRC) in partnership with Canopy Roots.
Throughout this process, the voices of those most directly affected by the BCR program will be at the forefront - crisis responders themselves, Canopy leadership, other ecosystem actors who work with them (e.g. other first responders) and recipients of service. Through secondary data analysis of organizational data alongside primary data collection with surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the evaluation will capture the perspectives of community members who have interacted with BCR, as well as the experiences of the crisis responders themselves and the first responder ecosystem in Minneapolis.
The potential impact of this evaluation extends far beyond Minneapolis. As communities across the nation grapple with how best to respond to mental health crises, the insights gained from the BCR evaluation could inform a new approach – one that prioritizes community needs, compassion, and mental health expertise over traditional law enforcement responses.
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Get Involved
If you have personal, direct experience with the Minneapolis Behavioral Crisis Response team, we want to hear from you! We've closed our community survey (a big thanks to those of you who took it!) but are still interested in talking directly to folks about their experience. Reach out to our research team to learn more.
Stay tuned this spring and summer for opportunities to learn about our research findings.
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You can also support this project by donating to the Minnesota Justice Research Center. Your contributions make a difference in how we're able to do our work.
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Research Team
Research Director, MNJRC
Community Impact Director, MNJRC
Research Manager
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
Research Intern
External Partner
