Children's Mental Health Initiative

The Children's Mental Health Initiative is a forecasted federal cooperative agreement opportunity administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The opportunity number is SM-27-003, and the program is associated with Assistance Listing 93.104, Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding within the Health funding activity category. Grants.gov identifies the notice as Forecast 1, with a forecast date and last updated date of September 3, 2026. The fiscal year for the opportunity is 2027. The purpose of the Children's Mental Health Initiative is to provide comprehensive community mental health services to children, youth, and young adults from birth through age 21 who have a serious emotional disturbance. The program may also support efforts to identify and serve children who are at risk, as well as their families. The source does not provide additional details regarding specific allowable expenditures, prohibited costs, indirect cost limitations, subaward restrictions, or other spending rules. Those requirements may be provided when the full funding opportunity is posted. Estimated total program funding is $43,000,000. The forecast does not state an expected number of awards, award ceiling, or award floor. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement. Cost sharing or matching is explicitly required, but the forecast does not provide the required match percentage, ratio, dollar amount, or other formula. Applicants should therefore verify the matching requirement when the complete funding opportunity and application instructions become available. Eligibility is statutorily limited to specified governmental and tribal entities. Eligible applicants include state governments, including the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Governmental units within political subdivisions of a state, such as counties, cities, and towns, are also eligible. Indian tribes and tribal organizations, as defined in sections 4(b) and 4(c) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, are eligible as well. The source does not identify nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, school districts, businesses, or individuals as independently eligible applicant types. This notice is a forecast rather than a currently open funding opportunity. The estimated posting date is December 15, 2026. No estimated application due date or estimated project start date is provided. Because the complete application package and submission instructions are not included in the supplied forecast, the source does not identify a letter of intent, concept paper, notice of intent, pre-proposal, or other pre-application gating requirement. It also does not provide application questions, required narrative sections, required uploads, evaluation criteria, review priorities, or detailed submission mechanics. These items cannot be determined from the forecast and should be verified after the complete opportunity is posted. The estimated award date is September 30, 2027. No performance period, project start date, archive date, or recurring application schedule is stated. The supplied material does not indicate that the opportunity is annual, biennial, quarterly, continuously available, or otherwise recurring. The grantor contact is Kate Perotta, who can be reached by phone at 240-276-1903 or by email at childrensMentalHealthItiative@samhsa.hhs.gov. Because this is a forecasted opportunity, prospective applicants should use the subsequently posted funding notice and application package to verify final deadlines, award amounts, matching terms, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and other conditions that are not yet included in the forecast.

Ensure application aligns with SAMHSA Strategic Priorities and EO guidance; failure to comply with prohibited activity clauses will result in disqualification