Helping Americans with Mental Illness Access Care through Improved Grant Funding and Management

Overview

A State’s Mental Health Department faced challenges with day-to-day management and regulatory guidance for its Mental Health Block Grant (MHBG).

The MHBG is a yearly allotment from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The MHBG program's objective is to support comprehensive community mental health services for persons with Serious Emotional Disturbance or Serious Mental Illness.

Our Approach

RiverNorth leveraged our senior grants experts to support the client, which included:

• Analyzing and interpreting SAMHSA regulatory guidelines to develop business processes and ensure program alignment
  

• Providing due diligence on grant recipient proposals to ensure compliance with regulations and recommending improvements to strengthen the success of project funds
  

• Creating tools and templates for managing multi-year awards and budgets
  

• Facilitating client leadership team calls to identify strategic goals, funding activities, and sustainability plans for the MHBG
  

• Engaging with the MHBG Planning Council to identify recommendations and ongoing feedback of the planning council committee members

Results

We created comprehensive, accessible tracking tools to manage multiple funding streams, invoicing, and recipient deliverables.

These tools enabled decision makers to better manage the day-to-day of their program activities and further the client’s mission. We also completed a comprehensive assessment of the Planning Council’s operations, developed a recommendation report for improving effectiveness and engagement, and supported the State in rolling out the new guidelines.