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New Competitions for Shortages Grants Open!
NASP is excited to share that the U.S. Department of Education has issued a notice inviting applications for the Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program and the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) Grant Program! These two grants support efforts to address the root causes of shortages in school-based mental health professions, including school psychology, and have already helped strengthen the workforce pipeline and increase access to mental and behavioral health services in schools across the country. We strongly encourage you, your district, and your state to take full advantage of this opportunity to address critical shortages of school psychologists across the country!
Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program
- Notice inviting applications
- Deadline for application: May 15, 2024
The MHSP Demonstration grant program provides competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE) and local education agencies (LEAs) to train school-based mental health services providers for employment. The grant program aims to address a challenge facing districts and schools across the country: an insufficient supply of school-based mental health professionals to meet the needs of students. The partnerships must include (a) one or more high-need LEAs or a state education agency (SEA) on behalf of one or more high-need LEA, and (b) one or more eligible IHE. Two technical assistance webinars for prospective applicants will be provided prior to the application deadline, and we will update this blog with the webinar information once it is published.
School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) Grant Program
- Notice inviting applications
- Deadline for application: April 30, 2024
The SBMH grant program provides competitive grants to SEAs, LEAs, and consortia of LEAs to increase the number of credentialed school-based mental health service providers delivering school-based mental health services to students in LEAs with demonstrated need. It is focused on recruitment and retention efforts. Two technical assistance webinars for prospective applicants will be provided prior to the application deadline, and we will update this blog with the webinar information once it is published.
If you have any questions, please contact NASP Director of Policy and Advocacy Kelly Vaillancourt Strobach at kvaillancourt@naspweb.org. Additionally, please make use of the following resources for support with your application:
- NASP has created a Community to help connect interested applicants with technical assistance and support. You do not have to be a NASP member to join this Community. To sign up please use this form.
- The Greenlights Grant Initiative provides tailored and free resources to help school districts access school safety grants, such as the MHSP and SBMH grants. Their tools include webinars, guidebooks, how-tos, and tutorials.
The continued funding and prioritization of these critical grant programs would not have been possible without the advocacy of NASP, our members, and our partners! Make sure to stay engaged with NASP advocacy efforts at our Advocacy Action Center.