Grants Dashboard

The Idaho Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (IFFCMH) has served as the Statewide Family Network for over a decade and seeks to continue the development and enhancement of a statewide integrated system of family advocacy services for families of children with mental, behavioral and emotional disorders throughout Idaho. Through its "Children's Mental Health Connections" program, the infrastructure oriented to the needs of families will be continued and expanded. With parents and youth as partners in the design and decision making process of a consumer based service delivery system, the primary focus will consist of the following: 1) Provide families and youth with information, education and training in order to increase understanding, involvement, self-advocacy and leadership skills including webinars, mini-conferences and Community Conversations. 2) Provide opportunity for direct involvement with behavioral health system planning, development and program implementation designed to address identified needs and gaps in services for youth with SED and families, including implementation of the Jeff D Consent Decree mandated services. 3) Provide youth with opportunities for social interaction, community involvement, mutual support and education through Youth MOVE Idaho and other groups. 4) Support training and state certification process for development of a "lived experience" parent workforce through the "Family Support Partner" program.

This grant will support expansion of Families ASAP current activities, enabling greater family and system level advocacy. We believe in engaging Families and youth in their own service planning and decision-making, in order to ensure service effectiveness. Thus, the goals of this grant are to: (1) strengthen network organizational business management skills and relationships; (2) foster leadership skills among families of children with SED; (3) identify and address technical assistance needs necessary to help families understand the impact of behavioral health service planning issues, and how to work effectively with policy makers and service providers that support the needs of children and adolescents with SED; (4) promote peer-support and social inclusion of families with children and adolescents with SED in the community; (5) assist parents to work with policymakers and providers to improve services; and (6) promote workforce development.

The Family Cafe Statewide Family Network program will develop and enhance the capacity of families, organizations and other stakeholders to transform the system of care for children and youth with severe emotional disturbance and their families in Florida, ultimately resulting in mental health services that are not only effective, but also family-driven and youth-guided. It will serve children and youth with mental health needs in Florida, as well as their families and caregivers. The goals of the program are: 1) Organizations that serve children and youth with mental health needs will have the organizational capacity necessary to form effective partnerships, advocate for the families, youth and children they serve, and participate in shaping the mental health system of care to respond to the needs of their constituents; 2) families of children and youth with mental health needs will have the resources they require to navigate the existing system of care, and participate as co-equal partners in creating a family-centered, youth-guided, recovery-oriented, trauma-informed mental health system of care; 3) Families of children and youth with mental health needs will work with policy-makers and stakeholders to create a culture that rejects stigma and embraces inclusion and recovery; and 4) Florida youth with mental health needs will develop leadership skills and the capacity to participate in creating a responsive, youth-centered system of care.

Georgia Parent Support Network, Inc. (GPSN), Georgia's Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health has established and supports a network of 20 Federation chapters and three Youth M.O.V.E. chapters with a goal of expanding to cover the entire state. Working with the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health (DBHDD), the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network (GMHCN), and the existing chapters and other partners, GPSN's goal is for families and youth to have access to family and youth support in their local regions, communities, and hometowns. The strategy for the next three years is for the state and local chapters to continue to partner with a number of currently existing federal, state, and local programs in order to expand local partnerships and build on the momentum of currently existing initiatives

The Youth and Family Peer Support Alliance (YFPSA) is a non-profit organization serving the East Central Illinois community. YFPSA offers contracted comprehensive supportive services to youth ages 6-21, and their families, who are experiencing mental health and/or emotional challenges across multiple child serving agencies (education, juvenile justice, and child welfare). YFPSA expand from a regional organization to a statewide network of individuals, agencies, and programs that provide peer support for Illinois youth and caregivers of youth who have experienced these challenges.

The North Dakota Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (NDFFCMH) Statewide Family Network is designed to ensure that children, youth and families are the catalyst for transformation of mental health and related systems in North Dakota by strengthening coalitions among children, youth, family members, and policymakers and service providers. NDFFCMH Statewide Family Network program will strengthen organizational relationships, foster leadership and business management skills among family members and identify and address the technical assistance needs of children and youth with emotional, behavioral and mental disorders and their families.

Hawaii Families as Allies, the Hawaii state chapter of the National Federation of Families, will conduct training, provide technical assistance and support, and disseminate information aimed at increasing the involvement of families whose children have mental health challenges in all levels of Hawaii's System of Care. Hawaii Families as Allies will serve the entire state of Hawaii, with the goal of impacting about 200 families over the 3-year grant period. Only with strong, meaningful involvement of the families of youth with mental health challenges can Systems of Care develop high quality services and supports that meet the unique needs of families and result in positive outcomes.

Keys for Networking (KEYS), through Project STARS, will serve Kansas children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their parents. STARS will especially target Kansas Department of Corrections/Juvenile Services (KDOC/JS) involved youth. The majority of these children live in the community, often their caregivers are unable to access mental/behavioral health services. The default service provider moves from local mental health centers to KDOC/JS. Of the 295 in correctional facilities, only 18 are female. Ages range from 14-21 with the majority of youth 16 and 17. Kansas parents dread negotiating with the schools and other community agencies to get services that were not available before the youth left home. What works in terms of teaching and supporting parents to access services will transfer to less needy youth. KDOC/JS involved parents must work with the Kansas Court system, the KSOC/JS schools, community mental health centers, substance abuse treatment providers and primary health care providers.

The purpose of the Statewide Family Network project is to enhance state capacity and infrastructure to better respond to the needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. The project will serve children to age 18, or young adults to age 26 needing transitional services to the adult mental health system, who have a serious emotional disturbance.

