Cooperative Agreement for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2011 for a Cooperative Agreement for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health (HBCU-CFE). The purpose of this program is to continue and enhance the effort to network the 105 HBCUs throughout the United States to promote behavioral health, expand campus service capacity and facilitate workforce development. For the purposes of this RFA, the term "behavioral health" refers to a state of mental/emotional being and/or choices and actions that affect wellness. Behavioral health problems include substance abuse or misuse, alcohol and drug addiction, serious psychological distress, suicide, and mental and substance use disorders. This includes a range of problems from unhealthy stress to diagnosable and treatable diseases like serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders, which are often chronic in nature but that people can and do recover from. The term is also used to describe the service systems encompassing the promotion of emotional health, the prevention of mental and substance use disorders, substance use, and related problems, treatments and services for mental and substance use disorders, and recovery support. The goals of the HBCU-CFE are to: 1. Promote student behavioral health to positively impact student retention. 2. Expand campus service capacity expansion, including the provision of culturally appropriate behavioral health resources. 3. Facilitate best practices dissemination and behavioral health workforce development. The HBCU-CFE program design is consistent with the workforce development priorities outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 that focused on the importance of increasing racial/ethnic diversity in the health professions to reduce health disparities. The program's focus is directly aligned with goals in the recently released, HHS Strategic Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, which emphasizes the need for the strategic implementation of programs to expand the diversity of the health care workforce. SAMHSA has identified eight Strategic Initiatives to focus the Agency's work on improving lives and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. The HBCU-CFE program is part of SAMHSA's effort to achieve the goals of the Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness, and Trauma and Justice Initiatives. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Center for Excellence in Behavioral Health cooperative agreement 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. SAMHSA strongly encourages all grantees to provide a smoke-free workplace and to promote abstinence from all tobacco products (except in regard to accepted tribal traditions and practices).