Community Mental Health Grant Program

The Community Mental Health Grant program is designed to foster community collaboration, reduce duplication of mental health services, and strengthen continuity of care for people receiving services through a diverse local provider network. Specifically, the Community Mental Health Grant (CMHG) program funds support for:

  • Services to fill gaps in mental health prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery, mental health education, screening and assessment, care coordination and integrated services.
  • Strategies that help people access, transition between or remain engaged in mental health services.
  • Community partnerships to prioritize community needs, leverage resources and coordinate and case manage service delivery.

The design of each CMHG project varies significantly. Many projects are designed to address mental health care coordination and transition support services for people with mental illness. Other projects leverage existing resources to reduce duplication of effort and optimize existing strategies for effective clinical management of care.

The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) considered proposed service delivery components and community needs in categorizing CMHG projects. The five main project types are:

  • Access to Care: Projects focused on access to outpatient mental health services, mobile outreach, care coordination services and enhancement of behavioral health continuums of care.
  • Co-occurring Disorders and Substance Use Disorder Services: Projects focused on meeting identified complex needs of people with one or more conditions, such as physical health, intellectual disability or substance use disorder inclusive with mental health issues.
  • Crisis and Forensic Services: Projects representing collaborative efforts to develop and enhance coordinated care, mental health deputy response and continuity of care related to jail release approaches across community crisis and first responder systems of care.
  • Peer Support Services: Projects that include recovery-focused clubhouses, peer support services and educational training to develop peer providers within community service delivery structures.
  • School-Based and Early Intervention: Projects focused on prevention and intervention, school-based response and at-risk screening and identification of early-onset behavioral health disorders.

Services Provided

CMHG projects support a range of clinical mental health and nonclinical supportive services for people with unmet mental health needs. Although grantees have flexibility in developing local projects, the projects must include one or more of the following preferred strategies:

  • Provide services to fill gaps in mental health prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery, mental health education, screening and assessment, care coordination, integrated services, dedicated support, family mental health, services for targeted populations and peer services.
  • Assist people who transition between or remain in mental health treatment services including care coordination and navigation services, transportation, employment and education support and supportive housing.
  • Encourage community partnerships and collaborations to assume responsibility for key activities including identification of unmet needs, development of community-based strategies and implementation of activities outlined in community-based strategies.

A limited number of projects employ optional strategies designed to complement preferred strategies, including enhancement of the mental health workforce (e.g., training, educational stipends), increasing initial access to services, and performing needs assessments and evaluations.

Grantees and Program Performance

HHSC utilizes data-driven program performance measurement and reporting processes to administer each matching grant program. Grantees submit quarterly performance data for each grant-funded project. HHSC staff collect and analyze this data to create and disseminate reports such as annual report cards that list current grantees:

Grantee Eligibility

Organizations eligible for CMHG funding include local mental health authorities, local behavioral health authorities, nonprofits, educational institutions, and governmental entities selected based on set criteria. Individual participants must have a mental health diagnosis.

Match Requirements

Awards to CMHG programs depend on matching funds, which can include cash or in-kind contributions from any person but must not include money from state or federal funds. The match must equal:

  • 100% of the grant amount if the CMHG program is in a county with a population of 250,000 or more.
  • 50% of the grant amount if the CMHG program is in a county with a population of less than 250,000 but equal to or more than 100,000.
  • 25% of the grant amount if the CMHG program is in a county with a population of less than 100,000.

If the CMHG program is in more than one county, the percentage is the grant amount needed for the largest county.

Legislative Statute and Enabling Legislation

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