As you may know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. And for me, this is personal. I’ve been open about going to therapy and using medication, and I believe everyone deserves affordable, accessible, and stigma-free mental health care.
In 2022, I was so proud to vote for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the most significant federal gun safety law in the last 30 years. This law also expanded mental health care in schools nationwide.
But unfortunately, President Trump has cut $1 billion of this funding for school-based mental health care. This is unacceptable, which is why I called on the five House Republicans who were brave enough to vote for this law in 2022 to stand up for this funding now.
I will keep fighting to defend programs and federal grants that support mental health and safety for everyone in our community, so everyone can get the care they need. This month, here are several mental health grants forecasted for posting in May:
Suicide Prevention Resource Center
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration anticipates making an award for $7,500,000 to build national capacity for preventing suicide by providing technical assistance, training, and resources to assist states, tribes, communities, providers, practitioners and members of the public on suicide prevention strategies and best practices to address the issue of suicide. This grant is forecasted to be posted in May. You can find more information here.
Behavioral Health Partnership for Early Diversion
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration anticipates 6 awards totaling $2,000,000 to be available to establish or expand programs that divert adults and youth with a mental illness or a co-occurring disorder (COD) from the criminal or juvenile justice system to community-based mental health and substance use disorder services (SUD) and other supports prior to arrest and booking. This grant is forecasted to be posted in May. You can view more details on the grant here.
Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Centers
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration anticipates 11 awards totaling $7,150,000 to be available to implement regional centers of excellence to develop and disseminate training and technical assistance addressing opioid and stimulant misuse affecting rural communities. This grant is forecasted to be posted in May. You can find more information on the grant here.
You can find up-to-date information on all open federal grants here, though please note these grants may have been frozen or may be subject to further impacts from the Trump Administration. This spreadsheet is updated monthly and will include grants across the spectrum of issues the federal government addresses. The grants can be easily sorted by category. We will also keep tabs open for previous grant opportunities based on the month sent.
Throughout Mental Health Awareness Month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will periodically post grants on their own dashboard. You can subscribe to get grant funding announcement emails here.
In addition to sharing open and upcoming federal funding opportunities, my office can also help your grant efforts with a letter of support for any federal grant application. Congressional letters of support help show grant reviewers that your project has buy-in from regional stakeholders and make your application more competitive. If you would like to request a letter of support from our office, please contact [email protected] to learn more about how my staff and I can help you.
