CRENSHAW COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – A $350,000 grant will go toward providing infrastructure for a new rural mental health crisis center in south central Alabama in the town of Brantley, Gov. Kay Ivey’s office confirmed.

The money, which comes from the recently organized Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, will be combined with a $350,000 Community Development Block Grant awarded by the governor in 2023 to provide water and sewer services for the new center.

“This facility will allow those afflicted with mental health issues to access treatment much closer to home,” Governor Ivey said. “This project is the result of cooperation between government partners and one of the first Southeast Crescent Regional Commission funding projects to help meet the funding needs of the people of southeast and coastal Alabama.”

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The facility, which has an estimated total price tag of approximately $10 million, will employ approximately 65 people. It will be open 24 hours a day and will serve residents of Butler, Coffee, Covington and Crenshaw counties suffering from mental health, substance abuse and disabilities. It will be located off US Highway 331, north of Brantley, on a four-acre site provided by the city.

The funds will be administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, or ADECA.

“Like its sister programs, the Appalachian Regional Commission of North Alabama and the Delta Regional Commission of Alabama’s Blackbelt Counties, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission will be instrumental in providing funding for projects like this mental health center while creating new jobs and boosting economies,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell.

The Southeast Crescent Regional Commission is a federal-state partnership authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill to promote and encourage economic development in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and all of Florida. SCRC invests in projects that support basic infrastructure, business development, natural resources and workforce/workforce development.

In addition to Crenshaw County, others in the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission include Autauga, Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Mobile, Montgomery and Pike counties.

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