Mental Health First Aid USA

Public Safety Expansion Project in Rural Areas

Request for ProposalS

Background

Across the country, law enforcement agencies tend to be smaller and are located in rural areas. Of the nearly 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States, 49 percent of those employ fewer than 10 full-time officers.[1] Additionally, 86 percent serve less than 50,000 people and many agencies within that 86 percent employ between one and 24 officers serving communities with populations under 25,000.[2],[3]

Local police frequently receive calls to respond to or transport individuals experiencing emotional distress.[4] Studies have demonstrated that the law enforcement agencies most successful in responding appropriately to emotional crises support these efforts through mental health training and community partnerships.[5] Therefore, Mental Health First Aid USA seeks to increase the opportunity for public safety personnel in rural areas to participate in MHFA training.

Intent

Mental Health First Aid USA is soliciting proposals from existing MHFA instructors and/or organizations with MHFA instructors on staff in order to expand outreach to public safety and law enforcement personnel in rural areas throughout the US. Up to eight (8) grantees will be awarded a $5,000 grant beginning April 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2014. The funds awarded through this initiative are provided by MHFA USA through a grant from the Aetna Foundation.

Methodology

MHFA USA has created a module adapting the MHFA curriculum specifically for Public Safety and Law Enforcement personnel. Public Safety personnel include staff within the adult or juvenile justice systems, judges, attorneys and law enforcement officers. Law enforcement includes jail personnel, sheriff’s deputies and uniformed officers from schools, hospitals and other institutions.

Additionally, MHFA offers a module which adapts the curriculum for rural communities and instructors are able to earn a designation for the rural adaptation. Specifically, instructors may qualify for the rural designation if they meet the following criteria:

1)The individual has completed at least two (2) trainings in a rural population setting (please see below for definition of rural location) in a given training year, and
2) The individual has completed the webinar orientation to the modified rural content.

MHFA instructors in good standing may apply for the Public Safety Expansion Project in Rural Areas grant for the purpose of teaching classes in rural areas and/or creating collaborative planning strategies to expand the availability of MHFA classes among rural-based public safety personnel.

Each grantee will be required to offer at least one (1) MHFA class to a minimum of 25 public safety personnel as defined above. MHFA trainings funded through this grant must be offered to participants free of charge. In addition to teaching MHFA classes, we encourage the use of these funds to build support in rural areas for ongoing MHFA trainings. Special consideration will be given to organizations who demonstrate the ability to leverage grant dollars to provide more than one course in their RFP application.

Eligible instructors must be certified in the Public Safety module(required) and are encouraged to also earn a rural designation by completing the Rural MHFA 90-minute webinar located on the MHFA instructor technical assistance website(optional, but strongly suggested).

Grantees are also required to participate in program evaluation. Each MHFA course participant is required to complete a standardized evaluation instrument at the end of their course which is entered into a national database. The National Council will use data entered into the evaluation system to track and confirm the number of Mental Health First Aiders certified through the Public Safety Initiative. In addition, grantees will be required to submit a mid-program update and final program report including quantitative and qualitative data on the impact of their project. MHFA USA also will conduct a limited number of on-site quality evaluation visits to ensure fidelity to the model.

Criteria for Selection

Grants will be awarded to certified MHFA instructor applicants/organizations that demonstrate inclusion of community stakeholders in the promotion of MHFA in addition to the number of individuals trained specifically within rural communities. Innovative strategies that encourage sustainability will be given preference.

What is a Rural Area?

Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCAs), are designed to provide a definition of rural and urban based on the Census Bureau’s definitions of Urbanized Areas and Urban Clusters, which are based on complex criteria including population density and population work commuting patterns. For the purposes of this project, RUCA codes 4 through 10 are used to define variations of rurality, with 10 being the most rural. Codes 1 through 3 were eliminated as they define criteria for metropolitan areas. In addition, for the purposes of this project and ease of classification, only use the main code number and not the subdivided codes (e.g., 4.1, 4.2, etc.).

