sábado, 17 de mayo de 2014

The Partnership Center Newsletter: May is National Mental Health Awareness Month

The Partnership Center News: A publication of the HHS Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
May 16, 2014 Edition
In this issue, you will find…


Dear Partners:

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health problems affect virtually all communities in our country; approximately one in five Americans over age 18 will experience a mental health problem this year. However, we know that people can and do recover from mental health problems.
Faith and other community leaders can play a major role in increasing understanding of mental health and encouraging individuals experiencing mental health problems to seek help. In our Featured Update, Pam Hyde, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, highlights two new resources that help faith and community leaders respond to the mental health needs of their communities. I also hope you can join us on May 30 for aGoogle Hangout on the role faith-based leaders can play in supporting national health security through community resilience.
In addition, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced that eight million people enrolled in the Health Insurance Marketplace during the first enrollment period. Thanks to all of you who hosted enrollment events, promoted our webinars on the Affordable Care Act, and did your part to make sure your congregants and community members were able to access health insurance coverage. Those eight million individuals include more than 4.3 million women; read on to learn about how the Affordable Care Act addresses women’s unique health needs. I also encourage you to attend one of our upcoming webinars on the health care law. The webinars will focus on special enrollment periods and learning to use your health insurance.
Finally, this June, Let’s Move Faith and Communities is launching a new series of online trainings on evidence-based health education programs that you can run in your community. We hope you can join us!
We look forward to working with many of you in the coming months. To share your efforts related to any of these important issues, please contact the HHS Partnership Center at Partnerships@hhs.gov or 202-358-3595.
Sincerely,
Acacia Bamberg Salatti, Acting Director
Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Featured Update: Faith and Community Leaders Play a Critical Role in Supporting their Communities’ Mental Health Needs

Faith and community leaders play a critical role in raising awareness of and supporting mental health in their communities by sharing supportive messages and providing information about how to get help when it’s needed. When people and families are facing mental health problems, they often turn to trusted members of their community for help. As first responders, faith and other neighborhood leaders can make a huge difference in how the individual and community copes and heals – but only if they know what to do.
That’s why the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the HHS Partnership Center are proud to announce two new publications that help guide faith-based and community leaders in responding to the mental health needs of their communities: Information for Faith-Based and Community Leaders, Talking Points for Faith-Based Communities and Everyone Can Play a Role in the Conversation about Mental Health, Faith-Based Organizations Fact Sheet. These publications can help communities and congregations raise awareness about mental health issues and emphasize the importance of people seeking help when needed.
In addition to these publications, SAMHSA has created a host of other resources to help communities support mental health and mental health care as part of President Obama’s Now is the Time initiative. These resources include a resource guide for mayors, and discussion guide and a planning guide for communities. Click here to download these resources. SAMHSA also has several grant opportunities available to support Now is the Time activities. For more information, click here.
To always get the latest information on SAMHSA resources and grants, be sure to visit SAMHSA.gov, follow us on twitter (@samhsagov), and like our Facebook page.
Sincerely,
Pam Hyde, Administrator
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Faith-Based First Responders

By Kimberly Konkel, MSW, Associate Director for Health, HHS Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Anne Mathews-Younes, Ed.D., D.Min, Director of SAMHSA Division of Prevention, Traumatic Stress and Special Programs
A recent survey in North Carolina found depression rates among United Methodist clergy were twice as high as the general public.
The researchers suggest that unique demands of the job, including job stress, guilt about not doing enough, and doubts about one’s call to the ministry put clergy mental health at risk. While many factors undoubtedly contribute, there might be another possible explanation – the trauma that clergy encounter on a daily basis.
The mental health field has long recognized the impact of “secondary” or “vicarious” trauma. Bearing witness to another person’s trauma can itself be traumatic, and can activate feelings and behaviors associated with earlier traumatic experiences clergy may have had in their own lives.
Vicarious trauma is as relevant to clergy as it is to other people in the helping and first-responder professions. Many Americans turn to clergy before they turn to mental health professionals, and like other “first responders,” faith leaders carry a heavy load. 
Pam Hyde, Administrator at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, recently spoke with Mormon Mental Health, an organization which was created to inform and connect the over 6 million Mormons in America seeking mental health services with resources and professionals, about a variety of mental health problems that affect society as a whole.
The conversation included discussion on how those within any faith tradition can be confident that they are well-equipped to deal with the individual and familial concerns that come up within congregations and faith-based communities.
Read more of this article on MentalHealth.gov.

