Cooperative Agreement for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health (Short Title: HBCU-CFE)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) are accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2017 Cooperative Agreement for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health (Short Title: HBCU-CFE). The purpose of this program is to continue to enhance the effort to network the 105 HBCUs throughout the United States to promote behavioral health, expand campus service capacity, and facilitate workforce development. The HBCU-CFE seeks to address behavioral health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by encouraging the implementation of strategies to decrease the differences in access, service use, and outcomes among the racial and ethnic minority populations served and trained by the program. The goals of the HBCU-CFE are to promote student behavioral health to positively impact student retention; expand campus service capacity, including the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate behavioral health resources; facilitate best practices dissemination and behavioral health workforce development; and increase awareness of the early signs of emotional distress and resources for early intervention. SAMHSA has identified six Strategic Initiatives to focus the Agency’s work on improving lives and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. The HBCU-CFE program aims to achieve the goals of the Workforce Development Strategic Initiative by promoting behavioral health education and awareness at HBCU campuses around the country. This aligns with the Workforce Development Initiative’s goal of increasing the supply of trained and culturally aware preventionists, health care practitioners, paraprofessionals and peers to address the behavioral health needs of the nation. The HBCU-CFE grant is authorized under sections 509 and 520(A) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Mental Health and Mental Disorders Topic Area HP 2020-MHMD and Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA.