[mentalhealth-l] Grants to Integrate Schools and Mental Health Systems

[mentalhealth-l at lists.ucla.edu]

Special Announcement: ENEWS

Re: Grants to Integrate Schools and Mental Health Systems


The Grants to Integrate Schools and Mental Health Systems are suppose to be 
announced in the Federal Register on or about March 31. Below is a basic 
summary of the program.

"In Fiscal Year 2005, the Department of Education's Office of Safe and 
Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) will oversee a program to improve students' 
access to mental health services.  Authorized as part of the No Child Left 
Behind Act and funded for the first time in FY 05, the Grants to Integrate 
Schools and Mental Health Systems program will seek to fund innovative 
linkages between school systems and mental health systems.

A funded program must include all of the following activities:
(1) Enhancing, improving, or developing collaborative efforts between 
school-based service systems and mental health service systems to provide, 
enhance, or improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services to students.

(2) Enhancing the availability of crisis intervention services, appropriate 
referrals for students potentially in need of mental health services, and 
ongoing mental health services.

(3) Providing training for the school personnel and mental health 
professionals who will participate in the program.

(4) Providing technical assistance and consultation to school systems and 
mental health agencies and families participating in the program.

(5) Providing linguistically appropriate and culturally competent services.

(6) Evaluating the effectiveness of the program in increasing student 
access to quality mental health services, and making recommendations to the 
Secretary about sustainability of the program.
Additional requirements apply, which can be found in the program's 
statutory language available at : 
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg79.html

Eligible applicants for this program are state educational agencies, local 
educational agencies and Indian tribes.

The FY 2005 appropriation for this program is $4,960,000 and they expect to 
award around 20 grants.  Projected awards may range from $150,000 to 
$350,000 with an average award being $250,000.  The Department of 
Education, however, is not bound by these estimates.  The project period 
will be up to 18 months."


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Note from Chris Loftis (In Senator Kennedy's Washington office):
He indicates that the Dept. of Ed. never distributed a notice for 
applications and thus, no grants were awarded this year. He states: "There 
was nearly $5 million allocated for 2005. It's a shame to let them go to 
waste, so please feel free to distribute widely and pass this along to any 
entities that might be able to apply. Also, if you hear that someone is 
applying, feel free to let me know because the DoEd knows that Kennedy 
knows about this and we might be able to assist in ensuring their 
application is fairly reviewed."  He also notes that if you have any 
questions, feel free to contact him at: Chris_Loftis at help.senate.gov


School Mental Health Project/
Center for Mental Health in Schools
UCLA Dept. of Psychology
Los Angeles, CA  90095-1563
(310) 825-3634 / Toll Free: (866) 846-4843 / Fax: (310) 206-8716
Email: smhp at ucla.edu
Web: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu 
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