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Funding

The sustained funding of community-based mental health services, such as community residential programs, family-based support, outpatient care, and crisis intervention, are critical to the wellbeing of our constituents and our communities. Funding levels for county mental health services have direct impacts on whether these important community and family supports will be available. Yet for too many years, state funding for mental health services has lagged far behind its needs. Counties find themselves advocating for the prevention of funds being cut instead of achieving the increases that are needed to catch up from years of underfunding.

This year, RCPA and other system stakeholders once again teamed with the County Commissioner Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) through the Mental Health Safety Net Coalition. The mission and vision of this campaign continues to promote awareness of the critical funding needs of mental health services for vulnerable Pennsylvanians. As RCPA and the Mental Health Safety Net Coalition continue our efforts, we ask our members, stakeholders, and partners to join us in this collaborative effort by engaging with your legislators. “County mental health services provide a critical piece to the public safety net for people in need,” notes Richard S. Edley, PhD, President and CEO of RCPA. “The system sustained cuts over a decade ago with little relief since then. It is time to restore those dollars and further enhance the system. Not only will it provide critical funding for the individuals receiving services, but there are positive benefits — both financially and clinically — to the entire community.”

The Coalition welcomes the many new partners for this 2023–24 initiative, as the time to act is now for engaging with your representative. Local communities and providers have come together to sustain the safety net and serve those who need it most. The reality is that the demand for service far outweighs capacity and rate structures to serve this population.

View our first of many communications that will go out on behalf of the Coalition as an open call to the PA General Assembly and stakeholders. This will provide you with strategic talking points for our outreach. If you have additional questions or would like to join the Mental Health Safety Net Coalition, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will award approximately 26 applicants up to $3,000,000 to provide resources to improve the mental health outcomes for children and youth, birth through age 21, who are at risk of or have serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. This grant supports the implementation, expansion, and integration of the System of Care (SOC) approach by creating sustainable infrastructure and services required as part of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program.

You can find additional information here. The grant closes on March 21, 2025.

If you have further questions, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp.

The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) today announced almost $9 million in grant funding awarded to four Single County Authorities (SCAs) to establish or expand crisis stabilization services for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (SUD). The funding is part of the more than $17 million allocated last year to DDAP by the General Assembly from Pennsylvania’s share of a total opioid settlement of $1.2 billion reached with three distributors and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.

Crisis stabilization services include assessment and stabilization of acute physical and psychiatric symptoms, which may include medical management and behavioral interventions, induction on medications for opioid use disorder, level of care assessments, short-term stays, and connections to supportive services.

Grants up to $3 million each will be awarded to the following four SCAs, serving residents throughout seven counties:

  • Dauphin County Drug and Alcohol Services;
  • Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission;
  • Delaware County Department of Human Services; and
  • Blair County Drug and Alcohol Program.

The funding can be applied toward a range of activities, including construction and building infrastructure, staffing, and programming. DDAP’s goal in offering this funding opportunity is to provide an additional mechanism for counties to invest in infrastructure, staffing, programming, and other necessary components to establish or expand crisis stabilization services.

Eligible grantees were chosen based on information presented in their applications demonstrating their capacity to recognize and manage individuals presenting with a wide range of SUD-related symptoms, mental health disorders, and developmental disabilities.

PUBLISHED: 
NORRISTOWN — The Montgomery County Intermediate Unit has been awarded a $7.2 million four-year grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

This highly competitive Project AWARE grant, for which the intermediate unit will receive $1.8 million a year for four years, has only been awarded to approximately 20 entities across the United States.

Project AWARE is a nationwide grant created to develop a sustainable infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services. The intermediate unit provides programs and services to Montgomery County school districts, career and technical schools, non-public schools and other organizations. Through its direct service to students, especially those most at risk, the intermediate unit has been able to identify ways to assist students and their families to navigate mental health supports and services.

“This grant award is a major recognition for the MCIU and reflects all the hard work and accomplishments of our MCIU employees in supporting students and families across the region,” Executive Director Regina Speaker said in a press release issued by the Intermediate Unit. “We appreciate the support of Senator Robert Casey and Congresswoman Madeleine Dean and many other partners, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education, for this grant project.”

The grant project will: expand suicide awareness training opportunities for students(K-12), implement a universal mental health screener to be utilized by school district or nonpublic school staff members and create an electronic data system to connect school mental health practitioners (e.g. psychologists, social workers and counselors) with community-based mental health providers that have immediate availability to support students in all levels of care (outpatient therapy to inpatient psychiatric care).

The MCIU is partnering with two other intermediate units on this project — Luzerne and Carbon-Lehigh County Intermediate Units — to proactively address students’ mental health needs.


RCPA recommends members in the Montgomery County region engage with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and local school districts for planning and discussions on how your continuum of services may benefit student mental health in the schools.

If you have further questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Mental Health Director Jim Sharp.

The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) is making available $4 million in grant funding for organizations to establish or expand substance use disorder (SUD) services, community outreach and education to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.

In 2020, overdose death rates increased 39 percent for black Pennsylvanians, compared to 2019. In 2021, black Pennsylvanians died from an overdose at a rate that was nearly two times higher than white Pennsylvanians.

Grants up to $400,000 each will be awarded for a 12-month period beginning July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024. Funds can be applied toward a range of activities, including construction and building infrastructure, staffing, and evidence-based programming.

Eligible applicants include organizations that provide services, outreach, and/or education to BIPOC communities in any of the following areas:

  • Harm reduction;
  • Access to low-barrier medications for opioid use disorder and SUD treatment;
  • Recovery and peer supports; and
  • Reentry supports.

Funding for these grants is provided from the opioid settlement funding that the General Assembly appropriated to DDAP.

Download the Grant Initiative Funding Application.