Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health’s Grant Program

Deadlines:

Systems Enabler: 16-Nov-20;
Surge Capacity: 04-Dec-20.

The Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health is accepting applications for two types of grants i.e. Surge Capacity Grants and Systems Enabler Grants.

The Upswing Fund is a collaborative fund that provides timely resources to organizations that focus on the mental health and well-being of adolescents who are of colour and/or LGBTQ+ in the United States—populations that face urgent needs during the pandemic but too often lack access to the care they need.

Surge Capacity Grants

This grant aims to immediately increase capacity for mental health providers serving adolescents of who are of color and/or LGBTQ+ to ensure that more adolescents have access to quality mental healthcare. The Fund will enable grantees to provide care by:

Achieving short-term programmatic and organizational goals;
Increasing capacity to treat more adolescents;
Enabling the procurement of technology and telehealth resources to deploy teletherapy services as a response to COVID-19;
Facilitating a marked impact on the youth they serve, determined by an increase in the number of therapy sessions as well as improvement in adolescent patients’ mental health as measured by evidence-based surveys.

Systems Enabler Grants

This grant provides resources to organizations to surface innovative approaches in adolescent mental health services that make more resilient systems to enable access to care. A systems enabler is an inclusive, forward-thinking organization with a game-changing program or project focused on transforming mental health for adolescents. Systems Enabler Grants will be awarded to address these key focus areas:

Efforts to expand the formal mental health workforce;
Mental health service integration in schools and other community-based organizations;
Efforts to expand the use of digital tools or telehealth services;
Public financing of mental health services;
Stigma reduction and mental health awareness.

Funding Information

In fall 2020, The Upswing Fund will be making one-year, non-renewable grants.
The Fund anticipates making approximately fifty Surge Capacity grants (ranging from $10,000 to $100,000) and approximately ten System Enabler grants (up to $500,000 each).

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to receive a grant from The Upswing Fund, the organization must be certified as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS and serve adolescents (ages 10-18) who are of colour and/or LGBTQ+.
Surge Capacity – eligible organizations are:
- Non-profit, outpatient clinics which offer in-person or virtual mental health,
- Community-based organizations or community centers providing mental and emotional support,
- Digital health services,
- After school programs and school-based mental health services,
- Mobile crisis programs.
Systems Enabler – eligible programs will:
- Have an innovative solution which can make a scalable impact within the next 12 months,
- Have been in existence with demonstratable metrics and outcomes for at least 6 months, and
- Advance achievement in one of our key focus areas with a tactic that may include, but is not limited to, software-based, specific policy change, a communications campaign or other novel, scalable solution.

Timeline

Oct. 20: Application submission period begins;
Nov. 16: The last date to apply for Systems Enabler Grants;
Dec. 4: The last date to apply for Surge Capacity Grants (Please note: Applications will be reviewed and funding decisions will be made on a rolling basis until all funds are disbursed);
Note that organizations may apply to one type of grant only.

Application Requirements

To first determine your eligibility, you must create an account in their grantee portal and complete the eligibility quiz. Upon passing the quiz, you will be directed to begin your application. You may email a copy of the full application to yourself which will preview all of the questions you’ll be asked to complete. In addition, you will be asked to submit the following attachments:

For Surge Capacity Grant applications:
- Latest available Form 990;
- Current fiscal year organizational budget OR most recent financial statements provided to the Board of Directors.
For Systems Enabler Grant applications:
- Project budget;
- Latest available Form 990;
- 2019 annual financial statements (if submitting Form 990 from prior 2019);
- Current fiscal year organizational budget OR most recent financial statements provided to your Board of Directors;
- Biographies for key staff.