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Criminal justice and mental health professionals alike have been inquiring about when funding will be made available through the grant program established last year under the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act.

Although President Bush signed the bill into law on October 30 of last year with an authorization level of $50 million, no funds were appropriated for the newly authorized program in the November 2004 omnibus spending bill approved by Congress. In his budget presented to Congress for 2005-06 fiscal year, the President did not include any funding for this grant program. Although the President did propose increases in funding for some justice programs (such as Drug Courts), his budget called for steep cuts to other grants, such as Byrne and COPS.

Advocates have been concerned that in this context, funding for the newly established mental health grant program may be unlikely. That said, leaders in the justice and health community have made funding for this newly-authorized program a priority. Perhaps most important, the key sponsors of the legislation, including Sen. Mike DeWine (R, OH) and Patrick Leahy (D, VT) – both of whom sit on the Appropriations Committee - as well as Rep. Ted Strickland (D, OH) and Republicans in the House who co-sponsored the bill are committed to seeing this program funded when a spending bill is finally approved later this year.

Online Grant Resource

26 federal grant-making agencies including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have recently collaborated to create an online grant clearinghouse which allows visitors to search, view, download, and submit applications for over 900 grant opportunities totaling over $360 billion. Grants.gov presents grant opportunities for state and local governments, research institutions, non-profit organizations and other entities. Read more...