2023-05-15T16:31:18-07:00 2022-12-31 990 2022-01-01 953371166 MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY SERVICES INC MENT 2133892077 3255 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 902 LOS ANGELES CA 90010 Jill Kennedy Treasurer 2134526316 2023-05-15 1 1 11 1 AAL2 X 2022 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Ed Casey 3255 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 902 LOS ANGELES CA 90010 2677397 0 X https://www.mhas-la.org/ X 1979 CA The mission of Mental Health Advocacy Services is to protect and advance the legal rights of low-income adults and children with mental health disabilities and empower them to assert those rights in order to maximize their autonomy, achieve equity, and secure the resources they need to thrive. 23 23 26 4 0 0 1838125 2319450 19542 56603 14 1234 -8983 -25868 1848698 2351419 0 0 0 0 1386615 1761595 6600 19800 122839 198717 215227 1591932 1996622 256766 354797 1010795 1386819 81955 103182 928840 1283637 X The mission of Mental Health Advocacy Services (MHAS) is to protect and advance the legal rights of low-income adults and children with mental health disabilities and empower them to assert those rights in order to maximize their autonomy, achieve equity, and secure the resources they need to thrive. 1 0 339385 0 0 Medical-Legal Community Partnership - MHAS is a key partner in Los Angeles County's Medical-Legal Community Partnership ("MLCP"), a project administered by the Department of Health Services and the Department of Mental Health. Through the MLCP, MHAS assists participants with legal issues to ensure that they have the resources and support needed to achieve better health outcomes and overall well-being. Since the project began in 2018, MHAS has helped thousands of participants on legal matters in the areas of housing, public benefits, and discrimination; provided a series of trainings on legal issues pertinent to healthcare workers; and guided hundreds of clinical staff with legal technical assistance. In 2022, MHAS provided legal and technical assistance to 585 clients through this project. 291787 0 5604 Homelessness Prevention Projects - In 2020, MHAS expanded its homelessness prevention legal services to include behavioral health legal partnerships in which legal services intervention specifically targeting low-income tenants with mental health disabilities at risk of homelessness is holistically integrated in partnership with three of the largest mental health services providers in Los Angeles. In 2022, MHAS joined the Stay Housed L.A. coalition, a partnership between the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, and local community and legal service providers that provides tenants with the information and support needed to exercise their rights so that they can remain safely in their homes. Homelessness prevention legal services are also provided to clients referred from other MHAS projects. Legal services include eviction defense and other tenant defense assistance in landlord-tenant rental disputes, including pre-eviction and eviction legal services, counseling, advice and consultation, mediation, training, renter education and representation, and legal services to improve habitability and to ensure receipt of eligible income or benefits to improve housing stability. Activities in 2022 included legal assistance to 121 individuals and technical assistance to multiple mental health organizations and housing providers. 247087 0 0 Addressing Barriers to Reentry Project - MHAS partners with the organization Painted Brain on "Project New Start," a comprehensive job placement, mental health, and legal services program for formerly incarcerated individuals that reside in South Los Angeles. Project New Start was established to combat employment barriers for individuals who are or who have been in the criminal justice system and are experiencing mental health challenges. Painted Brain and MHAS staff collaborate to provide individualized employment service plans for formerly incarcerated program participants to successfully obtain employment. Additionally, MHAS helps clients overcome barriers to reentry by providing legal services and advocacy in the areas of expungement, employment, housing, and criminal justice debt. Activities in 2022 included extensive legal representation of 39 individuals. 870070 0 50999 Other program services in 2022 included: (1) Consumer Advocacy - Consumer law and credit reparation are common areas of service across MHAS' programs serving low-income clients with mental health disabilities. MHAS partners with our clients to end or reduce debt collection, enforce fair debt collection laws, resolve credit reporting errors, prevent negative consumer reporting, and resolve financial disputes with landlords, businesses and public agencies. MHAS also helps clients combat financial exploitation by unscrupulous individuals and corporations and enforces mental health consumer rights. (2) Fair Housing - MHAS fights housing discrimination against individuals with mental health disabilities through legal representation and fair housing education and outreach activities. In addition to conducting 18 fair housing workshops in 2022, the project distributed "Fair Housing Tip of the Month" email messages in in English, Korean, and Spanish to over 4,500 people. (3) Government Benefits Advocacy - MHAS provides government benefits assistance to people with mental health disabilities, including providing advice about the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) application process, as well as preventing clients from losing their SSI benefits by assisting them with post-eligibility issues such as benefit terminations, overpayments and disability reviews. (4) Maternal Medical-Legal Partnership - MHAS operates a medical-legal partnership with Los Angeles County's Nurse-Family Partnership to assist low-income mothers with mental health disabilities during and after their pregnancy. In this collaboration, MHAS empowers women through direct legal services, know-your-rights trainings, and policy advocacy to foster health, housing, income, and family stability. (5) Mental Health Court Clinic - In 2022, Mental Health Advocacy Services launched a new legal clinic in partnership with the Hollywood Mental Health Courthouse targeting individuals with mental health disabilities. The Clinic provides Court-approved information and resources about Mental Health Court proceedings to litigants and other members of the public who are not currently in custody. The Clinic also offers information and brief