Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2017 Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (Short Title: ReCAST Program) grants. The purpose of this program is to assist high-risk youth and families and promote resilience and equity in communities that have recently faced civil unrest through implementation of evidence-based, violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs, as well as linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services. The goal of the ReCAST Program is for local community entities to work together in ways that lead to improved behavioral health, empowered community residents, reductions in trauma, and sustained community change.

For the purposes of this FOA, civil unrest is defined as demonstrations of mass protest and mobilization, community harm, and disruption through violence often connected with law enforcement issues. Communities that have experienced civil unrest share similar characteristics ^[1]:

·        Barriers to access and lack of social services, health care, legal and political representation, housing, employment, and education;

·        Current and historic strains in community and public sector relationships, e.g., law enforcement, school, health, and/or housing and community relationships; and

·        Racial/ethnic minority and marginalized populations with experiences of poverty and inequality.

The ReCAST Program closely aligns with SAMHSA’s Recovery Support and Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiatives. For more information on the funding opportunity please visit: https://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/sm-17-009

More information on these Initiatives is available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/about-us/strategic-initiatives. In addition, this program 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. (See PART II: Appendix F – Addressing Behavioral Health Disparities.)