Jul 21, 2023
SACRAMENTO– As part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s $1 billion Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has awarded $12.1 million to 54 entities through the Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorder Prevention for Communities of Color Project.
“Awardees will use their funding to increase community understanding of opioid, stimulant, and polysubstance use, reduce stigma, and increase access to treatment services through referrals and partnerships,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass.
Project Goals
The project directs funding to entities that have demonstrated they can effectively and equitably serve individuals in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities who are disproportionately impacted by the negative consequences of drug use and the criminalization of substance use disorders (SUD). These communities include Native American, African American, Latino, and Asian-Pacific Islander communities and often have less access to treatment and information about opioid and stimulant use and supports.
The project is designed to overcome gaps in access through the following expected outcomes:
- Increase individual and community understanding of opioids and opioid use, stimulants and stimulant use, and/or polysubstance use in BIPOC communities, prioritizing harm reduction and public health solutions that focus on positive messages to prevent SUD.
- Reduce community and individual stigma of people who use drugs and care and treatment services.
- Increased knowledge of treatment services, particularly Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and stimulant use disorder treatment, including where and how to access services, as well as integrating and strengthening referral pathways to community SUD care treatment providers to prevent or stop disordered use.
Why This is Important
In California, from October 2020 through September 2021, more than 3,296 people from BIPOC communities died from opioid-related overdoses, accounting for 46% of deaths. Communities of color have faced historical and ongoing trauma, systemic racism, and criminalization.>
This trauma is perpetuated by the lack of investment in community-based prevention, intervention, and treatment access, especially for culturally responsive, healing-centered, and trauma-informed approaches, and by the ongoing stigma related to seeking SUD treatment in American culture.
Broader Effort
This project is part of DHCS’ broader efforts to address SUDs, collectively known as the California MAT Expansion Project, to increase access to MAT, reduce unmet treatment needs, and reduce opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities. MAT is the use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, which is effective in the treatment of opioid use disorders and can help some people sustain recovery. For more information, please visit the DHCS website.
Bigger Picture
Since coming into office, Governor Gavin Newsom has dedicated more than $1 billion in funding to fight the opioid crisis by removing opioids from the streets, providing resources to California communities in need, and increasing education and awareness to prevent harm in the first place. In fiscal year 2022-23, DHCS invested more than $558 million in various opioid prevention and treatment grant activities.
Award Details
The project has a total of $12.1 million in available funds awarded to 54 entities, with a maximum of up to $250,000 per entity for the 12-month contract period of July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
Jul 3, 2023
SACRAMENTO – As part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s $1 billion Master Plan for tackling the fentanyl and opioid crisis, California today awarded $5.7 million for opioid and stimulant use education and outreach in Two-Spirit/LGBTQ+ communities.
“California has an all-hands-on-deck strategy for tackling the fentanyl and opioid crisis impacting every community across our state and country,” said Governor Newsom. “Education and outreach are critical tools in our arsenal – to prevent tragedy, to connect people with treatment, and to fight the life-threatening stigma that stops too many people from getting help. The best way forward is together – leaving no one alone in this battle.”
Grant Impact
The grants will be used to increase awareness and education, for and within 2S/LGBTQ+ communities, about opioids and stimulants, decrease stigma related to drug use and treatment, and integrate and strengthen treatment referral pathways for opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorder.
“Awardees will support 2S/LGBTQ+ organizations’ outreach and education activities for opioid use and stimulant use disorders, while creating tangible links to services and treatment providers within their communities,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass. “These organizations are focused on the 2S/LGBTQ+ community, striving for health equity through culturally and linguistically appropriate prevention and education projects.”
Award Details
This funding opportunity awards $5.7 million to 25 entities, with a maximum of up to $250,000 per awarded entity for the 12-month contract period from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
Why This Matters
More than 1.8 million individuals in California identify as part of the 2S/LGBTQ+ population. “2S” refers to “Two-Spirit,” which is a Native American concept referring to sexual and gender diversity. Compared to heterosexual individuals nationwide, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults report higher rates of stimulant use and substance use disorders (SUD). In 2019, 1.4 million LGB adults, nationally, reported illicit opioid (prescription pain reliever, fentanyl, heroin, etc.) use. Some factors contributing to opioid use and stimulant use in the 2S/LGBTQ+ community include mental illness, the risk of experiencing violence, structural stigma, and discrimination.
Broader Effort
The project is part of DHCS’ broader efforts to address SUD as part of the California MAT Expansion Project, a holistic effort to increase access to Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), reduce unmet treatment needs, and reduce opioid overdose-related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities. MAT is the use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, which is effective in the treatment of opioid use disorders and can help some people sustain recovery. For more information, please visit the DHCS website.
