Project Grant H79SM091249

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $400,000 to Research Foundation For Mental Hygiene, Inc., New York State Office of Mental Health on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

ROOTS-NY (Rural Outreach, Organizing, Training, and Suicide Prevention–New York) builds sustainable suicide prevention capacity across community and clinical settings in five rural and semi-rural New York counties: Broome, Genesee, Orleans, Wayne, and Yates, serving approximately 328,777 adults across the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and Western New York regions. The initiative targets working-age adults, older adults, veterans, farmers, firearm owners, and other populations experiencing elevated suicide risk due to social isolation, economic hardship, and limited access to behavioral healthcare. Over the four-year performance period ending September 29, 2030, ROOTS-NY establishes a regional capacity-building collaborative that increases community awareness, strengthens local partnerships, improves clinical skills in suicide care, promotes lethal means safety, and enhances coordination across healthcare and community systems. The model pairs the Suicide Prevention Center of New York's evidence-based suicide prevention expertise with participating counties' deep knowledge of their communities, assets, cultures, and partnerships, adapting proven approaches to local contexts to create strategies that are both evidence-informed and community-owned. Work is performed in Albany, New York.