October 26, 2023
New Opportunity for Community Agencies to Provide Mental Health Awareness Trainings
Agencies and Individuals Can Apply for Grants to Support their Mental Health Training Programs and Offerings with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
Boulder, Colo. - The Boulder County Community Services Department (BCCS) is offering a grant opportunity for agencies and individuals who offer mental health trainings and programs. This grant program – supported with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds – is reserved for community agencies or individuals that are looking to provide innovative approaches to mental health trainings. The goal is to provide culturally responsive trainings to empower Boulder County communities by responding effectively to people of all cultures, languages, disabilities, races, and ethnic backgrounds, among other diversity factors.
This grant is part of the greater ARPA mental health and social resilience project to support more equitable access to mental and behavioral health needs. The plan is to provide mental health trainings to the community with the ARPA funds. After an extensive community engagement process that identified ways ARPA funding can be invested, planning participants and the community engagement process identified several recommendations regarding needed programs, services, and trainings that could support communities disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are excited to offer this funding opportunity to elicit interest from professionals or agencies working to make a difference in our community and interested in providing mental health awareness trainings to our community,” said Marnie Huffman-Green, manager of the ARPA Mental Health and Social Resilience Project Manager. “These grants will help agencies to expand their reach and impact, and to provide better services to the people they serve and provide a diverse range of mental health awareness trainings.”
The program is looking for community agencies or providers that can offer the following services:
- Suicide prevention training for service providers and/or community and family members who may be experiencing mental health needs.
- Outreach and marketing efforts to talk about mental health issues, recognize related risk and protective factors and identify community resources.
- Provide training to community/service providers about strength-based approaches to leverage the strengths in our communities around understanding and intervening in mental health needs.
- Provide awareness training about mental health issues that are designed to reduce the fear and stigma associated with community or family members experiencing mental health struggles.
- Develop an information campaign designed to help individuals struggling with mental health issues to improve their timely access to mental health services.
These are some of the many ways that the small grants program can be used to make a positive impact in Boulder County communities. If you are interested in submitting a proposal to provide trainings (that address one, some or all of the above), please reach out to the ARPA Mental Health and Social Resilience Program Manager at mhuffmangreen@bouldercounty.gov.
Or complete this funding opportunity form by Friday, Dec. 1, 2023:
Funding amounts can range from $10,000 – $100,000 for agencies or individuals interested in providing innovative mental health awareness trainings to community members.
Mental health and social resilience is one of the strategic priority areas identified as being among the most concerning topics for residents of Boulder County after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Boulder County received recommendations from the ARPA Working Groups based on a community engagement process where the responses of a county-wide survey revealed that economic challenges, housing affordability, and mental health and social resilience were the most challenging areas for Boulder County residents.