The village has hired an Oak Park native to help lead one of its key initiatives.
Mary Naughton started this week as the new Program Manager for the Engaging Community for Healthy Outcomes program, otherwise known as ECHO, according to the village. ECHO was launched earlier this year with the hiring of two care coordinators — Maxie Moses and Kimberly Smith — and is managed within the village’s Community Services division led by Vanessa Matheny.
“An Oak Park native, Mary brings a deep commitment to community well-being and a wealth of experience in behavioral health and homeless services,” the village said of the hiring in its village manager’s report earlier this week. “She joins the village with a strong background in both direct service and leadership roles in the social services sector.”
Most recently, Naughton served as the director of an alternative community treatment program, where she led a multidisciplinary team providing community-based behavioral health services to individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness, according to the village.
“Her leadership emphasized collaboration, crisis response, and a trauma-informed approach to care, ensuring high-quality support for some of the community’s most vulnerable residents,” the village said.
Oak Park’s village board first approved the launch of the ECHO program a year ago with a unanimous vote. Trustees gave the greenlight for the pilot program to enter its first phase. The program was billed as providing alternative responses to issues without involving police officers amid “community calls for a reimagining of public safety,” according to last year’s board presentation.
The program’s development followed a 2022 study by consultant group BerryDunn that the village commissioned to help outline a vision for alternative police responses in Oak Park.
Since the program has gotten off the ground following Moses and Smith’s hiring, the two care coordinators have responded to a variety of non-emergency calls for service.
While ECHO is still in its first phase as a pilot program, village leaders have spoken to its potential for supporting Oak Parkers experiencing struggles like mental health issues and housing insecurity. In an interview with Wednesday Journal earlier this year, Matheny said that ECHO has strong potential to work with people in the village experiencing homelessness.
“We have ECHO here that can support them,” she said. “So I think that people should feel more comfortable with communicating with us so that we can help them help the community as a whole.”