Creating Trauma-Informed Congregations

By Andrea Blanch Ph.D., Director, Center for Religious Tolerance, and Kimberly Konkel MSW, Associate Director for Health, Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Across the country, there is a growing movement to create “trauma-informed” services, organizations and communities. This movement reflects an understanding that psychological trauma and toxic stress are near-universal experiences that can affect every aspect of life, and that everyone has a role to play in addressing the issue. 
According to national experts convened by SAMHSA, trauma results from events or circumstances that are experienced by an individual as harmful or life threatening and that have lasting adverse effects on mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being. 
While many individuals experience traumatic events without lasting harm, trauma can place a heavy burden on individuals, families and communities. Trauma-informed supports can help. 
Being trauma-informed means:
  • Realizing how trauma affects people;
  • Recognizing the signs;
  • Responding by changing practices; and
  • Resisting re-traumatization by addressing trauma and toxic stress in the lives of both staff and people served. 
Many Americans find comfort and assistance from spiritual leaders and faith communities during times of grief, loss or trauma.  In fact, many people turn to clergy for support before they turn to mental health professionals.
For some, religious beliefs and faith provide a source of wisdom or a narrative that can help re-establish a sense of meaning after a life-shattering event. For others, relationships formed in spiritual community are deeply supportive. 
A growing body of research also documents the positive effects of prayer and spiritually-based practices like meditation, contemplation and sacred music. 
For example, yoga is known to be an effective treatment for trauma-related problems; meditation and mindfulness training reduce depression and anxiety. 
Clearly, faith communities have the potential to be healing. 
A congregation that fully understands the impact of trauma and knows how to respond is trauma-informed.
In addition to understanding the impact of stress, a trauma-informed congregation:
  • Expects and supports recovery after adversity;
  • Has physical, social and psychological resources to help buffer and heal the negative effects of traumatic events; and  
  • Is prepared to take deliberate, collective action in the face of adversity. 
Here are a few ways make your congregation or community more trauma-informed:
  • Become educated about how trauma and toxic stress affect people. You may be surprised at how often trauma underlies seemingly unconnected problems.
  • Ask “What happened?” instead of “What’s wrong?” when talking with a friend in need.
  • Give people the chance to tell their stories in their own time and way.  While specialized trauma treatment is sometimes needed, having someone acknowledge what happened is often enough to begin a healing process. 
  • Encourage and express empathy in your family, congregation and community. Convey a message of nonviolence, love and compassion. 
  • Ask faith leaders to support the development of a trauma-informed congregation and join the movement.
To learn more about becoming a trauma-informed congregation or community, please sign up for our newsletter atwww.hhs.gov/partnerships or follow us on Twitter @PartnersforGood.
By signing up, you’ll get invitations to learning opportunities, grant announcements, recent research and more.
This article originally appeared on MentalHealth.gov.

The Role of Faith-based Leaders in Supporting National Health Security through Community Resilience

