Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity | FG 23 006

Opportunity Information: Apply for FG 23 006

The Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity (Funding Opportunity Number FG 23 006) is a discretionary grant program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), under CFDA 93.243. It was released on May 11, 2023, with an original application deadline of June 26, 2023. The program is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning SAMHSA is expected to have an active partnership role with awardees during implementation rather than simply providing pass-through funding. SAMHSA anticipated making 56 awards, and the listed award ceiling is $117,350,611.

The overall goal is to strengthen how states and territories respond to 988 contacts, including phone calls, chats, and text messages that originate within their jurisdiction. The focus is not only on answering more contacts, but on improving the quality, coordination, safety, and equity of crisis response connected to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In practical terms, the funding is intended to help jurisdictions increase their ability to handle demand reliably, modernize the underlying infrastructure, and ensure that people who are at higher risk or historically underserved receive appropriate and effective crisis support.

A major required use of funds is expanding and strengthening the 988 workforce. This includes recruitment, hiring, and training efforts aimed at increasing capacity so that the 988 system can meet at least 90 percent of in-state or in-territory demand across calls, chats, and texts. That workforce emphasis signals that the program is designed to address staffing shortages, turnover, inconsistent training, and uneven coverage that can lead to long wait times or unhandled contacts. Workforce investments can also support specialized competencies, such as de-escalation, suicide risk assessment, and effective engagement over text or chat, where crisis counseling skills can differ from traditional phone-based response.

Another central priority is technology and security. Awardees are expected to implement additional technology and security measures that fully support 988 infrastructure and enable effective coordination across the broader crisis continuum. This points to improvements such as more resilient contact center platforms, better routing and interoperability, stronger cybersecurity controls, and tools that help coordinate handoffs and referrals between 988 centers, mobile crisis teams, crisis stabilization services, emergency departments, and other behavioral health resources. The emphasis on coordination across the continuum reflects an expectation that 988 should function as a gateway to real-time help, not a standalone call center that can only provide brief support.

The opportunity also prioritizes improving 988 services for high-risk and underserved populations. While the announcement does not list specific groups in the excerpt provided, the intent is to strengthen responsiveness and outcomes for communities that may face higher suicide risk, barriers to access, language and cultural mismatches, disability-related access needs, geographic isolation, or distrust of systems due to prior experiences. In practice, this kind of focus typically translates into targeted training, tailored protocols, language access, partnerships with culturally specific providers, improved accessibility for people with disabilities, and outreach strategies designed to reach communities that are less likely to use traditional crisis services.

Quality assurance is a required area of development as well. States and territories are expected to develop and implement comprehensive quality assurance plans, including processes to identify and review critical incidents. This means awardees should put formal structures in place to monitor performance and safety, track service quality, learn from adverse events or near misses, and use data to drive continuous improvement. Critical incident review requirements indicate that the program expects mature governance and accountability mechanisms, not just expanded volume handling.

Finally, the program requires jurisdictions to develop and implement comprehensive 988 communication plans that align with SAMHSA's 988 partner toolkit. The communications component is meant to ensure consistent public messaging about what 988 is, when to use it, what to expect when contacting it, and how it connects to other crisis resources. Alignment with the partner toolkit suggests SAMHSA wants messaging that is accurate, coordinated, and recognizable nationally while still allowing states and territories to tailor outreach to local communities, languages, and media environments.

In short, this cooperative agreement opportunity is designed to help states and territories rapidly build sustainable 988 capacity by increasing staffing to handle most demand, upgrading technology and security, improving equity and effectiveness for high-need populations, instituting robust quality assurance and critical incident review, and rolling out coordinated public communications consistent with SAMHSA guidance.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.243.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 11, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 26, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $117,350,611.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 56 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for FG 23 006

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: