Minority Fellowship Program

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2012 Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) grant program. The purpose of this two year grant program is to reduce health disparities and improve health care outcomes of racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the number of culturally competent mental health counselors available to underserved minority populations in public and private non-profit sectors. The mental health and substance abuse needs of racial and ethnic minority communities in the United States have been historically underserved due to the lack of trained practitioners sensitive to the cultural issues and/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 program was expanded by Congress in FY 2007 to include a fifth professional association, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. This fiscal year, Congress expanded the eligibility for this program to include professional counselors, to increase the pool of culturally competent mental health professionals. SAMHSA has demonstrated that behavioral health is essential to health, prevention works, treatment is effective, and people recover from mental and substance use disorders. Behavioral health services improve health status and reduce health care and other costs to society. Continued improvement in the delivery and financing of prevention, treatment and recovery support services provides a cost prevention, treatment and recovery support services; SAMHSA has identified eight Strategic Initiatives to focus the Agency's work on people and emerging opportunities. More information is available at the SAMHSA website: www.samhsa.gov/About/strategy.aspx. The MFP closely aligns with the Affordable Care Act and SAMHSA's Eight Strategic Initiatives by addressing the current and projected behavioral health workforce shortages and the need to train practitioners on recovery-based practices. Applications responsive to this RFA must support or expand capacity to address the following Strategic Initiative: Health Reform Broaden health coverage to increase access to appropriate high quality care, and to reduce disparities that currently exist between the availability of services for substance abuse, mental disorders, and other medical conditions. Minority Fellowship Program grants are authorized under Section 520A of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 and the Mental Health and Mental Disorders Topic Area HP 2020-MHMD and Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA.

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