National health security discussions increasingly focus on building and sustaining resilient individuals and communities to withstand a wide and unpredictable range of health-related incidents. Major disasters such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Sandy have underscored the importance of cultivating informed and empowered individuals and communities, and strong connections among people and organizations that can be leveraged to support preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
The vision for health security described in the 2009-2014 National Health Security Strategy (NHSS) is built on a foundation of community resilience: the sustained ability of communities to withstand and recover from adversity. The 2015-2018 NHSS, to be released in December, builds upon current scientific evidence as well as the progress made in resilience since 2009, and further emphasizes health as a vital component of overall community resilience.
Resilient communities include healthy individuals and families with access to health care and who have the knowledge and resources to care for themselves and others in both routine and emergency situations. Enhanced resilience is considered critical to mitigating vulnerabilities, reducing negative health consequences, and rapidly restoring community functioning.
Faith-based leaders are community leaders, and centers of religious life very often also serve as hubs of social connectivity. As a result, faith-based leaders can play an extremely important role in strengthening and sustaining communities’ abilities to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from incidents with negative health consequences through individual and community resilience.
Faith-based leaders have a strong understanding and relationship to the local community, including with vulnerable members of the community that might require additional support following an emergency or disaster. As R.J. Taylor and L.M. Chatters recognized in their article “Church Members as a Source of Informal Social Support” (published in the Review of Religious Research in 1988), this strength enables faith-based leaders to be responsive to the unique needs, including emotional, spiritual, material, and informational needs, in the local community. Faith-based leaders also can garner trust and empower community members to take action. Activities leaders could undertake to promote community resilience include:
  • Participating in America’s PrepareAthon! by planning or participating in a preparedness event.
  • Sharing resilience-building messages to help meet your community’s health needs.
  • Addressing the behavioral and spiritual health of a community by fostering Trauma-Informed Community and Congregations.
  • Learning how to implement your community-level public education plans detailing how individuals, families, and households prepare for health incidents, highlighting information for and about at-risk individuals. If you don’t have these plans, lead their creation.
To learn more on how you can shape the future of national health security and community resilience, please visithttp://www.phe.gov/nhss. The draft 2014 NHSS is available for public comments. Please submit comments by May 21, 2014, 5:00 PM ET.
For resources related to national health security and community resilience, click here and here.

Google Hangout on The Role of Faith-based Leaders in Supporting Health Security through Community Resilience

On Friday, May 30 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response will host a Google Hangout to discuss the role faith-based leaders can play in supporting national health security through community resilience.
Faith-based leaders are community leaders, and centers of religious life very often also serve as hubs of social connectivity. As a result, faith-based leaders can play an extremely important role in strengthening and sustaining communities’ abilities to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from incidents with negative health consequences through individual and community resilience.
During this Hangout, you will hear from panelists about what faith-based leaders can do to advance health security through community resilience, the importance of America’s PrepareAthon and how the faith-based community can be involved, and a local faith leader’s perspective on progress made, as well as gaps that remain, in enhancing community resilience.
Resilient communities include healthy individuals and families with access to health care who have the knowledge and resources to care for themselves and others in both routine and emergency situations. Further, the panelists will describe what faith-based leaders can do to promote self-care in their communities.
This Google Hangout follows the availability of public comments on the draft 2015-2018 National Health Security Strategy and Implementation Plan. If you haven’t already done so, please discuss it with other community members and professionals; and suggest activities that would advance health security at the community level and lead to improvements in the national priorities. You have until May 21, 5 p.m. EDT, to submit your thoughts to http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/authority/nhss/comments/Pages/default.aspx. Don't miss your chance!
Panelists:
  • Dan Dodgen, PhD, Director, Division for At-Risk, Behavioral Health & Community Resilience, ASPR
  • Marcus Coleman, Special Assistant, FEMA
  • St. John Holloway, High Priest, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Participate in the Hangout by watching it live on https://plus.google.com/events/c4kfaqv60p3bbulj9pi7qlb8v5g.
You are invited to send questions for the panelists prior to the event to Partnerships@hhs.gov. Your questions will be answered during the live event.

“Your Life Matters!” Sabbath for Suicide Prevention

The Faith Communities Task Force is developing a toolkit of resources for congregations for the “Your Life Matters! Sabbath for Suicide Prevention,” which will take place from September 12-14.
As faith and community leaders who build bridges between faith and health, we hope to get your wisdom. We would greatly appreciate it if you could make a contribution by June 1, 2014 to this toolkit by sharing the resources you have for faith communities relating to suicide prevention and/or mental health. We are particularly interested in:
  • Prayers and liturgies
  • Sermons or reflections
  • Hymns and other sacred songs of hope
As you probably know from your own experience, statistics show that people in distress (either for themselves or a loved one) often seek out a faith leader or faith community for help in such times. Our goal is to provide resources for congregations and their leaders to help them meet these needs.
We look forward to hearing from you. Click here if you have any questions or would like more information about the Faith Communities Task Force or the Action Alliance. Please send your submissions to your-life-matters@edc.org.

