IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 639 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘Minority Mental Health Awareness 

Month’’ and recognizing the disproportionate impacts of mental health 

conditions and struggles on minority populations and communities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2023 

Ms. CROCKETT (for herself, Mr. CARSON, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. 

MCCLELLAN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of ‘‘Minority Mental Health 

Awareness Month’’ and recognizing the disproportionate 

impacts of mental health conditions and struggles on 

minority populations and communities. 

Whereas more than 1 in 5 adults in the United States live 

with a mental health condition; 

Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United States; 

Whereas stigma surrounding mental health conditions plays 

a significant role for people with mental health conditions 

to go untreated; 


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Whereas minority persons are more likely to experience symptoms of diagnosable mental health conditions than nonminorities, with Native and Indigenous American adults 

reporting the highest rate of mental health conditions of 

any single race-identifying group; 

Whereas mental health conditions may first present themselves through experiencing and noticing systematic racial 

inequities and racial trauma; 

Whereas Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders faced almost 

a 150-percent surge in anti-Asian discrimination and 

xenophobic hate-related incidents during the COVID–19 

pandemic, leading to exacerbated experiences of stress, 

anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation; 

Whereas studies show that experiencing racial discrimination 

has led to a direct link to mental health issues as this 

causes sustained levels of stress, which lead to adverse 

physical, emotional, and mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, 

and heart disease; 

Whereas Black adults are more likely to report frequent and 

consistent emotional distress symptoms yet do not receive 

the help they need; 

Whereas minority adults who live below the Federal poverty 

line are twice as likely to experience and report psychological distress compared to adults who live two times 

above the poverty line; 

Whereas minority mental health providers make up less than 

one-fifth of the profession, leading to a severe lack of access to representational mental health professionals and 

culturally informed treatment options; 


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Whereas, in 2021, less than 13 percent of Latinx adults ages 

18 to 44 who experienced mental health conditions received treatment, in contrast to over one-third of nonminorities; 

Whereas language barriers result in the inaccessibility and 

reluctancy to seek health care and misdiagnoses and 

miscommunication between patient and physician, which 

decrease the quality of care and cause adverse and ineffective health outcomes; 

Whereas disparities in insurance coverage for culturally specific mental health conditions exist and have led to a 

reluctancy to seek health care among minority communities; 

Whereas Native and Indigenous persons face significant barriers to mental health care services, clinics, and resources 

due to experiencing disproportional health insurance coverage; 

Whereas nearly half of pregnant persons who experienced depression were not treated; 

Whereas over half of pregnant minority mothers do not receive treatment or resources for prenatal and postpartum 

mental health conditions; 

Whereas pregnant persons who remain untreated for mental 

health conditions related to anxiety, depression, and 

mood disorders face higher risks of experiencing adverse 

pregnancy and birthing outcomes; 

Whereas minority mothers experience postpartum depression 

at a rate that is double that of nonminority mothers; 

Whereas economic loss due to lack of productivity caused by 

untreated mental health conditions is roughly 

$100,000,000,000 per year; 


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Whereas nearly three-fourths of minority children are less 

likely to receive a diagnosis of ADHD/ADD compared to 

nonminority youth; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic caused an increase in reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicide 

death rates in minority communities as compared to nonminorities; 

Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of death among 

Asian/Pacific Islander American youth; 

Whereas the percentage of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders who reported having any 

mental illness in 2021 was 16 percent and 18 percent, 

respectively; 

Whereas only 25 percent of Asian Americans received mental 

health services compared to non-Hispanic Whites; 

Whereas roughly 8 percent of Asian Americans and over 15 

percent of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders reported have a substance use disorder, with 7 percent of 

Asian Americans reporting illicit drug use with reported 

unmet treatment needs; 

Whereas suicide rates among Black girls and boys have significantly increased over the last several years; 

Whereas minority youth are more likely to enter the criminal 

justice system with untreated mental health conditions; 

Whereas people of color make up the majority of essential 

workers in areas of food and agriculture and industrial, 

commercial, and residential facilities and services, and 

their mental health worsened with the increased risk of 

contracting COVID–19; 


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Whereas minority populations disproportionately face racial 

inequality in mental health research requiring an increased need to ensure that diversified data are reflective 

of current mental health experiences; 

Whereas increased awareness and prioritizing prevention and 

treatment of mental health conditions disproportionately 

impacting people of color are needed to reduce the racial 

and ethnic disparity in minority mental health conditions 

rates as compared to nonminorities; 

Whereas the Biden-Harris administration has pioneered several mental health care initiatives, including implementation of the newly established mental health crisis service 

hotline ‘‘988’’ and significant investments in the National 

Health Service Corps, the Behavioral Health Workforce 

Education and Training Program, and the Minority Fellowship Program, to address the unprecedented mental 

health crisis; and 

Whereas Congress recognized July as the ‘‘Bebe Moore 

Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness 

Month’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the mental health disparity in 

3 our country facing Black, Indigenous, and people of 

4 color in the United States; 

5 (2) endeavors to increase mental health care ac6 cess that incorporates racial, cultural, and social dif7 ferences these communities experience; 

8 (3) continues working with, where proper, the 

9 appropriate executive agencies to address the ongoVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR639.IH HR639

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1 ing mental health crisis across the United States, its 

2 territories, and federally recognized Tribes; and 

3 (4) seeks to provide as many resources and 

4 funds as possible to mental health care services 

5 across the United States, its territories, and feder6 ally recognized Tribes. 

Æ 


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