Grant Awards Announced

SAMHSA recently announced grant awards for the following programs.

Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program―20 grant awards totaling $170.5 million over 6 years to develop and expand systems of care for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program is designed to transform the way mental health services and supports are delivered, allowing communities to provide coordinated treatment in the least restrictive way possible.

A system of care is not limited to traditional mental health services. Grantees may offer services such as respite care, tutoring, vocational counseling, legal services, and therapeutic recreation. The programs selected for these cooperative agreements can receive up to $1 million in year one, up to $1.5 million in year two, up to $2 million in years three and four, up to $1.5 million in year five, and up to $1 million in year six. SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services will administer the program. [SM-09-002]

Services in Supportive Housing―43 grants of up to $400,000 per year for up to 5 years, totaling almost $81.5 million over 5 years, to local organizations throughout the country working to end chronic homelessness in their communities. This program has a targeted focus to serve chronically homeless individuals and families by enhancing existing permanent supportive housing programs and other resources. The programs will provide intensive individualized support services designed to reduce psychiatric symptoms and empower people to regain stability.

Continuation of these awards is subject to both availability of funds and progress achieved by the awardees. SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services will administer this grant program. [SM-09-007]

Project LAUNCH―12 grant awards, totaling $51 million over the next 5 years for Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health), to state and tribal youth programs. Each grantee will receive up to $850,000 each year, over the course of the next 5 years. Project LAUNCH is a grant program promoting the wellness of young children from birth to age 8 by addressing the physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of their development.

Project LAUNCH grantees will use a range of evidence-based public health strategies to achieve their goals. Participating states and tribes will work to improve coordination among child-serving systems, build infrastructure, and improve methods for providing services. The majority of the funds will be passed from the state and tribal level to identified localities where they will support the enhancement and integration of services.

These grants will allow local programs to provide enhanced services such as mental health consultation for childcare and early education providers, integration of behavioral health and primary care, developmental assessments in a range of settings, family strengthening programs, parenting skills training, home visitation, and other supportive programs.

The program is administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. [SM-09-009]

Partnerships for Success: State and Community Prevention Performance Grants―$46 million total for 4 grants of up to $2.3 million per grantee annually for up to 5 years. This program is designed to help states and U.S. territories reduce statewide substance abuse rates by addressing gaps in their current prevention services and increasing their ability to reach out to specific populations or geographic areas with serious, emerging substance abuse problems.

The grants aim to achieve a quantifiable decline in statewide substance abuse rates by incorporating a strong incentive to grantees that have met or exceeded their prevention performance targets. The grants build on the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), which requires that grantees use a five-step, data-driven planning model to ensure that program services address areas of greatest need. The SPF program offers monetary incentives in the form of program expansion supplements to the grantees that succeed in achieving critical performance outcomes by the end of the third year of the 5-year program. The grants will be administered by SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. [SP-09-005]

Expand and Strengthen Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services for Homeless―25 grants totaling $43 million over 5 years to community service organizations across the country offering substance abuse treatment and mental health services to people who are homeless.

There are two funding categories: General and Services in Supportive Housing. The General Treatment for Homeless category allows communities to address local priorities for persons who are homeless and who have substance use or mental disorders or co-occurring disorders, and to develop service systems to increase the number of these persons who are placed in stable housing and receive needed treatment and related services. Services in Supportive Housing grants provide resources to help formerly homeless individuals remain in permanent housing by providing linkages to appropriate treatment for substance use or mental disorders and other support services.

Sixteen General grants and nine Services in Supportive Housing grants were awarded. The actual award amounts may vary, depending on the availability of funds and the activities proposed by the awardees. Continuation awards are subject to both availability of funds and progress achieved by awardees. SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will administer the grants. [TI-09-006]

Expansion of Adult Treatment Drug Court Grants―44 new grants totaling $38.2 million over the next 3 years to expand the treatment capability of adult drug courts―special dockets designed to deal with the treatment needs of people who find themselves in the criminal justice system largely because of underlying substance abuse problems.

The grants will be used to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in “problem-solving” courts, which use the treatment drug court model to provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to adult defendants/offenders.

The selected drug court grantees can receive up to $300,000 each year, over the course of the next 3 years. The actual award amounts may vary, and continuation awards are subject to availability of funds and progress achieved by awardees. SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will administer the grants. [TI-09-003]

Targeted Capacity Expansion for Substance Abuse Treatment and HIV/AIDS Services―16 grant awards totaling more than $33 million in funding over the next 5 years to provide coordinated substance abuse treatment and HIV/AIDS services, especially to traditionally underserved communities. These communities include African American, Latino/Hispanic, and/or other racial and ethnic minority communities disproportionately affected by the twin epidemics of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS.

Along with substance abuse treatment and HIV counseling and testing services, grants funded under this program will offer health education, referrals, case management, and testing for sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and mandatory HIV rapid testing. In addition, the program funds outreach and pretreatment services.

The grants awarded are projected to be funded up to $450,000 per year for treatment services, and up to $350,000 per year for outreach and pretreatment services. The actual award amounts are subject to the availability of funding as well as the progress achieved by the grantees. SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment will administer the grants. [TI-08-006]