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 Application Information
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Application Deadline |
Applications are due by May 1, 2007. |
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Intergovernmental Review |
Letters from State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) are due no later than 60 days after application deadline. |
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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) 2007 for Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) grants. The purpose of this one-year grant program is to provide stipends to doctoral level students in the fields represented by the eligible applicants to increase the number of culturally competent behavioral health professionals who teach, administer, conduct services research, and provide direct mental health/substance abuse services to underserved minority populations, especially within the public and private non-profit sectors.
The mental health and substance abuse needs of racial and ethnic minority communities within the United States have been historically underserved by trained practitioners sensitive to the cultural issues or equipped with the language skills that impact effective services delivery. In 1974, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) established the MFP to enhance services to minority communities through specialized training of mental health professionals in psychiatry, nursing, social work, and psychology. In 1992, SAMHSA was established, and the MFP was transferred from NIMH to CMHS in SAMHSA. Eligibility for this grant was expanded by Congress in FY 2006 to include a fifth professional association, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.
In 2003, the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health released its report, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. In its recommendations, the report highlighted the need for eliminating disparities in mental health services, including the provision of culturally competent, recovery-based care, and the need to address workforce shortages. In particular, the Commission noted that: “… many providers are inadequately prepared to serve culturally diverse populations, and investigators are not trained in research on minority populations.”
All applicants must demonstrate appropriate infrastructure and a plan to recruit and monitor Fellows under the standards of the program. All applicants should also note that the President’s Budget for FY 2008 does not include funding for continuation of the Minority Fellowship Program grants. Therefore, during FY 2007 grantees are expected to develop a plan for close-out of their respective program funded by SAMHSA and, if feasible, find other funding sources to sustain their program by the end of the one-year project period.
Minority Fellowship Program grants are authorized under Section 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 is limited to the American Nurses Association (ANA), American Psychiatric Association (ApA), American Psychological Association (APA), Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). These professional organizations have unique access to students entering their respective professions. The fields of psychiatric nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and social work have been recognized nationally for decades as the four core behavioral health disciplines, providing part of an essential core of services for individuals with serious mental illness and also less severe mental disorders. The ANA, ApA, and APA are the largest national professional organizations in the country for nursing, psychiatry, and psychology, respectively. The ANA, ApA, and APA and their affiliates have activities in all major areas of national policies affecting nursing, psychiatry, and psychology as professions, including education and training. In the field of social work, the CSWE is the leading national organization that focuses solely on the education and training of social workers, and it maintains a close working relationship with the National Association of Social Workers, the largest professional social work organization in the country.
All four organizations, the ANA, ApA, APA and CSWE, along with their affiliates, have direct involvement in curriculum development, school accreditation, and pre-/post-doctoral training. All four have experience in working directly with university training programs from which the pools of participants are selected. These are the only organizations that have the infrastructure and expertise in place to administer this program. They already have mechanisms and databases in place to identify students serving underserved populations. All four organizations have developed relationships with appropriate minority professional organizations that may serve as useful liaisons; for instance, APA has developed relationships with the Association of Black Psychologists, Native American Psychological Association, Hispanic Psychological Association, and Asian American Psychological Association. Each organization assists APA in identifying pools of qualified applicants.
Because of their unique characteristics and long history, these four organizations - the ANA, ApA, APA, and CSWE - were chosen more than 25 years ago as the exclusive representatives for education/training in their respective fields. During that time, they have administered their MFP programs exceptionally well. They have recruited excellent students, assured that all program requirements were satisfied, and effectively monitored the progress of fellows during and after the fellowship period. Their MFP Fellows have been successful in addressing the MFP goals of providing leadership in the delivery of mental health/substance abuse services to ethnic minority communities. These MFP grantees continue to operate in their unique position of representing this of core mental health and substance abuse disciplines exceptionally well.
In addition to the four professional associations that have been eligible for MFP grants in the past, Congress has expanded eligibility in Fiscal Year 2007 to the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). The addition of AAMFT provides an opportunity to expand the pool of doctoral level students who are trained to teach, administer, conduct services research, and provide direct mental health/substance abuse services to underserved minority populations in the public sector, consistent with Congressional intent.
Therefore, eligibility has been restricted to only these five organizations.
| Funding Mechanism: | Grant |
| Anticipated Total Available Funding: | $4.2 million |
| Anticipated Number of Awards: | 5 |
| Anticipated Award Amount: |
From $300,000 to $960,000 |
| Length of Project Period: | One year |
The five awards may range from $300,000 to $960,000 in total costs (direct and indirect) for the one-year project period. Funding determinations will be made based on the results of an independent peer grant review process, demonstrated track record in running an MFP program, perceived program needs, and the availability of funds. Applicants may apply for a grant award based upon funding amounts in prior years (for previously funded applicants) or funds necessary for new recruitment, selection, monitoring and fellowships.
For questions on program issues, contact:
Herbert M. Joseph, Jr., PhD, MPH
Public Health Advisor
SAMHSA/Center for Mental Health Services
Division of State and Community Systems Development
One Choke Cherry Road, 2nd floor, Room 1120
Rockville, MD 20857
(240) 276-1742
herbert.joseph@samhsa.hhs.gov
For questions on grants management issues, contact:
Kimberly Pendleton
Office of Program Services, Division of Grants Management
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
1 Choke Cherry Road, Room 7-1097
Rockville, MD 20857
(240) 276-1421
kimberly.pendleton@samhsa.hhs.gov
Applications that are not submitted on the required application form will be screened out and will not be reviewed.
Download the complete Announcement No. SM-07-008
Download RFA in MS Word format
Download RFA in Adobe PDF format
PHS 5161-1 (revised July 2000): Includes the face page, budget forms and checklist.
For further information on the forms and the application process, see Useful Information for Applicants
Additional materials available on this website include:
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Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration • 1 Choke Cherry Road • Rockville, MD 20857
* Adobe™ PDF and MS Office™ formatted files require software viewer programs to properly read them. Click here to download these FREE programs now. |
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