In an unanimous vote Monday night, the Albany County Legislature approved an agreement between the County’s Department of Mental Health and the University at Albany School of Social Welfare and School of Public Health to study information generated by the newly created Albany County Crisis Officials Responding and Diverting (ACCORD) program. The partnership will allow for data from ACCORD to be analyzed to create a roadmap for scaling the program within Albany County and potentially implementing it in other municipalities.

The ACCORD is a pilot program in the Hilltowns designed to provide alternative crisis response services to those experiencing nonviolent crises when the presence of law enforcement is not necessary. The first crisis response team, consisting of social workers and paramedics, will handle response Monday through Friday. The second team, starting at the end of June, will respond Sunday through Thursday.

“This move is a critical piece of our ACCORD efforts,” said Chairman Andrew Joyce. “Studying the data will let us know the program’s effectiveness and allow us to make tweaks as we proceed and help us to plan for the pilot program’s expansion. We thank UAlbany for their interest and look forward to working with them as we move ahead with this exciting program.”