County to award $5M in mental health grants

The St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund (CSF) will spend $5 million in a new initiative to provide mental health and substance abuse services to populations that are in greatest need in high-priority areas of St. Louis County.

The new cycle of funding, called Discovery Initiatives Cycle, will support projects that use unconventional approaches and lead to breakthrough ideas to address behavioral health needs of County youth.  

Last year the CSF board directed staff to develop a funding model that would foster innovative ideas. The Discovery Initiative Cycle is a result of that work. 

Priority will be given to projects that address new approaches to service delivery, but also meet the needs of the nine County zip codes with the highest concentration of poverty among youth.

The Discovery Initiative Cycle of funding is open to currently-funded partners and new agencies. Favorable consideration will be given to projects that address service-related priorities identified in the Children’s Service Fund’s 2013 Needs Assessment.

A Call for Letters of Intent (LOI) to apply for this new funding process was released on January 21. The LOI is a brief narrative providing a synopsis of the proposed project, clear description of the need to which the project is responding, a statement of the intended impact or measureable health improvements, and estimated costs and duration of the proposed project.

The Discovery Initiatives funding is additional to over $97 million that was allocated to 60 local nonprofit and government agencies for 2014-2015 to provide health and substance abuse services for St. Louis County youth. 

For information on the grants, call 314-615-5850 or visit www.keepingkidsfirst.com.

To access CSF services, contact the 24- hour Youth Connection Helpline at 314-628-2929 or 1-877-928-2929.