Federal Mental Health Grants to Support Youth
States, communities, and schools should be aware of a couple of good opportunities for funding to support youth mental health which are open now through the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). These applications are significant in size and rather challenging, so interested potential applicants should be doing their work as soon as possible.
Cooperative Agreements for Expansion and Sustainability of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances: “The purpose of this program is to improve mental health outcomes for children and youth (birth to 21 years of age) with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. This program will support the wide scale operation, expansion and integration of the system of care (SOC) approach by creating sustainable infrastructure and services that are required as part of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances (also known as the Children’s Mental Health Initiative or CMHI). This cooperative agreement will support the provision of mental health and related recovery support services to children and youth with serious emotional disturbances. and those with early signs and symptoms of serious mental illness including first episode psychosis, and their families. The SOC Expansion and Sustainability Cooperative Agreements will build upon progress made in developing comprehensive systems of care across the country by focusing on sustainable financing, cross-agency collaboration, the creation of policy and infrastructure, and the development and implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed services and supports. Other activities supported will include the implementation of systemic changes, training, and workforce development.”
Award Amount: Proposed budgets cannot exceed $3,000,000 for state applicants and $1,000,000 for political subdivisions of states, tribes, tribal organizations, and territories total costs (direct and indirect) in any year of the proposed project. Awards can be for up to 4 years.
Matching: Yes: Awardees must offer cash and/or inkind matches of $1 for every $3 in federal funds awarded per year in Years 1-3. Awardees must offer cash and/or inkind matches of $1 for every $1 in federal funds awarded in Year 4.
Number of Awards Anticipated: 15-45
Who is Eligible to Apply: State and Territory governments; Washington, DC government; Indian or tribal organizations; Governmental units within political subdivisions of a state, such as a county, city or town. Local Educational Agencies (included public school districts) may apply if they can show in their application through a letter from the state’s attorney that they are considered political subdivisions of their respective states.
DEADLINE: Friday, April 10, 2015 11:59pm Eastern Time
For more information and the full RFP: http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/sm-15-009
“Now is the Time” Project AWARE Community Grants: “The purpose of this program is to support the training of teachers and a broad array of actors who interact with youth through their programs at the community level, including parents, law enforcement, faith-based leaders, and other adults, in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) or Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA). Implementation of the NITT-AWARE-C program is expected to increase the mental health literacy among youth-serving adults, policy-makers, and administrators of programs serving youth.”
Award Amount: up to $125,000 per year for 3 years (There is cost estimate information on MHFA in the RFP, which will be important as you develop your budget.)
Matching: NO match required
Number of Awards Anticipated: up to 70
Who is Eligible to Apply: Eligible applicants are domestic public and private nonprofit entities. For example: state and local governments; federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and tribal organizations; Urban Indian organizations; public or private universities and colleges; and non-profit community- and faith-based organizations
DEADLINE: Friday, May 1, 2015 11:59pm Eastern Time
Important Notes: “Local education agencies who have received grant funding under either Project AWARE-LEA or Project AWARE-SEA are not eligible to apply for NITT-AWARE-C funding. State educational agencies who have received funding under Project AWARE-SEA are also not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity. These entities are already receiving funding for these activities and are therefore not eligible to apply.”
For more information and the full RFP: http://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/sm-15-012