services on a range of ancillary civil legal issues with a goal of helping litigants achieve greater overall stability, thus allowing them to move through their proceedings at Mental Health Court with greater efficiency and success, and with less likelihood of returning. (6) Special Education Advocacy - MHAS conducts community outreach and parent training and technical assistance to help low-income families obtain special education and other services their children need to achieve academic success. (7) Transition Age Youth (TAY) Medical-Legal Partnership - MHAS hosts a Skadden Fellowship project which operates a medical-legal partnership with Daniel's Place in Santa Monica. Daniel's Place provides mental health care, housing assistance, hot meals and showers, and other services to transition age youth with mental health disabilities who are chronically unhoused. Through this partnership, MHAS provides direct legal services involving housing, traffic and parking tickets, public benefits, expungements, and other issues to promote a happy and successful transition to adulthood. (8) Other legal services including direct assistance regarding legal issues affecting low-income adults and children with mental health disabilities; training and technical assistance to attorneys, mental health professionals, consumer and family member groups, and other advocates; impact litigation; and policy advocacy aimed at protecting and advancing the legal rights of people with mental health disabilities. 870070 0 50999 1748329 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 26 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 23 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 CA X Jenny Farrell 2133892077 3255 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 902 LOS ANGELES CA 90010 Jenny Farrell Executive Director 34 0 X 110637 0 19742 Renee Cook Director of Administration and Finance 34 0 X 97465 0 12771 Emily Aviad Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Edward Casey Director, President 2 0 X X 0 0 0 Lauren Cruz Director, Secretary 2 0 X 0 0 0 Lucy Eisenberg Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Douglas Hall Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Lisa Harris Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Azita Iskandar Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Jill Kennedy Director, Treasurer 2 0 X 0 0 0 Jessica Laird Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Alexa Lawson-Remer Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Dean Lewis Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Marcellus McRae Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Lisa Yumi Mitchell Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Alyssa Musante Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Katherine Perez Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Neil Rubin Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Francis Ryu Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Elyn Saks Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Bradley Schneider Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Laura Schwartz Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Andrew Spitser Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Peter Swain Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Zach Tofoya Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Jessica Walker Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Jerome Wilhort Director, Vice President 2 0 X 0 0 0 208102 0 32513 1 0 0 0 0 1431 0 164959 0 1522876 630184 7293 2319450 Training and service contracts 541100 7999 7999 0 0 Attorneys Fees 541100 48604 48604 0 0 0 0 0 0 56603 1234 0 0 1234 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 288000 0 288000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12110 161237 37978 -25868 0 -25868 0 2351419 56603 0 -24634 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 244717 154826 40043 49848 0 0 0 0 1255676 1181266 44939 29471 0 0 0 0 144989 136159 5308 3522 116213 104157 6381 5675 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10500 1525 8975 0 0 0 0 0 19800 19800 0 0 0 0 6999 6100 724 175 0 0 0 0 28118 18706 4721 4691 27620 21258 1178 5184 0 0 0 0 91975 78489 9654 3832 354 354 0 0 0 0 0 0 554 90 464 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 925 604 321 0 24436 22142 1739 555 Parking 2372 1729 557 86 Professional Membership 11211 10761 450 0 Library 10163 10163 0 0 0 0 0 0 1996622 1748329 125454 122839 282956 775857 144668 145014 207220 380532 347309 51546 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21400 27156 36291 29577 7242 6714 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1010795 1386819 81955 103182 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 81955 103182 X 866381 871493 62459 412144 928840 1283637 1010795 1386819 354797 0 0 0 0 0 X 0 1 X 1 0 X 735345 794257 1609179 1838125 2319450 7296356 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 735345 794257 1609179 1838125 2319450 7296356 1588684 5707672 1328 1783 343 14 1234 4702 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7301058 528121 0.78176 0.80904 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 0 1 0 1 387 0 0 1 24 0 0 411 0 Schedule C, Part II-B, Line 1 (1) S.1486 (Pregnant Workers Fairness Act) - Wrote letters in support of federal legislation that would require employers to make reasonable and temporary accommodations for pregnancy that don't place an undue burden on the business. (2) S.2182 (Eviction Crisis Act) - Joined a national coalition that submitted a letter to Congress in support of federal legislation that would create a nationwide, permanent rental assistance program to last beyond COVID. (3) S.4529 (Children's Safe Welcome Act) - Joined coalition that submitted a letter to Congress in support of federal legislation that would re-envision how children are treated in government custody by structuring every step of the process around child welfare principles and ensuring children's safety and well-being. (4) California Senate Bill 355 - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would expand fee waiver rights in the California court system. (5) California Senate Bill 633 - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would require businesses to provide non-English speaking co-signers a translated notice disclosing the financial responsibilities that they will undertake if they sign a contract. (6) California Senate Bill 1106 (The Fresh Start Act) - Wrote letters in support of legislation that would reduce barriers to obtaining expungement relief. (7) California