On April 18, the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) released a Needs and Capacity Assessment (NCA) for implementation of the Mental Health Grant Program for Justice-Involved Individuals.
The Mental Health Grant Program for Justice-Involved Individuals is a grant program authorized by Senate Bill 292 to reduce recidivism rates, arrests and incarceration among individuals with mental illness and also to reduce the wait time for forensic commitments.
A community collaborative, which includes a county, a Local Mental Health Authority operating in the county and each hospital district located in the county, if any, may petition HHSC for a grant under this program.
Community collaboratives must match the amount of the request with non-state sourced funds. To raise the required non-state sourced funds, a collaborative may seek and receive gifts, grants or donations from any person.
Note: For fiscal year 2019, eligible community collaboratives must represent counties with populations less than 250,000. The NCA submission deadline has been extended as follows: June 15, 5 p.m., CDT.
The Health and Human Services Commission has prepared a primer on the various mental health collaborative grants. The agency has also released a notification of grant recipients for the Community Mental Health Grants and Mental Health Grants for Justice-Involved Individuals. Questions about applying for grants may be directed to Lucrece.Pierre-Carr@hhsc.state.tx.us. Check back with TAC for future updates and more information.