The Madison City Council on Tuesday created a task force to address systemic racism in the city and began pursuing alternative ways to respond to mental health crises instead of resorting to calling police officers. The council unanimously agreed for a task force made up of African American community groups to review city policies with an eye toward identifying “critical issues” affecting Madison’s Black residents. Council members also voted unanimously to request the help of the county in creating a mental health first responder pilot program. The program would be modeled after similar initiatives in other cities, such as the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program in Eugene, Oregon in which a team consisting of a medic and a social worker respond to some mental health 911 calls.