Mental Health Early Access on Campus - Competitive Grants for Illinois Public Universities

The first phase of distributing FY25 Mental Health Early Action on Campus (MHEAC) grants to Illinois public universities is to award each institution a Base Institutional Grant equal to their MHEAC grant allocation for FY24. The Base Institutional Grants are for continuity in mental health services and support to students. The second phase is the MHEAC Competitive Grants for public universities that are administered by the IBHE. The purpose of the Competitive Grants is to expand and enhance existing services and support innovation while complying with the requirements of the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act. The MHEAC Competitive Grant Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be distributed to public universities in September with a due date of at least 45 days following the release of application information. The MHEAC Competitive Grant award shall be allocated based on the following criteria and considerations. 1. The grant applicant’s proposal advances the goals and strategies of the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act passed by the Illinois General Assembly (2020). 2. Equity Goals for Special Student Populations: The grant proposal will include support for mental health services that address the Equity Goal of “A Thriving Illinois,”, i.e., to meet the needs and lead to the success of underserved and underrepresented students at all Illinois public universities. Special consideration is given to institutions with status as Minority Serving Institutions as defined by the US Department of Education, e.g., Hispanic-Serving Institution, Predominantly Black Institution, etc. The proportion of the student population who are African American, Latino, low-income, first-generation college, from rural communities, working adults, or students with disabilities needs to be included in the grant application. 3. Financial Need and Access to Services Applicants must demonstrate their specific financial need for this grant funding to meet the student demand for mental health services offered and to make the services accessible to all students enrolled through all delivery modes and institutional locations. 4. Funding will be allocated for: a. New strategies to expand and enhance existing mental health services for students. b. New strategies to identify students with mental health needs and connect them to services. c. New strategies to assess current courses and seminars or develop new ones that implement mental health awareness curricula. d. A continuation of a MHEAC grant-funded program previously approved and awarded. e. Collaborative strategies to expand or enhance mental health services when the partners involved are other public institutions of higher education in Illinois and/or community providers of mental health services. f. Use of grant funds may include: o Awareness of mental health services offered by the institution o Online mental health screening tools o Website and mobile app development related to mental health resources Mental health training for students, staff, and faculty o Suicide prevention information and resources including information shared on public university student I.D. cards o Peer support programs o Expansion of current mental health services o Assess current courses/seminars or develop new mental health awareness curricula o Strategies to identify students with mental health needs and connect them to services o Strategic partnerships for mental health services and outreach o Evaluation and assessment of mental health services o Strategies that improve the institution’s clinical ratio benchmark 5. Project objectives, performance goals and metrics may include, but not be limited to, the following: a. Documented demand for student mental health services by level of care and activity using the number of requests recorded by unduplicated student count. b. Unduplicated count of students served for mental health services by institutional location and delivery mode with identification of special populations included. c. Service wait time tracking and metrics once a student’s request is received compared to when the services are provided. d. Number of mental health service referrals, by category, for students needing services that are not available through the institution.