Behavioral health community safety and recovery initiative (BHCS - RI) - behavioral health community safety and recovery initiative (BHCS-RI), led by williams & associates, INC., will strengthen…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Erise Williams and Associates, Inc. $738,127 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to implement the Behavioral Health Community Safety and Recovery Initiative (BHCS-RI).

BHCS-RI will build a trauma-informed, community-based care coordination system addressing behavioral health impacts of crime, violence, trauma, and disorder in St. Louis City, Missouri, and St. Clair County/East St. Louis, Illinois. The project will strengthen referral pathways, trusted outreach, workforce training, post-incident response, and cross-system collaboration among public health, behavioral health, education, law enforcement, faith-based, and community-based partners. Services target youth ages 5–24, families, caregivers, and individuals affected by violence, substance misuse, mental health challenges, grief, suicide risk, and social or economic instability, with priority focus on North St. Louis City and East St. Louis. The project will prioritize youth involved with or at risk for involvement with schools, juvenile justice, child welfare, healthcare, crisis response, and social service systems.

The award period runs from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2031, with place of performance at St. Louis, MO 63115.

Behavioral health community safety and recovery initiative (BHCS - RI) - behavioral health community safety and recovery initiative (BHCS-RI), led by williams & associates, INC., will strengthen community capacity to address the behavioral health impacts of crime, violence, trauma, and disorder in ST. Louis city, missouri, and ST. Clair county/east ST. Louis, illinois. The project will build a trauma-informed, community-based care coordination system that improves outreach, screening, referral, post-trauma response, prevention, recovery supports, and cross-system collaboration for youth, families, and violence-impacted community members. BHCS-RI will serve the ST. Louis/ST. Clair county BI-state catchment area, with priority focus on north ST. Louis city and east ST. Louis, where persistent violence, socioeconomic instability, and trauma exposure strain schools, healthcare systems, behavioral health providers, social services, and public safety partners. The grant will address the need for expanded community capacity by strengthening referral pathways, trusted outreach, workforce training, post-incident response, data-informed planning, and coordination among public health, behavioral health, education, law enforcement/public safety, faith-based, and community-based partners. The population of focus includes youth ages 5-24, families, caregivers, and individuals affected by crime, violence, disorder, trauma, substance misuse, mental health challenges, grief, suicide risk, behavioral dysregulation, and social or economic instability. Services will be available based on exposure to violence, behavioral health need, referral source, and service need. Youth involved with or at risk for involvement with schools, juvenile justice, child welfare, healthcare, crisis response, and social service systems will be prioritized. BHCS-RI will implement a trauma-informed care coordination model through the behavioral health and community safety coalition/cross-system action team, community navigator network, mobile healing van, trauma-to-thriving program, violence recovery support teams, healing hubs, warm handoff model, community collective efficacy academy, family resource navigation, and hope and opportunity pathways. Project goals are to: 1) increase early identification and engagement of youth and families affected by violence and behavioral health needs; 2) expand access to evidence-based and trauma-informed behavioral health services; 3) strengthen community-based prevention, early intervention, and resilience supports; 4) improve coordination, warm handoffs, and referral pathways across systems; and 5) reduce practical barriers to behavioral health engagement and recovery. Measurable objectives include training at least 40 community navigators by year 1; completing at least 500 outreach contacts and screening at least 300 youth/family members by year 2; referring at least 80% of positive screens to appropriate services; establishing six healing hubs; training 75 youth, parents, residents, and partners annually; ensuring 75% of referred youth/families receive follow-up within seven business days by year 2; providing family resource navigation to 200 families annually; and connecting 100 youth/young adults annually to hope and opportunity pathways. BHCS-RI will track unduplicated participants and partners served or trained annually and across the five-year project period through the evaluation system.