A rural population setting is defined based on the following the Rural-Urban Community Area (RUCA) Codes:

4 / Micropolitan area core / Primary flow within an Urban Cluster (UC) of 10,000 through 49,999 (large UC)
5 / Micropolitan high commuting / Primary flow 30% or more to a large UC (10,000-49,999)
6 / Micropolitan low commuting / Primary flow 10% to 30% to a large UC (10,000 through 49,999)
7 / Small town core / Primary flow within an Urban Cluster of 2,500 through 9,999 (small UC)
8 / Small town high commuting / Primary flow 30% or more to a small UC (2,500 – 9,999)
9 / Small town low commuting / Primary flow 10% through 29% to a small UC (2,500 – 9,999)
10 / Rural areas / Primary flow to a tract outside a UA or UC (less than 2,500)

Instructors may find the RUCA code for any training completed by entering a zip code into the following webpage: . If the zip code entered into the system provides a code of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10, the area is considered “rural.”[6]

Preliminary Schedule of Project Activities

  • Wednesday, February 19, 2014: RFP Released.
  • Friday, March 14, 2014 at 5pm EST: Application submission deadline.
  • Tuesday, April 1, 2014: Selected grantees are notified.
  • Tuesday, April 8, 2014 from 12:00pm-1:00pm EST:Grantees will participate in an orientation webinar.
  • Friday, August 1, 2014: Mid-project report submission deadline.
  • Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 5pm EST: Final-project report submission deadline.

Questions related to this RFP should be submitted via e-mail to y March 7, 2014.

Instructions for Application

In order to be considered for selection, please complete and return the completed application (see Appendix A)to Margaret Jaco, MHFA Program Associate at National Council for Behavioral Health via email at , by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, March 14, 2014. Selected awardees will be notified by April 1, 2014.

Appendix A

Public Safety Expansion Project in Rural Areas

Request for Proposal Application

APPLICANT INFORMATION
Organization
Contact Name
Title
Daytime Phone
Email
Street Address
Website
ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID PROGRAM IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Mental Health First Aid USA Certified Instructors
Name / # of Courses Taught / Total # Courses by All Instructors in organization
Annual Overall MHFA Operating Budget
Sources of Funding to Date
Other Funding or In Kind Donations to Date

Please provide responses to the following ten (10) questions not to exceed six (6) pages of text.

  1. Nature of organization’s Mental Health First Aid efforts to date (please be as specific as possible)
  1. Outline your overall goals & plans for Mental Health First Aid in the next 8 months.

Objective / Action Steps / Outcome / Timeline
  1. What public safety needs do you plan to answer through Mental Health First Aid?
  1. Identify your target public safety population(s) for the 8-hour course(s)(i.e. type of law enforcement, attorneys, correctional personnel, etc).
  1. How do you plan to promote Mental Health First Aid and recruit participants to the course(s)?
  1. What other organizations will you collaborate with?
  1. Provide a timeline which outlines how you plan to disseminate the program (when and where), and describe how the support will be used.
  1. How will your work be sustainable?
  1. What other funding will be used for the purpose of this project?
  1. Provide a budget which outlines your expenses for each course & related program administration and support. A sample budget is provided on the instructor technical assistance site on the Funding Templates page. Please note that catering/food and traveling/lodging costs are not permissible for trainings funded through this grant.

Grantee Responsibilities

For all applicants selected, the National Council will provide half of the grant amount within 60 days of selection. The remainder of the grant amount will be disseminated once the course(s) are scheduled.

If we receive support from the National Council, we agree to:

  1. Provide a detailed report of how we used the grant, within 6 months of receiving the initial amount.
  2. Provide documentation to the National Council showing financial support for the Mental Health First Aid course, which matches or exceeds the grant amount received from the National Council.
  3. Report all course details and evaluation information for supported courses/participants on the Mental Health First Aid Instructor website.
  4. Provide consumer testimonials and work with the National Council to generate media coverage for Mental Health Frist Aid in our community.

Application submitted by

Name ______

Title ______

Signature ______Date ______

Mental Health First Aid USA is coordinated by the National Council for Behavioral Health, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

[1]Reaves, B. Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies. (2008). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 194066. 2011. Accessed on February 1, 2014:

[2] Hickman, M. & Reaves, B. Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies. (2000). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 194066. (2002). Accessed on February 1, 2014:

[3]

[4]Reuland, M., & Cheney, J. (2005).Enhancing Success of Police-Based Diversion Programs for People with Mental Illness. Delmar, NY: GAINS Technical Assistance and Policy Analysis Center for Jail Diversion. Accessed on February 1, 2014.

[5] Ibid.

[6] The RUCA project was a collaborative between Health Resources and Service Administration’s (HRSA) Office of Rural Health Policy, the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS), and the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) was funded by the ORHP and ERS. Principal developers are Richard Morrill, PhD (RHRC); John Cromartie, PhD (ERS); and Gary Hart, PhD (formerly of the RHRC, now at the University of North Dakota).