Protection & advocacy for individuals with mntl illness

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services) awarded $666,273 to Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance on October 1, 2025, under the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program, CFDA 93.138, a formula grant.

Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit law firm, delivers protection and advocacy services for adults with significant mental illness and children with significant emotional disturbance or impairment across Minnesota. The organization pursues administrative, legal, and other remedies to address complaints of abuse, neglect, and civil rights violations, and protects and advocates for the rights of eligible individuals to ensure enforcement of constitutional, federal, and state statutes. Service priority focuses on individuals at risk for abuse, neglect, or civil rights violations while residing in care or treatment facilities, as well as those in community settings, including their own homes, individuals in the process of being admitted to facilities, individuals being transported to facilities, and individuals involuntarily confined in municipal detention facilities, jails, or prisons.

The award runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, with performance centered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. PAIMI grants are awarded directly by the Center for Mental Health Services to eligible systems established in states and territories to protect and advocate the rights of persons with developmental disabilities under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000, as amended.