Lost Dreams Awaken Center

Lost Dreams Awaken Center, a tax-exempt Black American-owned nonprofit based in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, operates as a federal grant recipient delivering peer recovery support services, harm reduction programming, and workforce development for adults with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions across southwestern Pennsylvania. The organization acts as prime recipient on three SAMHSA grants and as a sub-recipient on a fourth, with all funding flowing from the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Lost Dreams Awaken's federal footprint is concentrated in two active SAMHSA programs. The organization is the prime recipient of a $350,000 Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Projects of Regional and National Significance grant (CFDA 93.490) awarded September 30, 2026, running through September 29, 2029, to implement LDA Recovery Works — expanding peer recovery support services, strengthening the peer recovery workforce, increasing employment readiness, and building recovery community infrastructure in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties. The project will serve 125 unduplicated adults annually (375 across the three-year cycle) through recovery coaching, recovery navigation, Recovery Coach Academy training, workforce development, family support, opioid overdose prevention education, and digital literacy and job readiness training. A second prime grant from SAMHSA, awarded June 30, 2023 and completing June 29, 2026, funded Building Recovery Ready Communities, a peer-led initiative serving 150 individuals annually through coordinated peer support, outreach, recovery cafes, seasonal community events, and digital communications, with core staffing built around a diverse team of trained BIPOC recovery coaches. A third prime grant from SAMHSA awarded May 30, 2022 (completing May 29, 2025) funded a Harm Reduction Program serving a minimum of 9,000 individuals across three years through community outreach, screening, stigma reduction, and service navigation in the Westmoreland County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. As a sub-recipient, Lost Dreams Awaken received funding via a March 16, 2026 subaward from the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to expand SUD drop-in center harm reduction support services and overdose prevention linkages.

Lost Dreams Awaken's combined obligated federal dollars total $8.7 million across four awards (three prime, one sub) spanning 2022 to 2026, with all customer dollars flowing from SAMHSA. Place of performance is New Kensington, Pennsylvania, with service delivery across Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties.