October 26, 2010

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter was in West Michigan to talk about her book on mental health, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis. As first lady from 1977-81, Rosalynn Carter served as the honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health. The commission ultimately pushed through the passage of the 1980 Mental Health Systems Act, which boosted funding for mental illnesses. When the Carters returned to Georgia, they established the Carter Center, where Rosalynn created a program devoted solely to mental health.

The event, sponsored in part by Grand Valley’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, took place Tuesday, October 26, at 1:30 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in downtown Grand Rapids.