Protection & advocacy for individuals with mntl illness

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Disability Rights Pennsylvania $1,547,351 on October 1, 2025, under the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program (CFDA 93.138).

Disability Rights Pennsylvania pursues administrative, legal, and other remedies to address complaints of abuse, neglect, and rights violations affecting adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances across Pennsylvania. The organization investigates and advocates for service users at risk for abuse and neglect while residing in care or treatment facilities, as well as individuals living in community settings, including their own homes. Work covers individuals in the process of admission to facilities, those being transported to facilities, and individuals involuntarily confined in municipal detention facilities, jails, or prisons.

The award obligates $1,547,351 for the period October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, with place of performance in Pennsylvania. The PAIMI program is a formula grant distributed through the Center for Mental Health Services to eligible protection and advocacy systems established under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000. Disability Rights Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's designated protection and advocacy agency for individuals with disabilities, serves as the state's PAIMI recipient and delivers civil and human rights protections alongside its work under related formula programs including the Assistive Technology Act Protection and Advocacy Program, the Traumatic Brain Injury Act Protection and Advocacy Program, and the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act program.