Tuesday, May 13, 2025
5/13/2025
VOA Hope Center - Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas (VOACC) proposes the VOA Hope Center, an expansion of its Mental Health Center in Prince George’s County (PGC), Maryland. VOACC will coordinate care to provide PGC residents with behavioral health disorders with access to a rich continuum of care that starts with prevention and continues through early intervention, treatment, and recovery supports. It will leverage technology—telehealth, mobile, and web—to “meet people where they are.” VOACC aims to enhance its ability to respond to evolving health care structures and make data-driven decisions to improve health. The VOA Hope Center will provide a robust array of behavioral health/substance abuse services to adults and children in PGC with veteran families as a focus subpopulation. VOACC will target adults with severe mental illness, individuals with substance use disorders, children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance, and individuals with co-occurring disorders. Evidence-based strategies and interventions include the Sanctuary Model, Motivational Interviewing, Reinforcement-Based Treatment, Peer Support, Youth Peer Support and Transitional Age Youth Support, Family Psychoeducational Interventions for Children and Adolescents, Trauma-Informed Care, Assertive Community Treatment, and Medication assisted treatment. VOACC aims to provide services to 500 unduplicated individuals annually (1000 total for project period). Project goals include: (1) Increase awareness and understanding of the impact mental health and substance abuse has on children, adults, families, veterans and communities in PGC; (2) Increase access to behavioral health and substance use treatment to veterans, immigrants, adults, and children in PGC, and (3) Improve health, behavioral, and substance abuse outcomes for veterans, children and adults in PGC based on a philosophy of evidence-based practices services. Objectives to support Goal 1 include creating a behavioral health community council, developing an anti-stigma campaign, presenting at local/national conference and community meetings, and conducting targeted outreach. Objectives to support Goal 2 include creating a “No Wrong Door” policy, providing outpatient behavioral health services, offering bilingual services and translations, and serving clients in need of 24-hour mobile crisis. Objectives to support Goal 3 include providing screening for HIV and viral hepatitis, adopting a tobacco/nicotine inhalation product-free facility/grounds policy, collaborating with RWHAP grantees for HIV care/treatment services, implementing evidence-based practices for behavioral health and substance abuse in order to expand recovery options within the community, developing a provider score card system, and administering 1000 surveys and analysis of behavioral health and substance use outcomes to assess well-being and positive consumers by the end of the project period.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).