Block grants for community mental health services

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $745,233 to the Ministry of Health in the Republic of the Marshall Islands on October 1, 2025, under the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services program (CFDA 93.958).

The award funds comprehensive community mental health services to adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance across the Marshall Islands. The Ministry of Health, designated as the territorial grant recipient, will implement a community-based mental health system consistent with territorial law and the program's statutory requirements. Up to 5 percent of grant funds may support administrative costs. The territory must allocate at least 10 percent of the award to evidence-based programs targeting individuals with early serious mental illness, including psychotic disorders, and must maintain expenditure levels consistent with prior-year allocations.

Services must be delivered through appropriately qualified community programs, including community mental health centers, child mental health programs, psychosocial rehabilitation programs, mental health peer-support programs, and consumer-directed mental health programs. Funds may not support inpatient services, cash payments to service recipients, facility construction or land acquisition, or major medical equipment purchases.

Performance is scheduled from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, with place of performance across the United States. The block grant structure allows the territory discretion in deploying funds to achieve program objectives while adhering to prescribed criteria in the state mental health plan.