Announcement Number:
HRSA-19-089
Bureau/Office:
Bureau of Health Workforce
Date(s) to Apply:
03/08/2019 to 05/07/2019
Estimated Award Date:
09/01/2019
What is the program?
The Opioid Workforce Expansion Program (OWEP) Paraprofessionals program enhances community-based experiential training for students preparing to become peer support specialists and other types of behavioral health-related paraprofessionals with a focus on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other Substance Use Disorders (SUD) prevention, treatment and recovery services.
Consistent with the statutory authority, applicants must also demonstrate a special focus on preservice or in-service training of paraprofessional child and adolescent mental health workers to understand the specific concerns of children, adolescents, and transitional-age youth in high need and high demand areas who are at risk for behavioral health disorders.
The program expands and improves direct access to quality treatment and foster an integrated and/or interprofessional approach to address OUD and other SUD treatment emphasizing the role of the family and lived experience of the consumer through academic, community and non-traditional community organization partnerships.
The program also supports career development in behavioral health for paraprofessional career progression as well as the development of skills and expertise of staff, facilitators, and training instructors in prevention, treatment, and recovery services of OUD and other SUDs.
Award recipients will impact the behavioral health workforce by increasing the number of behavioral health-related paraprofessionals and transforming integrated and interprofessional teams to effectively prevent and treat OUD and other SUDs in community-based practices.
Are you eligible?
Eligible applicants include the following: State-licensed mental health nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
These organizations must be able to carry out programs for pre-service or in-service training of paraprofessional child and adolescent mental health workers.
These programs can include occupations such as peer support specialist, peer support counselor, community health worker, outreach worker, social services aide, substance abuse/addictions worker, youth worker, and promotor/a (for full list of occupations see the definitions section).
For the purpose of this NOFO, these organizations may include academic institutions, including universities, community colleges and technical schools, which must be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education.
Tribal Organizations may apply for this these funds, if otherwise eligible. In addition to the 50 states, eligible entities include the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Republic of Palau.