Addressing the Intersection of Trauma,
Mental Health Challenges, and Substance Use

DATE & TIME: Thursday, May 29, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
REGISTRATION: Click here to register.
DESCRIPTION: Mental health and substance-use conditions often co-occur. Approximately 8.9 million adults have co-occurring disorders; that is, they have both a mental and substance-use disorder. Only 7.4 percent of individuals receive treatment for both conditions with 55.8 percent receiving no treatment at all. Histories of trauma experiences are also very prevalent for individuals who may have mental health challenges or substance-use conditions. Given the high prevalence for all three issues, integrated trauma-informed approaches are needed. This webinar will provide an overview of current research and evidence-based programming.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Participants will:
  • Understand the historical context for addressing the intersection of mental health, substance use, and trauma.
  • Review current research on the prevalence of trauma and adverse experiences and their impacts in the lives of women and girls across the lifespan.
  • Learn more about two evidence-based programs (Seeking Safety and the Trauma Resolution Center).
  • Understand core components of a trauma-informed approach when addressing the intersection of mental health, substance use, and trauma.
QUESTIONS: If you have questions related to registering for this webinar, please contact Melanie Sutherland (melanie.sutherland@nasmhpd.org) at SAMHSA’s National Center for Trauma-Informed Care. 

Enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace Totals over 8 million people; More than 4.8 million additional Medicaid/CHIP enrollments

Enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace surged to eight million at the end of the first enrollment period, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced recently.  Importantly, 2.2 million (28 percent) of those who selected a Marketplace plan were young adults ages 18 to 34 – a number that grows to 2.7 million when counting ages 0 to 34, the report found.  The report also shows, for the first time, the race and ethnicity of the 69 percent of enrollees in the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces who voluntarily reported this information.
“More than eight million Americans signed up through the Marketplace, exceeding expectations and demonstrating brisk demand for quality, affordable coverage,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “In addition, over 4.8 million more people have been covered by states through Medicaid and CHIP programs, around 3 million more Americans under 26 are covered under their parents’ plans, and recent estimates show that an additional 5 million people have purchased coverage outside of the Marketplace in Affordable Care Act-compliant plans.  Together we are ensuring that health coverage is more accessible than ever before, which is important for families, for businesses and for the nation’s health and wellbeing.”
Today’s report also details state-by-state information where available. In more than a dozen states, enrollment has doubled since March 1. For example, Texas (149 percent growth), Georgia (127 percent growth), and Florida (123 percent growth) had some of the largest surges in enrollment in the country over the final weeks of the initial open enrollment period.
Click here to read the Marketplace Enrollment report.
Click here to read the Medicaid Enrollment report.
Click here or here for state-level tables highlighting enrollment-related information for the Marketplace.

