Less than 48 hours after terminating over $14 million of Mississippi mental health grants, the federal government informed organizations that their funding will be fully restored.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration cancelled nearly $2 billion of grants across the country Tuesday, according to NPR. In Mississippi, government health centers, private nonprofits and universities were told to stop all work funded by those grants — mainly related to addiction and children’s services.
By Tuesday evening, Mississippi Today had learned about roughly $9.2 million of cancelled Mississippi grants. Later that night, the state Department of Mental Health accounted for an additional $4.9 million that had been terminated to Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi and the Mississippi Public Health Institute.
Wendy Bailey, the mental health department’s executive director, said Tuesday night there could have been other terminated grants her agency hadn’t learned about yet.
FILE PHOTO: Wendy Bailey, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, speaks during the Mississippi Association of Supervisors 2024 Mid-Winter Legislative Conference at the Sheraton Refuge Hotel and Conference Center in Flowood, Miss., Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi TodayA Tuesday letter the federal mental health department sent to grantees said the cancellations were final because “no corrective action could align the award with current agency priorities.” But by Thursday morning, the agency sent the same organizations a short message to “disregard the prior termination notice and continue program activities as outlined in your award agreement.”
Nationwide, all $2 billion of the cuts from earlier this week were reversed, according to Roll Call. A spokesperson for the federal agency did not answer Mississippi Today’s call and email about the terminations and restorations.
Four of Mississippi’s 12 community mental health centers, local public organizations that serve people regardless of their ability to pay, were set to lose $8.7 million. Phaedre Cole, the Mississippi Association of Community Mental Health Centers president and the executive director of a center that serves the Delta, called the unexpected terminations and restorations “whiplash.”
She said she was encouraged by the swift, bipartisan pushback to protect critical Mississippi mental health services that were already underfunded. But the previous 48 hours had left her and other executive directors frazzled.
“It’s terrifying to us because we know we are the place of last resort for thousands of people across the state,” she said. “If we are to disappear, we will not disappear quietly.”
Shortly after receiving notice that the Department of Mental Health’s grant had been restored Thursday, Bailey said the last two days had been a whirlwind. But she’s grateful Mississippi mental health providers can continue providing important services.
“We must remember that behind these dollars are services and supports that are being provided to our neighbors, friends, family members, and people throughout our communities,” she said.
Communicare, the community mental health center serving Oxford and the surrounding counties, was set to lose more than any other organization Bailey’s department heard from. Melody Madaris, Communicare’s executive director, said the losses would force her agency to cut back on preventing opioid overdoses, restructure services for school children and halt other planned programs.
Thursday morning, before she had officially heard that the federal government would restore her grant, Madaris said services funded by federal grants are often the ones most people don’t notice unless they need them — transporting people from rural homes to receive antipsychotic medications, working with food banks to deliver meals to patients and other resource-intensive services.
“Those are the things we do to keep our community healthy,” she said. “Without the federal funding, these are things that we won’t be able to do as much of.”
Right after the federal government sent her an email restoring the funds, she texted Mississippi Today: “A sigh of relief and back to work as usual helping the citizens of Mississippi struggling with mental health and substance use issues.”
Hence then, the article about feds restore over 14m in mississippi mental health grants two days after terminating them was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Feds restore over $14M in Mississippi mental health grants, two days after terminating them )
Also on site :
- UK to list 65-year-olds as reservists amid Russia threat claims – Telegraph
- AI boom fuels fears of an industry bubble (VIDEO)
- Amazon Has 'Super Warm' and ‘Soft' Mini Sheepskin Boots on Sale for $50, and They're 'Worth Every Penny'