SAMHSA Opens $69 Million in Grants for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
March 7, 2026 · 2 min read
Jared Klein
SAMHSA released more than $69 million in funding opportunities across three grant programs targeting serious mental illness and suicide prevention on March 6, marking one of the agency's largest single-day releases of behavioral health funding this year.
Three Programs Targeting Different Populations
The $69.1 million splits across three distinct funding streams:
The Children's Mental Health Initiative (CMHI) receives $43 million — the largest share — to fund comprehensive community mental health services for children, youth, and young adults from birth through age 21 with serious emotional disturbances. The program also supports efforts to identify and serve at-risk children and their families.
Implementing Zero Suicide in Health Systems gets $16.1 million for healthcare systems adopting the Zero Suicide framework, a systematic approach that embeds screening, risk assessment, and evidence-based care into routine health system operations for adults at risk of suicide.
Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) funding supports community-based mental health treatment for individuals with serious mental illness who meet civil commitment criteria in their state.
Who Should Be Preparing Applications
CMHI grants target state and local governments, tribes, and nonprofit organizations providing children's mental health services. Zero Suicide awards go to healthcare systems — hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and behavioral health providers — implementing system-wide suicide prevention protocols. AOT grants serve state and local courts and mental health authorities.
All three programs are listed on the SAMHSA Grants Dashboard, where applicants can filter by upcoming deadlines and eligibility type.
These awards follow SAMHSA's distribution of nearly $800 million in block grants nationwide in February, signaling sustained federal investment in behavioral health even as other agency budgets face pressure. Organizations already receiving SAMHSA block grant funds may be well positioned to compete, since they can demonstrate existing infrastructure and community relationships.
The One Thing to Do This Week
Review the specific Notice of Funding Opportunity for each program on SAMHSA's grants page and begin assembling letters of support, needs assessments, and evidence of community partnerships. In-depth analysis of building competitive behavioral health proposals is available on the Granted blog.