FCA awarded $4M federal grant
Nonprofit organization FCA has been awarded a competitive federal grant totaling $4 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The grant, which provides $1 million for the next four years, will be used to establish Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics that will provide integrated mental health services and substance use disorder treatment at FCA’s existing clinics in Hempstead and Hicksville.
The grant will enable FCA to modernize and expand its behavioral health services, making FCA even more responsive to community needs, especially in minority communities, according to an organization statement.
“We can’t overstate that this federal grant award is a huge and consequential victory for FCA and for all of Long Island,” FCA President and CEO Jeffrey Reynolds said in the statement. “These dollars will enable us to plan and pilot integrated behavioral health services in Hempstead, Hicksville and other Nassau County communities. Establishing better links between mental health and addiction treatment services means that consumers struggling with both issues will no longer have to travel from site to site, and from organization to organization, begging for help, all the while getting sicker.”
Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics must meet federal standards for the range of services that they provide, and they are required to get people into care quickly. An important feature of the CCBHC model is that it requires crisis services that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are required to serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay, place of residence, or age – including developmentally appropriate care for children and youth. Routine outpatient care must also be provided within 10 business days after an initial contact so people don’t languish on waiting lists.
FCA, also known as Family & Children’s Association, helps more than 30,000 Long Islanders each year. For more than 138 years, the organization has worked to protect and strengthen vulnerable children, seniors, families, and communities on Long Island.
