Grants to State Mental Health Authorities and Single State Agencies for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse for Technical Assistance

This notice is to inform the public of planned grants for technical assistance that the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), under its State Reform Grant Program, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), under its State Treatment Needs Assessment Program, intend to award to State Mental Health Authorities (SMHAs) and Single State Agencies (SSAs) for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. In fiscal year 1999, CMHS has approximately $500,000 available to fund 5 grants; CSAT has approximately $4.5M available to fund 9-15 grants. Depending on the availability of funds in future fiscal years, CMHS and CSAT may re-announce the program and award additional grants. Awards will be made if the applications are scored by the initial review groups and concurred with by the CMHS and CSAT National Advisory Councils, respectively. This is not a formal request for applications; assistance will be provided only to SMHAs and SSAs for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. Eligibility for grants is limited to SMHAs and SSAs for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse because these entities have the statutory responsibility to develop and submit needs assessment data as part of their Block Grant applications. By providing assistance to the States in the area of needs assessment, CSAT, under its State Treatment Needs Assessment Program, seeks to insure that data needed for the rational allocation of scarce resources for substance abuse treatment are available for States to use in their planning activities. Grant funds will support States in (1) developing the infrastructure, and (2) improving the availability and use of data of treatment needs beyond that required to meet statutory requirements under the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grants. CMHS, under its State Reform Grants Programs, seeks to support States to facilitate the integration, analysis, synthesis, and use of information for State mental health planning efforts and to manage State mental health care reform efforts.