Bigger Picture
Governor Newsom has dedicated more than $1 billion in funding to fight the opioid crisis by removing opioids from the streets, providing resources to California communities in need, and increasing education and awareness to prevent harm. In fiscal year 2022-23, DHCS is investing more than $558 million in various opioid prevention and treatment grant activities. Earlier this year, Governor Newsom announced the state would begin the process for creating its own Naloxone – through the CalRx Initiative – to make the lifesaving drug more accessible and more affordable across California.
Jun 23, 2023
SACRAMENTO — The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) today announced awards of $430 million for projects that will increase mental health and substance use disorder treatment infrastructure in 21 counties. The awards are being made under the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) Round 5: Crisis and Behavioral Health Continuum grants.
“These investments will build crisis care capacity so Californians can get the help they need when it may be needed the most. California continues to advance the health and well-being of all Californians and is maintaining critical investments to support the state’s most vulnerable communities, while delivering on our vision of a Healthy California for All,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency.
Why This is Important
BHCIP is part of a broader Administration commitment to improve the state’s behavioral health and long-term care continuum infrastructure. The focus of this round of BHCIP funding was determined in part by the statewide needs assessment that found significant gaps in the availability of crisis services and supported an organized continuum of crisis services to reduce emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and incarceration. The list of BHCIP Round 5: Crisis and Behavioral Health Continuum awardees can be found on the BHCIP Data Dashboard.
Key Details
BHCIP Round 5: Crisis and Behavioral Health Continuum grant funding will support the addition of 29 new inpatient and residential facility sites with 774 new treatment beds, and 41 outpatient facilities with more than 84,000 new annual treatment slots. Of these facilities, the first BHCIP-funded Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) will be available in California’s behavioral health care continuum. The PRTF is a facility-type enacted by AB 2317 in 2022 and is designed to serve individuals age 21 and younger.
Awardees
One of this round’s grant awardees is WellSpace Health, a community health system providing comprehensive medical, dental, behavioral health, and supportive services to the Sacramento region’s vulnerable population and a foundational provider in the health care continuum. WellSpace Health’s BHCIP Round 5 award amount will fund an adult residential substance use disorder treatment facility with incidental medical services and DHCS/American Society of Addiction Medicine Level of Care 3.5 or 3.2 Designation for 200 beds.
“As a Medi-Cal provider, WellSpace Health is both the largest federally qualified health center system and biggest Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System in the region, and an innovator driving California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal’s (CalAIM) Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg in his letter of support for the project. “WellSpace plays a critical role in Sacramento’s ongoing effort to address our crisis of unsheltered homelessness, mental illness, and addiction. The City of Sacramento has partnered with WellSpace on important initiatives to support people suffering from addiction. With the support of BHCIP Round 5 funding, I’m optimistic we can increase access to highquality comprehensive care, especially as it relates to the behavioral health crisis.”
Another grant awardee is the City and County of San Francisco, a behavioral health services agency overseeing the provision of all public behavioral health services to the county’s MediCal, indigent, Supplemental Security Income, low-income, undocumented, and uninsured client populations who present with moderate to severe mental health and/or substance use disorders. The project will fund behavioral health urgent care/mental health urgent care with 2,126 annual slots, a Narcotic Treatment Program Medication Unit with 250 annual slots, and office-based outpatient treatment with 1,690 annual slots.
“This site will provide a one-stop drop-in access point for urgent care, outpatient services, street outreach behavioral health services, pharmacy and office-based buprenorphine induction clinic services, CalAIM Enhanced Care Management, and care coordination. The services will be provided to behavioral health clients most at risk and with the fewest resources in an area of our county with the highest concentration of individuals experiencing homelessness,” said Dr. Hilary Kunins, Director of Behavioral Health Services and Mental Health San Francisco, in her letter of support for the project. “Our team will be adding additional operating hours into the evening and weekends to serve the county’s new mental health service center in a strategic location. The co-location and expansion of Enhanced Care Management and Office of Coordinated Care services, along with the proximity of co-located outpatient direct clinical services planned at the site, will improve coordination and services delivery.”
A third grant awardee is the Bakersfield American Indian Health Project, Inc. (BAIHP), an urban Indian organization serving urban American Indians and Alaska Natives in the greater Bakersfield/Kern County area, where a significant part of the population identifies as Indigenous. The project will fund a community wellness center with 150 slots for mental health, 145 slots for substance use disorder, and 350 slots for wellness/prevention.
“Services of this nature are truly needed in the Kern River Valley service area, especially with the added component of traditional and cultural services,” said Robert Gomez, Chairman of the Tubatulabal Tribe, in his letter of support for the project. “Our tribal community recognizes the need and benefit of the BAIHP’s holistic and cultural approach to their services. Our tribal community has worked, collaborated, and supported the BAIHP in the recent past and looks forward to working with them in the future.”
