Federal Block Grant Award Summary

The State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services received a Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services award from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services totaling $20,122,311 for the period October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027 (CFDA 93.958). This block grant funding supports the establishment and maintenance of comprehensive community-based mental health service systems throughout Wisconsin, enabling the delivery of evidence-based outpatient counseling, crisis intervention, case management, peer support services, and housing assistance to adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. Per statutory requirements, the state must allocate up to five percent of grant funds for administrative costs and set aside ten percent for evidence-based programs targeting early serious mental illness, while ensuring integrated service systems for children with serious emotional disturbance.

The state sub-awarded portions of this block grant funding to 53 county governments, tribal entities, nonprofit organizations, and community-based service providers across Wisconsin to implement mental health services at the community level. Sub-awardees include county-level departments of health and human services, tribal mental health programs, and specialized nonprofit organizations such as Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin (crisis call center services), NAMI Wisconsin (peer support), Access To Independence, Inc. (peer specialist services), and Mental Health America of Wisconsin (youth suicide prevention and prevention/quality improvement initiatives). Through these coordinated sub-grants, the block grant funding supports critical community mental health infrastructure, evidence-based treatment and prevention services, peer-led recovery support, and crisis response capabilities across Wisconsin's counties and tribal jurisdictions.