The Affordable Care Act and Women

The Affordable Care Act is making health insurance coverage more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans.  During the first annual enrollment period, more than 8 million Americans signed up for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, including more than 4.3 million women.  And that doesn’t include the more than 3 million young adults who have gotten coverage through their parents’ health plans, or the millions who have learned they are eligible for Medicaid coverage. These people are enjoying high quality, affordable coverage that can’t discriminate based on a pre-existing condition, or charge women more because of their gender.
For women, the law addresses inequities and increases access to quality, affordable health coverage that meets their unique health needs. The Affordable Care Act invests in prevention and wellness, and gives women and their families more control over their care. And women can no longer be charged more for health insurance because of their gender.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, 18.6 million uninsured women have new opportunities for coverage.
Additionally, millions of women across the country are benefiting from the stronger coverage and consumer protections made possible by the Affordable Care Act:
  • 26.9 million women with private health insurance gained expanded access to preventive services with no cost-sharing, including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, flu and pneumonia shots, and regular well-baby and well-child visits. And many health plans now cover additional preventive services with no cost-sharing, including well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening, breastfeeding supplies and contraceptive services.
  • 24.7 million women enrolled in Medicare in 2011 had access to preventive services without cost-sharing, including an annual wellness visit, mammograms screenings, and bone mass measurement for women at risk of osteoporosis.
  • Private plans in the Marketplace as well as most individual and small group plans outside the Marketplace are now required to cover 10 essential health benefit categories, including maternity and newborn care. An estimated 8.7 million American women with individual insurance coverage gained coverage for maternity services because of the health care law.
  • 1.1 million women between ages 19 and 25 who would have been uninsured now have coverage under their parent’s employer-sponsored or individually purchased health insurance plan.
  • More than 2 million women enrolled in Medicare saved $1.2 billion in 2011 due to improvements in prescription drug coverage.
  • The Medicaid expansion is providing comprehensive coverage for lower income women who were previously only eligible for coverage while pregnant. Enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is open year round. Click here to learn more.
This article originally appeared on www.hhs.gov/healthcare.

Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Extended

People who have enrolled in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) now have until June 30 to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) has offered four months of transitional PCIP coverage in 2014. In the Affordable Care Act, Congress gave CMS the authority to extend PCIP coverage beyond 2013 to avoid a break in coverage for PCIP enrollees transitioning into coverage offered through the Marketplace. The initial enrollment period for the Marketplace for the 2014 coverage year ended on March 31, 2014.
In order to ensure that eligible individuals remaining in the program can avoid a break in coverage when PCIP terminates on April 30, CMS is providing a 60-day special enrollment period, beginning on May 1, for enrollment in a qualified health plan offered through the Federally-facilitated Marketplace in 2014. State-based Marketplaces are adopting a similar special enrollment period.  PCIP enrollees will have until June 30, 2014 to select a plan. If the enrollee is otherwise eligible to enroll in a qualified health plan, coverage will be effective back to May 1 for anyone who uses this special enrollment period.
Learn more by reviewing the PCIP Bulletin and PCIP Fact Sheet.

Let’s Move Faith and Communities:
Online Trainings for Community Health Leaders in June

This June, Let’s Move Faith and Communities is excited to present online trainings on two evidence-based health education programs that you can run in your community! All training programs are free to community health leaders and may be downloaded on each program’s website.
We hope you can join us on Wednesday, June 18th from 12-1:30 p.m. EDT for a training on EatPlayGrow ™, an early childhood health curriculum developed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) in partnership with the National Institutes of Health's (NIH’s) We Can! program. EatPlayGrow combines the most up-to-date science from the NIH with CMOM's creative educational approach to teach young children and their parents how to make healthy nutritional and physical-activity choices.
Click here to register for the June 18th training on EatPlayGrow.
The EatPlayGrow training is presented by CMOM and co-hosted by Let’s Move Faith & Communities, Let’s Move! Child Care and Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens.
In addition, from June 24-26, Let’s Move Faith and Communities is collaborating with Share Our Strength to present three different webinar trainings on Cooking Matters®. Founded in 1993, Cooking Matters and thousands of volunteer instructors have helped more than 150,000 low-income families in communities across the country learn how to eat better for less. Together, Cooking Matters and its partners serve families across the country through interactive grocery store tours, hands-on cooking courses and educational tools.
The Cooking Matters webinar series consists of three trainings on different themes. The trainings are presented by Share Our Strength and co-hosted by Let’s Move Faith & Communities:

Tuesday, June 24, 12-1 p.m. EDT: Cooking Matters at the Store
Click here to register.
Cooking Matters at the Store tours provide families with hands-on education as they shop for food, giving them skills to compare foods for cost and nutrition. Participants learn how to plan and budget for healthy, affordable, and delicious meals for their families. This webinar will show you how to run a Cooking Matters at the Store Tour, including tips on recruiting participants, resources available to you and best practices for leading a tour.

