Everyone working with our communities to provide human services has seen the devastating mental health challenges faced by people of color in New York City. Every day, we meet people struggling with challenges from food and housing insecurity to chronic and preventable diseases, community gun violence and a lack of educational opportunities. The communities we serve have had to confront hurdles of poverty, racism, discrimination, and under-resourcing for years. The COVID-19 pandemic only made these barriers higher, and now, we are seeing the consequences: a heightened mental health crisis in our communities.

Inside our communities, the stigma of seeking mental health treatment burns bright. It’s a taboo that we simply do not talk about in our homes, houses of worship or in our barbershops. And when we do look for treatment options, we rarely see people who look like us in the expert’s seat. This deficit of mental health support in our communities has worsened our isolation and the issues — at a time when getting timely mental health care has never been more critical.

Black, Brown and Asian New Yorkers have suffered especially great losses from COVID. We faced a disproportionately high death toll from the virus, while racially motivated hate crimes have also skyrocketed. Our seniors are isolated and our children are deprived of developmental activities. Many of us have had to quickly learn how to navigate language barriers to receive basic health care and social services.

Our economic suffering has been heightened too. Historically, our community members have been heavily employed in service industries that were nearly wiped out during the pandemic. Exacerbated poverty impacted communities of color the hardest, with 57% of NYC’s homeless population being Black and 32% Latino. Despite the disproportionate health risks that their jobs entailed, people of color made up 75% of front-line workers who kept our city running through its darkest days.

Through it all, communities of color have been coping with a mental health care system that wasn’t built with us in mind. More than 80% of psychologists in the U.S. are white, and the vast majority of therapy services are only available in English. Is it surprising then that mental health services are less sought out by our communities? Only 39% of Latino, 38% of AAPI, and 30% of Black New Yorkers experiencing depression receive mental health treatment, compared to 58% of White New Yorkers.

Clearly, the mental health care system is failing New Yorkers of color.

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To adequately address this imbalance and meet the mental health needs of communities of color, New York City must invest $30 million in emergency funding for mental health programs in communities of color. Now.

This investment would launch community engagement campaigns led by organizations with strong, authentic ties to the communities they serve. Trusted, established messengers from within our communities can help to counter the stigma around mental health in our communities and provide the support needed to develop and sustain healthy behavioral patterns. Entrusting established institutions to connect our diverse communities with the mental health care they need will lower barriers to access for people who may have looked away from mental health support in the past.

Similarly, emergency funding granted to providers of color will allow them to expand the mental health services they provide. Mental health care providers from our shared backgrounds are best equipped to understand the nuances of our cultures, identities and socioeconomic challenges.

To ensure this structure of support is sustainable for years, this investment would help prepare future generations of mental health practitioners by building training programs for members of underrepresented groups to become mental health caregivers, creating a pipeline of professionals of color who understand historical racial trauma and its many manifestations. Simultaneously, the funding will start working today to retain and strengthen the existing human resource pool that is currently straining at the seams.

In this time of crisis, mental health care is not a luxury. It is essential to protect the well-being of communities affected by the intersection of generational trauma of racism and the pandemic’s reverberating shockwaves. To move forward, we must look beyond conventional structures and practices in mental health treatment. Organizations that have the expertise to provide this care must receive the funding they require to meet the needs of a diverse audience.

While our experiences with mental health and racism are all unique, our communities have a shared need for mental wellness that requires a significant commitment from our city’s leaders. We stand united to demand that our elected officials listen to our pleas for support and invest in mental health care rooted within our communities.

Gil is the founder of Comunilife. Bain is the co-Founder and executive director of Community Capacity Development. Yoo is the executive director of the Asian American Federation.