Project Grant H79SM091143

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services) awarded $149,710 to the Pennsylvania Peer Support Coalition on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

The Pennsylvania Peer Ambassador Initiative will strengthen PAPSC's organizational capacity and build a statewide peer ambassador corps to expand peer voice and workforce participation across Pennsylvania's mental health systems. PAPSC will recruit and train people with lived mental health experience as peer ambassadors through an intensive annual three-day leadership academy retreat, then provide year-round support to place them on advisory boards, councils, workgroups, and stakeholder forums statewide. The project will train up to 50 peer ambassadors annually and add 20 to state and community decision-making bodies each year, repeating this cycle across the three-year project period through annual continuation awards. The initiative serves all 67 Pennsylvania counties and targets transition-age youth and adults with serious mental illness, addressing Pennsylvania's acute behavioral health provider shortage—the state is projected to face a deficit of more than 6,300 behavioral health professionals by 2026.

The project period runs from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2029, with place of performance in Willow Street, Pennsylvania.