Wednesday, June 25, 12-1 p.m. EDT: Cooking Matters in Your Food Pantry
Click here to register.
Cooking Matters in Your Food Pantry helps with planning, organizing and leading food pantry demos in your community. This webinar will provides sample outlines of several nutrition education lessons and activities that can be used in the food pantry setting, easily customized to the amount of time you have available for your demonstration. It also contains a wide selection of handouts and recipes to use at your demo and to send home with clients. We will also discuss setting up a well-stocked pantry in the home so clients can access quick, healthy meals with budget and time in mind.

Thursday, June 26, 12-1 p.m. EDT: Cooking Matters
Click here to register.
Cooking Matters hands-on courses empower families with the skills to be self-sufficient in the kitchen. Participants practice fundamental food skills, including proper knife techniques, reading ingredient labels, cutting up a whole chicken, and making a healthy meal for a family of four on a $10 budget. Each course is team-taught by a volunteer chef and nutrition educator and covers meal preparation, grocery shopping, food budgeting and nutrition. This webinar will cover some of the fundamental food skills that we teach in our Cooking Mattes courses, including resources available to you like our Smart Phone App with recipes!

Hunger Doesn’t Take a Summer Vacation:
Become a Summer Food Service Program sponsor!

By Jesus Garcia, Special Assistant, Office of Public Affairs, Administration for Children and Families
Before coming to Washington, D.C., to work for the Administration for Children and Families, I served as a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service in Dallas, Texas, for five years. During my tenure, I conducted a lot of outreach to help communities in the southwest learn about America’s nutrition programs and how they can help fight hunger.
Some of the highest rates of food insecurity are found in Texas and its surrounding states. My office built coalitions with school districts, city governments, faith and community-based organizations to help promote well-known programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
But the one program I enjoyed working with the most was the Summer Food Service Program. This neat program is a federally-funded effort that provides free meals to eligible children when schools are out.
Read more of this article on ACF’s “The Family Room Blog.”

Upcoming Events

Interactive Webinars on the Health Care Law
The HHS Partnership Center has updated webinars on the health care law for faith and community leaders. All webinars are open to the public and include a question and answer session.
To participate in one of the webinars, please select your preferred topic from the list below and submit the necessary information. Please click on the title of the webinar and fill out the registration form. After registering you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing information about joining the webinar. Please contact us at ACA101@hhs.gov if you have problems registering or if you have any questions about the health care law. All webinars are one hour.

Thursday, May 29 at 1 p.m. ET
(Noon CT, 11 a.m. MT, 10 a.m. PT)
To Join By Phone Only, Dial 1-646-307-1706, Access Code: 564-494-667
For those joining by phone only, the Pin Number is the # key.
The health care law has created special enrollment periods for those who experience special circumstances such as graduating from college and losing health insurance, getting married and needing coverage for a spouse, losing employer insurance or turning 26 and losing coverage on a parent’s health plan. Join this webinar to learn more about special enrollment periods and how to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. For those who are uninsured and don’t qualify for the special enrollment period, learn what resources are available and when and how to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Please email ACA101@hhs.gov by May 29 at 10 a.m. ET with any questions.

Wednesday, June 4 at 2 p.m. ET
 (1 p.m. CT, Noon MT, 11 a.m. PT)
To Join By Phone Only, Dial: 1-415-655-0057, Access Code: 141-203-101
For those joining by phone only, the Pin Number is the # key.
Many people now have health insurance but may not know how to use it. This webinar and conference call will discuss how to read your insurance card, how to find a doctor, what you need to know in making an appointment and what to do in case you have a health emergency. Key terms will be discussed as well as recommended health screenings. Please send your questions to ACA101@hhs.gov prior to June 4 at Noon ET.

Grant Opportunities

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Grants Forecast is a database of planned grant opportunities proposed by its agencies. Each Forecast record contains actual or estimated dates and funding levels for grants that the agency intends to award during the fiscal year. Forecast opportunities are subject to change based on enactment of congressional appropriations.
When funding is available and an agency is ready to accept applications, the agency will issue an official notice, known as a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which will be available on how to apply.
As always, the final section of our newsletter includes an updated grants listing that faith-based and community non-profits can pursue.  All of these grant programs are competitive.  It is important to review the funding announcement thoroughly to ensure that the grant opportunity is one that is appropriate to your organization’s mission, size, and scope.

