Addiction Technology Transfer Center: Center of Excellence on Behavioral Health for Racial/Ethnic Minority Young Men Who Have Sex with Men (YMSM) and Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender Populations (LGBT) (Short Title: ATTC-CoE)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) announces the availability of funds to expand/enhance grant activities funded under the Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTCs) grant announcement. This program is being funded by both the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) and CSAT’s Minority AIDS funds. The purpose of the ATTCs is to develop and strengthen the workforce that provides addictions treatment and recovery support services to those in need. In partnership with Single State Authorities (SSAs), treatment provider associations, addictions counselors, multidisciplinary behavioral health professionals, faith and recovery community leaders, family members of those in recovery, and other stakeholders, the ATTCs assess the training and development needs of the substance use disorders workforce, and develop and conduct training and technology transfer activities to meet identified needs. Particular emphasis is on increasing knowledge and improving skills in using evidence-based and promising treatment/recovery practices in recovery-oriented systems of care. SAMHSA currently funds 10 regional ATTCs that provide crucial support for addressing behavioral health issues at the regional and local levels. In addition, four ATTCs receive funding to address a national focus area and one ATTC serves as the national coordinating office. These 15 ATTCs provide comprehensive support with respect to developing and enhancing the workforce. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) clearly articulates the need for substance use disorders and co-occurring disorders treatment resources to be strategically concentrated in areas with high rates of HIV infection and the need for targeting specific population subgroups at higher risk, such as young minority men who have sex with men (YMSM). According to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, from 2008 to 2010, HIV infections among young black/African American MSM increased by 20 percent. In 2010, young MSM accounted for 72 percent of new HIV infections among all persons aged 13 to 24, and 30 percent of new infections among all MSM . At the end of 2010, 56% of persons living with HIV in the United States were MSM or MSM injection drug users (IDU) . In order to decrease the rate of substance abuse and new HIV infections among racial/ethnic minority YMSM (ages 18-29), a current ATTC grantee will develop a Center of Excellence (CoE) to serve this population as well as expand/develop efforts focusing on the LGBT population in general. Within the first year, the primary function of the ATTC-CoE is to provide national subject matter expertise on working with the YMSM population. These activities will be collected separately from the current ATTC grant reporting activities. ATTC-CoE grants are authorized under Section 509 (CSAT’s Minority AIDS funds) and Section 301 (SMAIF funds) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. Section 509 is SAMHSA’s authority for funding services to meet priority substance abuse treatment of regional and national significance. Section 301 covers the authority for SMAIF funds. The combination of these authorities permits SAMHSA to announce and administer this jointly funded grant program as it is described and being announced within this document. Although, ATTC’s relate to all of SAMHSA’s 8 Strategic Initiatives through workforce development, this supplement strongly supports the Health Reform Strategic Initiative. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-SA.