SAMHSA.gov
The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration


SAMHSA Grant Annoucement RFA

Application Information
Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)

Request for Applications (RFA)

Statewide Family Network Grant

(Initial Announcement)

 

Request for Applications (RFA) No. SM-09-016
Posting on Grants.gov: March 23, 2009
Receipt date: May 14, 2009
Announcement Type: Initial

Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) No
.: 93.243

Key Dates:

Application Deadline

Applications are due by May 14, 2009

Intergovernmental Review
(E.O. 12372)

Applicants must comply with E.O. 12372 if their State(s) participates.  Review process recommendations from the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) are due no later than 60 days after application deadline.

Public Health System Impact Statement (PHSIS)
/Single State Agency Coordination
Applicants must send the PHSIS to appropriate State and local health agencies by application deadline. Comments from Single State Agency are due no later than 60 days after application deadline.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2009 Statewide Family Network grants.  The purpose of this program is to enhance State capacity and infrastructure to be more oriented to the needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.
 
The Statewide Family Network Program builds on the work of the Child, Adolescent and Services Systems Program (CASSP), which helped to establish a child and family focus in programs serving children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances around the country.  Today, nearly every State has active family organizations dedicated to promoting systems of care that are responsive to the needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.  Although significant progress has been made, further support will ensure self-sufficient, empowered networks that will effectively participate in State and local mental health services planning and health care reform activities related to improving community-based services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

The purpose of the Statewide Family Network grant program is to enhance State capacity and infrastructure to be more oriented to the needs of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

Statewide Family Network Grants is one of SAMHSA’s infrastructure grant programs.  SAMHSA’s Infrastructure Grants support an array of activities to help the grantee build a solid foundation for delivering and sustaining effective mental health service.

SAMHSA recognizes that each applicant will start from a unique point in developing infrastructure and will serve populations/communities with specific needs.  Awardees may pursue diverse strategies and methods to achieve their infrastructure development and capacity expansion goals.  Successful applicants will provide a coherent and detailed conceptual “roadmap” of the process by which they have assessed or intend to assess service system needs and plan/implement infrastructure development strategies that meet those needs.  The plan put forward in the grant application must show the linkages among needs, the proposed infrastructure development strategy, and increased system capacity that will enhance and sustain effective programs and services.

As of April 2008, approximately 1.64 million men and women have been deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in support of the Global War on Terror.  Individuals returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk for suffering post-traumatic stress and other related disorders.  Experts estimate that up to one-third of returning veterans will need mental health and/or substance abuse treatment and related services.  In addition, the family members of returning veterans have an increased need for related support services.  To address these concerns, SAMHSA strongly encourages all applicants to consider the unique needs of returning veterans and their families in developing their proposed project. The Statewide Family Network program and its grantees include outreach to returning veterans and their families who have children with a serious emotional disturbance.

Statewide Family Network grants are authorized under 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.  This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus area(s) 18 (Mental Health and Mental Disorders) and 26 (Substance Abuse).

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are domestic public and private nonprofit entities, including faith-based entities, tribal family organizations, and family run non-profit organizations in States where there is currently not a funded Statewide Family Network because SAMHSA would like to strengthen new networks and to include as many states as possible with the current levels of funding.  Family-controlled* organizations must meet the following requirements:

  • An applicant organization must be dedicated to the improvement of mental health services Statewide;
  • An applicant must complete the Certification of Eligibility (see Appendix H of this document) indicating that the applicant meets all eligibility requirements.  Applicants must also provide necessary supportive documentation.

* A family-controlled organization is an organization that has a board of directors made up of more than 50% family members, who have primary daily responsibility for the raising of a child, youth, adolescent or young adult with a serious emotional disturbance up to age 18, or 21 if the adolescent is being served by an Individual Educational Plan (IEP), or up to age 26 if the young adult is being served by an Individual Service Plan in transition to the adult mental health system.  SAMHSA is limiting eligibility to family-controlled organizations because the goals of this grant program are to strengthen the capacity of families with children who have a serious emotional disturbance to act as agents of transformation in influencing the type and amount of services provided to them and their children and to ensure that their mental health care is consumer and family driven.

The statutory authority for this program prohibits grants to for-profit agencies.

Award Information

Funding Mechanism:

Grants

Anticipated Total Available Funding: $420,000
Anticipated Number of Awards: 6
Anticipated Award Amount:

Up to $60,000 per year in total costs (direct and indirect); up to 6 grantees will receive an additional $10,000 per year for projects that include a youth leadership component.

Length of Project Period:

Up to 3 years

Proposed budgets without a youth leadership component cannot exceed $60,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) in any year of the proposed project.  Proposed budgets for applications with a youth leadership component may not exceed $70,000 in any year of the proposed project.  Annual continuation awards will depend on the availability of funds, grantee progress in meeting project goals and objectives, timely submission of required data and reports, and compliance with all terms and conditions of award.

Contact Information

For questions on program issues, contact:

Elizabeth Sweet
Center for Mental Health Services, Division of Service and Systems Improvement
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1 Choke Cherry Road
Room 6-1052
Rockville, Maryland 20857
(240) 276-1925
Elizabeth.sweet@samhsa.hhs.gov

For questions on grants management issues, contact:

Gwendolyn Simpson
Office of Program Services, Division of Grants Management     
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1 Choke Cherry Road
Room 7-1085
Rockville, Maryland 20857
(240) 276-1408
gwendolyn.simpson@samhsa.hhs.gov

Documents needed to complete a grant application:

Applications that are not submitted on the required application form will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

You must respond to the requirements in the RFA in preparing your application.

PHS 5161-1 (revised July 2000): Includes the face page, budget forms and checklist. Applications that are not submitted on the required application form will be screened out and will not be reviewed.

Additional Materials

For further information on the forms and the application process, see Useful Information for Applicants

Additional materials available on this website include:



Last Update: 3/27/2009