[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 81 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23296-23297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11157]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)


Cooperative Agreement With the National Association of State 
Mental Health Program Directors

AGENCY: Center for Mental Health Services, SAMHSA, HHS.

ACTION: Cooperative agreement to support a technical assistance center 
for States in planning mental health services.

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SUMMARY: This notice is to provide information to the public concerning 
a planned grant from the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) to 
the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors to 
fund the Technical Assistance Center (TA Center) for State Mental 
Health Planning. If the application is recommended for approval by the 
Initial Review Group, and the CMHS National Advisory Council concurs, 
funds will be made available. This is not a formal request for 
applications. Assistance will be provided only to the National 
Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.

Authority/Justification

    The cooperative agreement will be made under the authority of 
section 1948(a) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
300x-58). A single source award will be made to the National 
Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) based on 
its close relationship with the single State mental health authorities 
(SMHAs). This relationship provides NASMHPD with a unique qualification 
to carry out the activities of this cooperative agreement, which 
require such an affiliation with the State agencies. As the 
organization representing all State mental health agencies, NASMHPD is 
the only organization whose membership is composed of the persons 
directly responsible for the administration of public mental health 
policies in the respective States. NASMHPD enjoys a full 59-State and 
territorial membership of the Mental Health Services Block Grant 
recipients, as well as a full, continuous, and fruitful communication 
with the leadership and staff of these agencies. It thus has staff who 
are uniquely knowledgeable about the needs of the States, and is in a 
unique position to assess the actual and verified needs of the States 
for technical assistance.

Background

    One of the primary goals of the Community Mental Health Services 
Block Grant is to assist States in the creation of a comprehensive, 
community-based system of care for adults with severe mental illness 
and children with serious emotional disturbances. The burden of 
providing for mental health services lies primarily with the States. 
Block grant legislation requires CMHS to collaborate with the States in 
meeting this obligation by helping them to determine their needs and by 
cooperating with them in identifying appropriate technical assistance 
to help them in planning ways of meeting their programmatic 
obligations.
    The primary goals of this program are:

[[Page 23297]]

    (1) To assist States in the implementation of their mental health 
block grant plans and the enhancement of their comprehensive 
coordinated systems of care to better serve adults with severe mental 
illness and children with serious emotional disturbance;
    (2) To promote the development of the Mental Health Planning 
Councils so they can assist the States in implementing mental health 
block grant plans and enhance their systems of care;
    (3) To collaborate with stakeholders in the mental health system in 
the expansion and dissemination of knowledge and practices that will 
result in long-lasting improvements in the design, delivery, and 
evaluation of public mental health services;
    (4) To assist States in developing mental health systems that are 
consumer oriented, sensitive to family member needs, and culturally 
competent;
    (5) To be able to determine the ``unmet need'' and assist States in 
developing strategies to ensure that the gap is bridged between the 
need for services and service availability and delivery.
    NASMHPD, through its needs assessment surveys, frequent contact in 
``meet me'' telephone conferences, focus groups, semi-annual meetings, 
and electronic communication channels, can rapidly address information 
to the specific needs of the States, its members, and evaluate member 
response, and can communicate technical mental health information from 
the States to the TA Center and vice versa. Such capability provides a 
singular benefit to the States in that information that is invaluable 
to program success but generally unavailable because of Federal process 
requirements becomes available to States through NASMHPD's close 
organizational relationship with its members.
    Because of its research activities, this organization is also able 
to identify the prime movers in the mental health field, and to enlist 
them in the creation of authority-articulated clinical, management, and 
fiscal model standards. Also through NASMHPD's membership, the TA 
Center's knowledge base and technical assistance extends to the State 
mental health planning councils, to block grant sub-recipient programs, 
and thence to consumers and their families.

Availability of Funds

    The project will be for a 3-year period with $700,000 available for 
the first year. Future year funding will depend on the availability of 
funds and program performance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marie Danforth, M.S.W. or Velva Taylor 
Spriggs, L.I.S.W., CMHS/SAMHSA, Parklawn Building, Room 15C-26, 5600 
Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. Telephone (301) 443-4257.

    Dated: April 21, 1998.
Richard Kopanda,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 98-11157 Filed 4-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P