Senate Bill 1324 (Rental Debt Practices Act) - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would give tenants better protection from unscrupulous debt collection practices by extending the definition of "consumer debt" to include rental debt. (8) California Senate Bill 1338 - Wrote letters and called legislators in opposition to legislation that would establish the "CARE Court" to coerce individuals to submit to court-ordered mental-health treatment. (9) California Assembly Bill 1720 - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would reduce barriers faced by individuals with inconsequential criminal convictions who apply to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to become home care aides or CDSS employees or volunteers. (10) California Assembly Bill 1816 - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would create a grant program to fund affordable housing and workforce programs for formerly incarcerated individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. (11) California Assembly Bill 2317 - Wrote letter to Governor urging veto of legislation that would protect children from harm that would be created by licensing Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities in California. (12) California Assembly Bill 2632 (California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement) - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would place limits on the use of solitary confinement in California carceral facilities. (13) California Assembly Bill 2713 - Wrote letter in support of legislation that would enhance tenant protections by closing loopholes in the no-fault just cause eviction protections in the Tenant Protection Act of 2019. (14) California Assembly Bill 2830 - Joined coalition that submitted a letter to legislators in opposition to legislation that would establish the "CARE Court" to coerce individuals to submit to court-ordered mental-health treatment. (15) California State Budget - Wrote letter in support of ensuring adequate funding for community-based mental health diversion and restoration programs; directing resources to eliminate the entry of people with mental health and intellectual and developmental disabilities into the criminal legal system; and ensuring early and effective access to mental health diversion and community-based restoration and treatment. (16) Los Angeles County Charter - Joined coalition that submitted letter urging the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to amend the County charter to create an impeachment mechanism for the LA County Sheriff, reinforce the Board of Supervisors' authority to set policy for the Sheriff's Department, and establish civilian oversight of the Sheriff's Department. 0 0 X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29238 23313 5925 0 7053 6264 789 6714 0 0 X 2389397 0 0 0 37978 37978 2351419 0 0 0 2351419 2034600 0 0 0 37978 37978 1996622 0 0 0 1996622 Schedule D, Part IV, Line 2b Description of credit counseling, debt management, credit repair, or debt negotiation services: MHAS provided legal assistance regarding debt, consumer finance, credit and other financial issues. Schedule D, Part X, Line 2 Footnote from financial statements: "MHAS has adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Section 740-10, which clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes. ASC Section 740-10 prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. ASC Section 740-10 requires that an organization recognize in the financial statements the impact of the tax position if that position will more likely than not be sustained on audit, based on the technical merits of the position. As of and for the year ended December 31, 2022, MHAS had no material unrecognized tax benefits, tax penalties or interest." Schedule D, Part XI, Line 2d Fundraising event expenses of $37,978 were reported as expenses in the audited financial statements. On Form 990, these expenses were reported as a deduction from fundraising event gross income in the Statement of Revenue, Part VIII, Line 8b, instead of being reported as expenses in Part IX. Schedule D, Part XII, Line 2d Fundraising event expenses of $37,978 were reported as expenses in the audited financial statements. On Form 990, these expenses were reported as a deduction from fundraising event gross income in the Statement of Revenue, Part VIII, Line 8b, instead of being reported as expenses in Part IX. X X X X X 1 Stephanie Kaiser & Associates Grant Consulting 30523 Cartier Drive Rancho Palos Verdes CA 90275 Grantwriting 0 200000 19800 180200 200000 19800 180200 CA Annual Celebration 177069 164959 12110 0 0 6330 14124 888 16636 0 0 177069 164959 12110 0 0 6330 14124 888 16636 37978 -25868 Form 990, Part III, Line 2 In 2022 MHAS launched a new legal clinic in partnership with the Hollywood Mental Health Courthouse targeting individuals with mental health disabilities, as described in Schedule O, Statement 1. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b The prepared Form 990 is reviewed by the Treasurer (or other director serving on the Finance Committee, if so designated by the Treasurer) and the President (or other board officer, if so designated by the President) prior to filing. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c MHAS' conflict of interest policy requires directors, officers and key employees to disclose transactions and relationships that could create potential conflicts of interest. Covered individuals complete an annual questionnaire regarding potential conflicts of interest and business and family relationships with other covered individuals. Upon disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest, the Board of Directors (or a duly constituted committee thereof) determines whether a conflict exists and, in the case of an existing conflict, whether the contemplated transaction may be authorized as just, fair and reasonable to MHAS. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 The Board of Directors reviews and approves the compensation of the Executive Director after reviewing data regarding the compensation of similarly qualified individuals in comparable positions at similar organizations in the same geographic area. This process was last completed in 2022. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 MHAS makes available to the public its current articles of incorporation, bylaws and audited financial statements. MHAS also makes available to the public its Form 990 for three years from the date of filing. Copies of these documents are available upon request.