About the Grant
This historic investment, the fifth of six rounds of BHCIP funding, provides grants for crisis and behavioral health infrastructure to serve vulnerable Californians of all ages, including Medi-Cal members. Grant awardees of BHCIP Round 5: Crisis and Behavioral Health Continuum funding include counties, tribal entities, nonprofits, and for-profit organizations that serve target populations. Grantees were selected based on several state priorities, such as meeting the needs of vulnerable populations with the greatest barriers to access, including people experiencing homelessness and justice involvement. These funded projects can support other critical behavioral health initiatives, such as the implementation of AB 988 (Chapter 747, Statutes of 2022) and the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, ensuring that care is delivered in the least restrictive settings by creating and enhancing a wide range of outpatient and residential settings. With all five rounds of BHCIP funding, DHCS has announced awards totaling $1.7 billion.
What Comes Next
The remaining BHCIP grant funding, Round 6, totaling $480 million, will be released in state fiscal years 2024-2025 (Part I) and 2025-2026 (Part II). BHCIP Round 6 Part I is in development with an anticipated release of the Request for Application in January 2024 and award announcements in July 2024. This round of funding will focus on unmet needs and continue to expand behavioral health service capacity across the state. For more information about these grants, as well as past BHCIP funding rounds, please visit the Improving California’s Infrastructure website.
Jun 13, 2023
SACRAMENTO— The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) awarded $1.2 million to 11 organizations through the Tribal Local Opioid Coalition (TLOC). This project is funded by the State Opioid Response III grant awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and is part of DHCS’ broader efforts to address substance use disorders, collectively known as the California MAT Expansion Project, to increase access to Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) organizations.
“This project continues our work to ensure access to culturally responsive treatment services, reduce unmet treatment needs, lower opioid overdose-related deaths through prevention and treatment, and increase recovery support activities,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass.
Why This Matters
This funding will work to address the opioid crisis in California tribal communities through interagency partnerships of community members, stakeholders, and service providers who work together to reduce the impacts of opioid and stimulant use in tribal communities.
Award Details
Eleven tribal organizations are receiving awards for the TLOC project from June 2, 2023, through June 20, 2024. Grantees are California tribal health organizations and entities that will work to increase access to treatment and will have access to a Tribal MAT Champion, who is a representative from the California Rural Indian Health Board serving as a subject matter expert on MAT. Awardees can contact this individual for ongoing support, including coaching, training, and technical assistance. Opportunities for peer-to-peer learning will be available through regional and statewide meetings and webinars.
BACKGROUND
MAT is the use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, which is effective in treating opioid use disorders and can help people sustain recovery. For more information, please visit the DHCS website.
Bigger Picture
Since coming into office, Governor Gavin Newsom has dedicated more than $1 billion to fight the opioid crisis by removing opioids from the streets, providing resources to California communities in need, and increasing education and awareness to prevent harm in the first place. Read Governor Newsom’s Master Plan to Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis.
Jun 1, 2023
SACRAMENTO — The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) today awarded more than $7.4 million to 24 California tribal organizations through the Crisis Care Mobile Units (CCMU) program to support tribal entities in expanding access to behavioral health crisis and non-crisis care by funding vehicles and vehicle-related costs. Grantees will use funds to assess the needs of mobile crisis and non-crisis programs in their region, implement a new CCMU program, or expand an existing CCMU program.
“This funding will allow tribal communities to offer culturally sensitive behavioral health mobile treatment and care, addressing the unique needs and experiences of individuals wherever they are, including at home, work, school, or in the community,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass.
Why This is Important
Tribal entities will be able to provide services to individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, including mental health, substance use disorder, or cooccurring mental health and substance use disorder. Mobile crisis services are able to reach any person in the service area in a timely manner and will connect individuals to facility-based or followup care, as needed, through handoffs and coordinated transportation to other locations, if necessary.
Grant Awards
The vehicles must be exclusively used for delivering or facilitating access to behavioral health mobile crisis and non-crisis prevention, treatment, and recovery support services, including culturally relevant healing practices and services. The project period will be from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025.
Additional Information
The CCMU program provides infrastructure and some initial direct service costs to increase access to mobile crisis and non-crisis services. CCMUs are expected to be mobile and field-based, not facility-based. While awards will be targeted toward expanding culturally sensitive behavioral health crisis services statewide, awardees will also support non-crisis services/interventions to prevent escalation and to mitigate crises.
Together with the Round 1A and 1B CCMU funding to 49 grantees, DHCS has awarded more than $163 million to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations, and county, city, and tribal behavioral health authorities. The combined awards will have created or enhanced more than 245 mobile crisis response teams throughout California.
This project is funded by the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program authorized by 2021 legislation (AB 133, Chapter 143). For more information, please visit the CCMU – Improving California’s Infrastructure webpage.
