Deadline: 9-May-23
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), and Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) are accepting applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 Minority Fellowship Program.
The MFP helps to address the aforementioned gaps and increases behavioral health professionals’ knowledge of issues related to prevention, treatment, and recovery support for mental illness and drug/alcohol addiction among racial and ethnic minority populations.
Purpose
The purpose of this program is to recruit, train, and support master’s and doctoral level students in behavioral health care professions by:
- Increasing the knowledge of mental and/or substance use disorder behavioral health professionals on issues related to prevention, treatment, and recovery support for individuals who are from racial and ethnic minority populations and have a mental or substance use disorder;
- Increasing the number of culturally competent mental and substance use disorders professionals who teach, administer services, conduct research, and provide direct mental and/or substance use disorder services to racial and ethnic minority populations; and
- Improving the quality of mental and substance use disorder prevention and treatment services delivered to racial and ethnic minority populations.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Available Funding: $15,742,904
- Estimated Number of Awards: 8
- Estimated Award Amount: Up to $1,967,863 per year per award.
- Length of Project Period: Up to 5 years.
Required Activities
Required activities are the activities that every cooperative agreement must implement. They must be reflected in the Project Narrative of your application.
Recipients will be expected to use funds primarily to support infrastructure development and behavioral health care specialty training by providing stipends to post baccalaureate level (including master’s and doctoral level) professionals pursuing a degree in one of eight disciplines at institutions of higher education across the U.S.
- Identify and implement recruitment and outreach strategies to select, support, and provide stipends to diverse master’s and doctoral level students committed to improving behavioral health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations. Recipients must implement recruitment strategies that will ensure diverse program participants from the master’s and doctoral level programs across the U.S. are attracted to the project, which would include the recruitment of underrepresented populations, including racial and ethnic minority populations. These students shall be from the following disciplines:
- Psychiatry;
- Psychology;
- Social work;
- Marriage and family therapy;
- Nursing;
- Mental health counseling;
- Substance use and addictions counseling; and
- Addiction medicine.
- NOTE:
- SAMHSA expects that each recipient will support a minimum of 40 Fellows each year;
- Only one award will be made for each of the above disciplines. A separate application must be submitted if an applicant chooses to address more than one discipline.
- Establish a discipline-specific committee to provide consultation and guidance; assist in program planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The committee must meet no less than quarterly with representation from professionals in the field as well as behavioral health care consumers and family members.
- Collaborate and develop relationships with accredited baccalaureate and postbaccalaureate schools throughout the U.S. to recruit individuals committed to serving racial and ethnic minority populations with mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
- Develop a national network of professionals practicing in the selected specialty discipline to serve as mentors to provide support and assistance to the fellows.
- Develop and implement a tracking and monitoring plan that addresses the following:
- Fellows’ completion of academic requirements.
- Fellows’ successful completion of an internship in the selected specialty discipline.
Allowable Activities
- Create a behavioral health workforce pathways program that provides outreach, education, and raises awareness of behavioral health employment and career opportunities and training pathways for high school, community college, vocational/technical trade school students from racial and ethnic minorities. This program would provide assistance with career and resume building opportunities such as training programs, mentorship, internships, research opportunities, and shadowing professionals in the field. Lastly, the program will develop, maintain, and distribute (free of charge) promotional materials and related documents (e.g., program brochures, training announcements).
- Develop and implement a tracking and monitoring plan that addresses the following:
- Fellows’ two-year employment requirement in communities that provide mental health and substance use services to under-served racial and ethnic minorities. Grantees may request that each fellow’s two-year requirement be attested to by the Fellow’s employer.
- Work collaboratively with SAMHSA programs and federal partners (e.g., HRSA, National Health Services Corps; SAMHSA’s Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration Technical Assistance (TA) Center; SAMHSA’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health (HBCU CFE); SAMHSA’s Technology Transfer Centers (TTCs); SAMHSA’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Child; Youth, and Family Mental Health, SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity; Department of Justice (DOJ)/Office for Victims of Crime and DOJ/Office of Violence Against Women; Health and Human Services (HHS)/Administration for Children and Families (ACF)/Family Youth Services Bureau; HHS/ACF/Office on Trafficking of Persons) to foster training and employment opportunities.
- Encourage students in schools of behavioral health disciplines to specialize in areas where personnel shortages frequently occur within underserved minority communities (e.g., treatment for people with serious mental illness/serious emotional disturbance; child/adolescent, geriatric, women’s, and refugee and migrant mental health and substance use services; mental health and substance use services for minority communities in inner cities and rural areas; services or treatment for minority persons, including LGBTQI+, with mental health and substance use disorders).
- Partner with harm reduction organizations to address the overdose crisis and low-barrier access to substance use disorder services.
Eligibility Criteria
- Public or private non-profit professional organizations representing mental and substance use disorder treatment professionals in the fields of psychiatry, nursing, social work, psychology, marriage and family therapy, mental health counseling, substance use disorder and addictions counseling, and addiction medicine. These organizations will support post-baccalaureate training, including for master’s and doctoral degrees. These organizations have the necessary mechanisms and databases for identifying candidate Fellows and the infrastructure and expertise to carry out the activities of the program. As such, these entities are uniquely qualified to administer the MFP program.
- SAMHSA will only make one award for each of the eight disciplines. An entity may propose to address more than one discipline and will need to submit a separate application for each discipline. An entity could receive more than one award. The highest scoring application for each of the eight disciplines will be awarded.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.