Grants Information
Title: Regional Partnership Grants to Increase the Well-Being of, and to Improve the Permanency Outcomes for, Children Affected by Substance Abuse
Description: The Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Children's Bureau (CB), announces the availability of competitive grant funds authorized by the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program. These targeted grants are to be awarded to Regional Partnerships that provide, through interagency collaboration and integration of programs, activities and services that are designed to increase well-being, improve permanency, and enhance the safety of children who are in an out-of-home placement or are at risk of being placed in out-of-home care as a result of a parent's or caregiver's substance abuse. The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act (Pub. L. 112-34) includes a targeted grants program (section 437(f) of the Social Security Act), which directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reserve a specified portion of the appropriation for Regional Partnership Grants (RPGs) to improve the well-being of children affected by substance abuse.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last day to Apply: June 10, 2014

Title: Partnerships to Increase Coverage in Communities Initiative
Description: The purpose of the Partnerships to Increase Coverage in Communities Initiative is to identify and assist minority populations, to educate them about the Health Insurance Marketplace (Marketplace) and to assist them with enrollment, completion of the application to determine their eligibility and purchase of health insurance offered through the Marketplace.  Activities will include: utilizing coalitions and partnerships to maximize outreach and education of the targeted population(s); developing and providing comprehensive information and education sessions to consumers relative to the Health Insurance Marketplace; disseminating CMS or state-developed information that will increase awareness of the Marketplace and, where necessary, appropriately updating materials to more effectively provide culturally competent services specific to the target population, including translation services;  assisting between 1,000 to 10,000 individuals from underserved and hard to reach minority populations and help them apply for health insurance coverage offered through the Health Insurance Marketplace; and monitoring and adapting strategies to reach enrollment targets. These funds may not be used to support individuals funded as Navigators for the 2014 Open Enrollment period in Federally-facilitated and State Partnership Marketplaces. 
Link to Full Announcement:  Link to Full Announcement
Last day to apply: June 27, 2014

Title: Ethnic Community Self Help Program
Description: The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) invites eligible entities to submit competitive grant applications for funding of the Ethnic Community Self-Help Program to provide services to newly arriving refugees. The objectives of this program are to strengthen organized ethnic communities comprised and representative of refugee populations, and to ensure ongoing support and culturally appropriate services to refugees within five years of their initial resettlement. The populations targeted for services and benefits in the application must represent refugee groups who have arrived in the U.S. within the last five years. ORR places a strong emphasis on projects with a two-fold aim: 1) strengthening of the applicant's organizational capacity 2) provision of SMART services (Specific Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, and Time-Bound) to refugees. Such services may include both direct and referral services.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last day to Apply: June 27, 2014
Grant administered by the: Office of Refugee Resettlement

Title: Assets for Independence Demonstration Program
Description: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requests applications for grants to administer projects for the national Assets for Independence (AFI) demonstration of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and related services. Grantees use the AFI grants to administer projects that provide IDAs and related services to individuals and families with low incomes. Participants open an IDA and save earned income in the account regularly with the goal of accumulating savings to acquire an economic asset that will appreciate over time. Specifically, participants use their IDA savings to purchase a first home, capitalize or expand a business for self-employment, or attend higher education or training. Participants also receive training and other supports such as financial education training and coaching, and guidance on issues including family budgeting, consumer issues, debt and credit counseling, using mainstream financial products, accessing refundable tax credits, and accessing other benefits and services. Grant recipients finance their AFI projects with a combination of the federal AFI grant and cash from non-federal sources. The amount of cash from non-federal sources must be at least equal to the federal AFI grant amount. The goal of the demonstration is to develop knowledge about the extent to which this approach enables individuals and families with low incomes to become and remain more financially stable over the long term.
Link to Full Announcement: Link to Full Announcement
Last day to Apply: July 14, 2014
Grant administered by the: Administration for Children and Families
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