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 mor-
tality 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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•HRES 639 IH 
Whereas minority persons are more likely to experience symp-
toms of diagnosable mental health conditions than non-
minorities, 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 them-
selves 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, includ-
ing 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 psycho-
logical 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 ac-
cess to representational mental health professionals and 
culturally informed treatment options; 
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•HRES 639 IH 
Whereas, in 2021, less than 13 percent of Latinx adults ages 
18 to 44 who experienced mental health conditions re-
ceived treatment, in contrast to over one-third of non-
minorities; 
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 inef-
fective health outcomes; 
Whereas disparities in insurance coverage for culturally spe-
cific mental health conditions exist and have led to a 
reluctancy to seek health care among minority commu-
nities; 
Whereas Native and Indigenous persons face significant bar-
riers to mental health care services, clinics, and resources 
due to experiencing disproportional health insurance cov-
erage; 
Whereas nearly half of pregnant persons who experienced de-
pression were not treated; 
Whereas over half of pregnant minority mothers do not re-
ceive 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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•HRES 639 IH 
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 re-
ported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicide 
death rates in minority communities as compared to non-
minorities; 
Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of death among 
Asian/Pacific Islander American youth; 
Whereas the percentage of Asian Americans and Native Ha-
waiian 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 re-
ported 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 sig-
nificantly 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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•HRES 639 IH 
Whereas minority populations disproportionately face racial 
inequality in mental health research requiring an in-
creased 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 sev-
eral mental health care initiatives, including implementa-
tion 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 Fel-
lowship 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the mental health disparity in 
our country facing Black, Indigenous, and people of 
color in the United States; 
(2) endeavors to increase mental health care ac-
cess that incorporates racial, cultural, and social dif-
ferences these communities experience; 
(3) continues working with, where proper, the 
appropriate executive agencies to address the ongo-
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•HRES 639 IH 
ing mental health crisis across the United States, its 
territories, and federally recognized Tribes; and 
(4) seeks to provide as many resources and 
funds as possible to mental health care services 
across the United States, its territories, and feder-
ally recognized Tribes. 
Æ 
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