5600 Fishers Lane • Rockville, MD 20857 

www.samhsa.gov • 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727) 

Rural EMS Training NOFO (TI-23-011) 

Frequently Asked Questions 

https://www.samhsa.gov/grants/grant-announcements/ti-23-011 

1. If we receive this award, when will the funds be available? 

We anticipate the 2024 project period will start on September 30, 2024. If your

application is awarded, you will receive a Notice of Award (NOA) sometime between

mid-August to mid-September and the funds will become available to be used starting on

September 30th , 2024.

2. Does an application have to be for the full amount, or can an organization request

less? 

The application can be for the full amount (up to $200,000 per year) or less, based on

the needs of the applicant organization and local costs. Just keep in mind that an

applicant will need to carry out all the required activities as described in the Notice of

Funding Opportunity.

3. What is the Cost Sharing or Match requirement?

The applicant organizations must provide a 10% match to the annual funding amount

they are requesting from SAMHSA. This means, for example, an organization applying

for the full grant amount of $200,000 per year, the organization would need to show a

$20,000 match that will support the development of the grant program activities. This

10% non-federal contribution may be in cash or in-kind (staff salary, use of training

facilities, in-house trainer staff time, etc.) or it can come from any source other than

Federal funding. For detailed information, please see page 18 of the grant program

announcement.

4. What is the definition of “Rural”?

For the purpose of this grant announcement, Rural is a nonmetropolitan statistical area

according to the USDA classification (https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economypopulation/rural-classifications/ ); or an area designated as “Rural” by any law or

regulation of a State; or an area designated as Rural by a rural census tract of a

metropolitan statistical area, as determined under the most recent Goldsmith

Modification, originally published in a notice of availability of funds in the Federal
Register on February 27, 1992, 57 Fed. Reg. 6725 - 

https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/what-is-rural#goldsmith-modification. 

Essentially, if your area is considered “Rural” by any Federal, State or Country 

classification, SAMHSA will accept the Rural designation. 

5. If my organization provides EMS or Paramedic Training, are we eligible to apply 

for this award? 

Eligible applicants are rural emergency medical service agencies operated by a local or 

tribal government (fire-based and non-fire based) and non-profit emergency medical 

service agencies. If the teaching organization does not have an operational EMS service 

serving rural communities, they are not eligible to receive this award. However, the 

organization can partner with eligible EMS organizations to be the training providers 

under their grant program, if awarded. 

6. Can an organization apply for the award and provide training for other EMS 

organizations, or we can only serve the staff from the recipient organization? 

SAMHSA encourages partnerships. An organization receiving this award can support 

other EMS organizations that are also serving Rural communities by including their staff 

in their training events or sharing any of the activities they will promote under the grant 

program that will improve the ability of EMS staff to better serve the Rural community 

members they serve. 

7. Do we have to provide substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health training 

or can we use the funds to pay for our EMS specific trainings only? 

SUD and Mental Health training is a requirement of this grant program. You are also 

required to use the award funds to support EMS specific trainings. Several SUD and 

mental health trainings are provided free of charge by the SAMHSA funded Training and 

Technical Assistance Centers such as the Addiction Technology Transfer Centers 

(https://attcnetwork.org/), the Mental Health Technology Transfer Centers 

(https://mhttcnetwork.org/) and the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence 

(https://peerrecoverynow.org/). 

8. Do we have to provide the training in house, or can the award funds be used to 

pay for training elsewhere? 

The award funds can be used to pay for in-house training, or to subcontract training 

agencies to provide training for your staff, or it can also be used to pay tuition if you are 

enrolling your staff in any EMS or Paramedic training school. 

9. Can we use the award funds to hire EMS or Paramedic staff? 

No, award funds cannot be used to provide salary support for EMS or Paramedic staff. 

The intent of the grant funding is to support the training of EMS staff in order to increase 

their capacity to support the behavioral health and related needs of the rural community 
members they serve, and to support the EMS agency to purchase needed medical 

emergency equipment. The reason why the program does not support salaries for EMS 

or Paramedic staff is because it does not provide a sustainable strategy for the 

organization to retain the staff they trained after the grant program is completed (2 

years). However, funds can be used to support levels of effort (% of time) of the salaries 

for the staff managing the grant award program (project director, in house trainers, 

administrative staff involved with the grant program, etc.). 

10. Can an organization that has EMS programs serving Rural communities in 

multiple counties submit two applications focused on different areas of our state? 

No, each individual organization can only be awarded one award under this funding 

announcement. If an organization submits more than one application, only the highest 

scored application will be funded. 

11. What kind of equipment can we purchase under this grant award? 

You can propose to purchase any emergency medical equipment for training or rescue 

purpose (training mannequins, heart monitors, respiratory equipment, CPR equipment, 

ambulance required equipment, etc.). If your organization is awarded, any equipment 

over $5,000 in cost under your proposal will need to be approved by the Grants Manager 

and Project Officer in charge of your grant award. If for any reason the equipment 

proposed is not allowable, you will be asked to re-budget towards different equipment. 

SAMHSA does not have a list of allowable medical service equipment as the needs of 

each grant recipient differs. 

12. What is the difference between the required activities and allowable activities 

described on the grant announcement? 

The Required Activities (on page 11 of the grant announcement) are the activities 

SAMHSA expects that every organization that receives this grant award will implement. 

In your application narrative, you should address how you propose to implement all the 

10 required activities with the funding amount you are requesting. The Allowable 

Activities (on page 12 of the grant announcement) are activities that any organization 

can propose to implement under this grant program, however SAMHSA does not require 

the organization to implement them. They are optional. 

13. Can we use the award funds to provide training for community members? 

Yes, this is described under the allowable activities (page 12 of the grant 

announcement). A recipient can partner with local community organizations, health 

providers, behavioral health organizations, faith-based entities, schools, employers and 

others on education and training initiatives. 

14. Where can I find the SAMHSA training resources? 

Below is a list of available training resources from SAMHSA: 
• SAMHSA Training and Technical Assistance programs -

https://www.samhsa.gov/practitioner-training

• Disaster Training and technical Assistance Center -

https://www.samhsa.gov/dtac 

• Addiction Technology Transfer Centers – https://attcnetwork.org/

• Mental Health Technology Transfer Centers - https://mhttcnetwork.org/ 

• Prevention Technology Transfer Centers - https://pttcnetwork.org/ 

• Peer Recovery Center of Excellence - https://peerrecoverynow.org/ 

• Connecting Communities to Substance Use Services: Practical Tools for First

Responders - https://www.samhsa.gov/resource/ebp/connecting-communitiessubstance-use-services-practical-tools-for-first-responders

Program Contact: 

Humberto M. Carvalho 

Phone: 240-276-2974 

Email: Humberto.Carvalho@samhsa.hhs.gov