Youth Mental Health Providers Recruit, Retain, Rest and Recuperation

The Youth Mental Health Providers Recruit, Retain, Rest and Recuperation (4R) Grant Program was established in 2023 by Carrie Towbes in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Foundation. This grant initiative aims to support mental health providers offering direct behavioral healthcare services to children, youth, and their families within Santa Barbara County. The primary goal is to improve the social-emotional well-being of young individuals by providing necessary resources to organizations engaged in direct support services. This funding opportunity was developed in response to the severe mental health challenges faced by youth, particularly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic highlighted and deepened existing inequities, especially through remote learning, which disrupted both academic progress and social-emotional development. Mental health stakeholders across the region identified a crisis-level need for behavioral health services for youth, compounded by staff shortages, high turnover, and wage disparities. The 4R grant program supports organizations working to enhance youth mental wellness by addressing staffing-related challenges. Eligible expenditures include, but are not limited to, initiatives for recruiting and retaining qualified youth mental health professionals and providing trauma-informed support for staff dealing with secondary trauma. Priority will be given to organizations demonstrating effective, innovative, and collaborative recruitment and retention strategies. To be eligible, applicants must be a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or work through a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. Public entities like schools, universities, and libraries may apply through affiliated nonprofit organizations. All applications must be submitted through the Foundation’s SmartSimple grant application portal and must include an organizational profile, a program budget form, and a narrative responding to specific questions about fund use, evaluation plans, equitable pay assessments, and other pertinent organizational information. The grant awards up to $10,000 for a one-year period. The application process opens on May 1, 2025, and closes on May 29, 2025. Notifications of awards will be made in August 2025. Applicants with questions regarding the grant or their eligibility may contact Jamie Perez at (805) 880-9395 or jperez@sbfoundation.org. Technical assistance inquiries should be directed to Hazel Naftzger at (805) 880-9377 or hnaftzger@sbfoundation.org. This program underscores the importance of supporting the mental health workforce that serves youth and their families, aiming to build sustainable systems of care through strategic investments in personnel and organizational resilience.