The Association for Children's Mental Health (ACMH) through statewide peer support, advocacy, education, information, leadership and networking opportunities for parents/caregivers of children and youth with serious emotional disturbance, will empower families to have the skills, knowledge and abilities needed to navigate child and family services, use their voice to inform and influence key decision makers, and become active participants in the policy level decision making that will affect all children and families throughout Michigan. This project will also support youth and the community partners who support them.

Indiana Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (IFFCMH) proposes to improve the wellbeing of children, youth, and young adults who have social, emotional, and behavioral needs and their families in the State of Indiana. IFFCMH proposes to serve families raising children, youth and young adults that have mental health needs from birth to 18, 18 to 22 if he/she is under an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or 18 to 26 if he/she is in transition to adult services and has an Individual Services Plan (ISP).

The South Carolina Technical Assistance Center for Community Family Networks project will provide technical assistance (TA) to children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families by providing information, training and support. The Federation of Families of South Carolina (FFSC) hopes that this technical assistance will encourage and strengthen leadership and advocacy skills, as well as empower those affected with SED and their families. The number of people to be served by the project annually is 20,000, with lifetime service recipients expected to reach at least 60,000 individuals. FFSC is also choosing to focus on the special needs of veterans and their families as a total of 421,525 veterans resided in South Carolina according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. Strategies and interventions to accomplish this will include the development of targeted outreach plans, utilization of target trainings, and the engagement of families and youth as guides at each juncture of the project.

NAMI New Hampshire (National Alliance on Mental Illness) will provide New Hampshire families and youth with serious emotional disturbances (SED) with the framework and infrastructure (the New Hampshire Family Network) to improve outcomes for children/youth with SED and transform the state's children's behavioral health system to ultimately create improved population health outcomes. The project will serve parents/caregivers of children/youth with SED, as well as youth/young adults living with SED up to age 26, if they are transitioning to an individual service plan (ISP) in the adult mental health system. Activities will be designed to address behavioral health issues specific to New Hampshire families: substance misuse, needs of military families, suicide risk that children/youth with SED face, increased risk for depression and suicide among LGBTQ youth, and unique needs of New Hampshire's minority and refugee populations.

Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children, Inc.'s (KPFC) mission is to "empower families affected by behavioral health challenges to initiate personal and systems change." Building an infrastructure for a family-driven and youth-guided system of care requires parent/primary caregivers and youth to have initiated personal change in strengthening their own advocacy and leadership skills. Once personal change is set into motion, the momentum from the parents and youth is unstoppable. Once families and youth understand their power in being catalysts for transforming Kentucky's system of care, their excitement and energy moves forward to strengthen the movement and toward systems change-the change to create a strong, viable, responsive system of care in Kentucky.

UPLIFT, a non-profit, family-run organization for families of children with special health care needs, will focus its work under this grant program to advance Wyoming's system of care for children, youth, and adolescents with mental health challenges. UPLIFT will strengthen the knowledge and capacity of families to act as advocates and agents of transformation to influence the services and supports provided to them and their children. UPLIFT is Wyoming's federation of Families for Children's Mental Health and since the beginning of this community-based family-run organization in 1990, UPLIFT has made many inroads and advances into the children's mental health system of care in this frontier state.

North Carolina Families United Statewide Family Network, will support and sustain the infrastructure that is essential to ensure an independent family and youth voice in our communities and state so that they might be the driving force behind system transformation in the children's mental health arena and enable families and youth to navigate the system of care and make wise mental health care decisions. The population of focus to be served through the Statewide Family Network (SFN) are families of children and youth (ages 0-26 with behavioral or mental health challenges throughout North Carolina.

"The Vermont Statewide Family and Youth Leadership Project" will work with Vermont families of children, youth and young adults in transition experiencing or at risk of serious emotional disturbance to empower them to become agents of transformation for themselves, and the System of Care. This transformation will be family driven and youth guided and impact the implementation, sustainability, and improvement of effective mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services for children, youth, young adults in transition and their families.

Nevada P.E.P. will enhance state capacity to meet the needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families by providing mechanisms for families to participate in the planning and development of local mental health services. The specific goals of the project are to: (1) Strengthen the knowledge and capacity of families with children who have mental health challenges to act as change agents to enhance systems, improve outcomes, and ensure family-driven mental health care; and (2) Build self-sufficient, empowered family networks in Nevada that effectively participate in activities to improve community-based children's mental health services and reduce disparities in access, service use, and outcomes among racial and minority populations served.

Families CARE and the statewide network of family-run organizations will enhance family driven and youth-guided systems in Nebraska by enriching workforce capacity and promoting family voice within the Family Peer Support infrastructure. This proposed system-nurtured infrastructure will focus on the improved quality of Family Peer Support while enhancing the overall capacity to respond to the special needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families. Families CARE will leverage state and community partnerships to expand the Family Peer Support workforce, directly impacting 50 advocates, 3,000 families, and 6,000 children and adolescents in Nebraska.

The Minnesota Statewide Family Network project will enhance state capacity and infrastructure to better meet the needs of children and youth ages birth-26 with serious emotional disturbances (SED). The project will develop local family organizations, build families' knowledge and skills to participate in state and local mental health services planning and policy development, promote workforce development, and provide and disseminate information across Minnesota.

This proposal is to develop the Virginia Family Network (VFN) and Youth MOVE Virginia (YMV). The project goal is to ensure that families and youth are the catalysts for transforming the mental health and related systems in their state by strengthening coalitions among family organizations and between family members and youth, policymakers, and service providers, recognizing that family members and youth are the most effective change agents. The populations to be served are parents, caregivers, and families of children and youth with mental health needs and youth with mental health needs, ages 12-18.