Connect (Events)

• New 3/25: Tree of Healing Behavioral Health Conference presented by the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. “The Tree of Healing is a premiere behavioral health and Native American cultural conference. Presenters are renowned local, national and international speakers on topics that are timely and targeted towards your learning experience and professional development.” Northern Quest Resort and Casino, Airway Heights. Conference registration (3/29-3/31)
• New 3/25: Understanding Historical and Intergenerational Trauma on Tribes And How That Relates To Systemic Implications In Child Welfare. Webinar from the Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for States. Webinar registration. (4/6)
• New 3/25: Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families Series: Head Start and Child Care for Children in Child Welfare. From the Build Initiative. Webinar Registration (4/20)
• New 3/25: Lessons Learned About Survivor-Centered Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations for Intimate Partner Violence Advocates. This brief focuses on best practices and innovative strategies that IPV advocates and IPV service agencies can implement to form stronger support networks for survivors of violence and abuse that continue to function in emergency conditions. Webinar registration (4/27 or 5/25)
• New 3/25: Washington Fatherhood Council’s 2022 Fatherhood Summit. Presentations, forums and panels scheduled with leadership from Washington state agencies, experts in the education field, and advocates for fathers everywhere. Still seeking dads and service providers to sit on panel discussions. Registration (May 24-26)
• New 3/25: The Diverse Perspectives Speaker Series from Washington Association for Infant Mental Health. Speakers include Stephaine Courtney, Betty Peralta, Angela Griffin, and Paulina Cuevas Vega. Webinar information and registration (Through 6/8)
• New 3/25: Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance. United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc. is hosting a monthly series of webinars on Reclaiming Native Psychological Brilliance, the fourth Tuesday of every month from 11 a.m.-noon. Native Psychological Brilliance refers to the intelligence, strengths, balance, innate resources, and resilience of Native people. Register in advance for each individual session. Monthly topics are listed on the Athena Forum calendar.
• Ongoing: Building a National Movement to Prevent Trauma and Foster Resilience. An 8-week workshop series. (runs through 4/15)
• Ongoing: Mental Health Assessment for Young Children: The Apple Health DC:0-5 training. Washington Healthcare Authority is supporting age-appropriate assessments to provide effective mental health supports for children and families from birth through age 5. Overviews and 2-day trainings available through May 18.
• Rethinking the Social Safety Net, Guaranteed Income and Racial Equity from ABT associates. “Curious about Guaranteed Income (GI)? In the last few years, more and more communities have been implementing GI strategies. So what is GI? Who is GI intended to support? How does GI address racial inequities? Is it working?” (4/6)
• Share Our Voices, Hear Our Stories: This webinar series is intended for Native parents, families, elders, and students as an opportunity to connect with one another, hear from respected leaders and elders, and inform the direction of Native Education in our state and region. (4/6) Register here.
• Washington Fatherhood Council Fatherhood Summit. “Strengthening Fathers, Families, and Washington.” Presentations, forums and panels scheduled with leadership from Washington state agencies, experts in the education field, and advocates for fathers everywhere. (5/24)
• The Washington Association for Infant Mental Health presents Diverse Perspectives: A Speaker Series contributing to the community-wide discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion in infant mental health and early childhood mental health. “A free series where these exceptional practitioners share their knowledge and expertise with the infant and early childhood community.” 3/17: Healing and Building Relationships through Digital Storytelling. Including a presentation from Stephanie Courtney, a Spokane partner. (Through 6/28)
• Dads Connect from the Interagency Fatherhood Council. Come join us to add your voice, meet other dads, form relationships and make connections. Sessions held every other month through August.
• 2022 Substance use disorder family navigator training schedule from Washington State Community Connectors and the Healthcare Authority. “This full 16-hour training is led by family members with lived experience for parents, caregivers, and/or family members who are interested in learning how to support their loved ones with substance use disorder. These trainings are also open to our system partners who have lived experience or want to learn more about the content the families they serve are learning.” Training schedule: 3/14-3/17, 4/4-4/7, 5/9-5/12, 6/6-6/9.
• Child Welfare and Early Childhood: Cross-Systems Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Young Children and Their Families Series: Prevention. “Presenters will discuss how Plans of Safe Care protect infants affected by prenatal substance exposure. Examples of state and county community and family empowerment approaches to prevention will be discussed.” National workshop including a presentation from DCYF staff, Sarah Holdener. (3/16)
• Upcoming Webinars from the National Family Support Network: An Overview of the Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening and Support – with Kentucky Implementation (3/9) and Developing Family Resource Center Networks: Where Do We Start? (3/16)
• Dad Allies: Provider Learning Series from Washington Fathers Connect. The Dad Allies Initiative established a series of responsive community, provider, and dad focused events to build Washington state’s father-friendly capacity to support dads to become the fathers their children and families need them to be. These knowledge- and skill-building sessions with state and national presenters are held to strengthen our provider network to effectively engage and support fathers and father-figures. March 22: Provider Learning Series: Queer Dads, Myths and Realities. April 14: Co-Parenting. June 9: Tribal Fathers
• Achieving Equity and Quality: 11 Simple Rules to Build Thriving Communities, by Judy Jablon and Nichole Parks, sponsored by Leading for Children. “All children deserve the opportunity to thrive! For this to happen, every adult must embrace the critical role they play in ensuring that children grow and develop in communities where they feel safe and secure.” (4/7)
• Early Childhood Investigations Webinars presents Barefoot Books: Step Inside a Story. This webinar that tackles questions of representation and advocacy for racial justice in children’s books and provides you with practical tools for fostering children’s positive identity development and their understanding of others. (4/17)
• Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence presents Bite-Sized Prevention. “Focused on root causes, shifting culture, building skills, and promoting thriving communities – what it takes to prevent domestic and sexual violence in your community.” Upcoming dates: May 3^rd
• Empower: United in Prevention, the 2022 Spring Youth Forum from the Washington State Healthcare Authority. “The goal of the Spring Youth Forum is to recognize and reward youth prevention teams that have implemented a successful prevention project within their communities.” (May 17, virtual)
• Call for proposals: A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare. The Kempe Center is hosting this international community of practice with an expected 3000 participants from 20 countries gathered to debate, innovate, and discuss ways to transform child welfare and to re-imagine healthy, restorative, and healing ways of working with children and families. This eco-friendly event will showcase 60 hours of concurrent learning opportunities over 4 days. Accepting proposals through 6/10, event is 10/3-6.

