The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment requested an additional $4.8 million for its 2023 budget, much of it to address equality and food insecurity.

A majority of the increase, $3.1 million, would be used to expand personnel, services and supplies, officials told the Denver City Council during a budget hearing Thursday.

Executive Director Bob McDonald said the experience of COVID-19, and now monkey pox, have reinforced the department’s commitment to the underserved.

“It’s inherent with public health that we focus on underserved communities because we know underserved communities are most impacted by everything we’re trying to prevent,” he said.

The department requested $924,000 to expand substance use programs and access to health care. The money would bolster the “Wellness Winnie” program, a mobile vehicle that delivers a plethora of physical and mental health services.

Department officials requested increases to staff by adding 6.25 new full time employees, one of whom will be a substance use navigator. This employee would work with city residents who have substance abuse issues and points them to the service they need.

The $924,000 increase from the general fund will be supplemented by one-time $20 million grant from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The money will be used to improve four areas of behavioral health.

“Medicare and Medicaid is a problem, there’s some real system challenges that we need to address,” he said. “Second, there’s not enough providers… And third, people need to feel comfortable reaching out to people who experienced what they experienced.”

The fourth area to address would be reducing wait times for those seeking treatment.

In their presentation, the department reported survey results showing 47% of people expressed a need for “increased diversity” among Denver’s behavioral health workforce. Officials want to implement a “culturally appropriate pipeline” for those seeking behavioral health care.

Department officials aim to put more resources to food security programs. This includes a permanent increase of $319,545 which will add 1.66 full time employees who would attack the problem in historically marginalized neighborhoods.

“We do a lot of great work in (addressing food insecurity) with Denver’s food vision plan. This is a request to bring some grant funded people under the general fund to keep moving that plan forward,” McDonald said.

Denver works to address food insecurity for children through the “Healthy Foods for Denver’s Kids” grant, but many adults tend to miss out on those benefits.

“This is more broad, expanding beyond the limitations of the Healthy Foods for Denver’s Kids program,” he said.

Like the expansion to behavioral health, the expansion to food security initiatives needs ARPA funding. McDonald requested $6 million to provide emergency food supplies to those in need.

Potential grants could be awarded to community-based organizations that serve food.

“We want to support our nonprofits so that when these ARPA dollars run out,” McDonald said, “they can keep this work moving forward connecting people with the food that they need.”