Local participants in planning for comprehensive community mental health centers: The Colorado experience

Abstract

This was a study of local participation in establishing the comprehensive community mental health centers in Colorado between 1963 and 1969. Hypotheses regarding why people participated, who the participants were, and the planning activities performed were based on the Davis-Moore model of stratification. Persons who initiated planning activity were likely to be moved by tangible, material, or concrete incentives to participate. Planning was undertaken by a circumscribed set of actors having moderate to high levels of income and very high levels of education. There was little evidence of the participation of the young, old, or minority groups. The cooperative presence of care givers intended in the Federal legislation was not noticeable. Actors largely perceived some uniqueness to planning in their particular catchment areas, suggesting that catchment area is a viable concept of community.