National Association of Counties
On October 3, the Biden administration announced more than $300 million in new mental health funding made available through the recently passed Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Funding will be administered by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for investments in mental health professionals in schools and in emergency departments.
DOE released notices for two grant programs (total funding is $287 million) that aim to increase access to mental health services for students and children. This funding will be distributed among the below programs:
Coinciding with the DOE funding releases, HHS announced awards of nearly $27 million to improve and expand mental health care for children through the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access (PMHCA) program. This funding will offer timely mental health support to children and adolescents by training pediatricians and other school-based children’s health care and emergency department providers in treating mental health conditions and by providing teleconsultation to bring mental health expert support directly to pediatric primary care providers. Forty-eight awardees will each receive $300,000, three national organizations will also receive a total of $3.2 million to provide technical assistance to grantees to expand and improve behavioral health services in pediatric practices, schools and emergency departments.
Beyond the programs listed above, the White House also plans to invest $1 billion from the law in our nation’s schools for additional mental health support.
Counties support many of the priorities included within the law and will continue to work in partnership with Congress and the administration to build upon this important legislation through the passage of policy that increases access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment and prevention.