Learn (Educational Resources)

• Institute for Family Foster Strong Podcast: Navigating Together with Jaquia and Raven. On this bonus episode celebrating social work month, Jaquia Wilson returns to the mic with her former social worker Raven Mitchell. Hear from Jaquia and Raven about the solid foundation they built during Jaquia’s time in foster care. Get insight on the importance of relationship building between youth in care and social workers and how impactful Raven has been on Jaquia’s early years. Podcast episode
• 2021 Healthy Youth Survey Results are available! The Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) is a collaborative effort of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Department of Health, the Health Care Authority - Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, and the Liquor and Cannabis Board. The Healthy Youth Survey provides important survey results about the health of adolescents in Washington. County prevention coordinators, community mobilization coalitions, community public health and safety networks, and others use this information to guide policy and programs that serve youth. About the HYS | HYS Results Website

Innovate (News and New Insights)

• Project Avary is an online program for children with incarcerated parents. Apply here.
• The 2022 Fatherhood Photobank from Washington Fatherhood Council is accepting entries! More information here
• No Shame in Your Brain/Consciente de tu Mente is a Youth Mental Health Communication Toolkit from Washington Healthcare Authority. Youth in the State of Washington have faced many challenges over the course of the past two years. The contents of this toolkit provide social media assets and posters to share positive messaging and supportive resources. These social media posts may be used by any partner in the hopes that we can share the message of hope, resilience, and inclusivity.
• Seeing pregnant study participants for a virtual parenting support project. “Leveraging texting to support maternal wellbeing in the perinatal period (pregnancy through postpartum time period)”. Gift cards for survey participation are available. Survey information

Grow (Funding and Resources)

• DCYF Opportunity: Perinatal Mental Health Funding Opportunity: Strengthening Families Washington at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), in collaboration with Perinatal Support Washington (PS-WA), is pleased to announce that funding is available for perinatal mental health community capacity building. The Perinatal Mental Health Funding Opportunity supports collaboration, resources, and community-wide awareness for the mental health of pregnant women and new parents. Awards include $20,000 for activities plus $2,000 for concrete goods to support families. We invite Requests for Application (RFAs) from Washington State organizations interested in collaborative efforts to increase community-wide awareness and develop resources to support perinatal mental health. Information available on the Strengthening Families Website; Webinar March 14; due April 12
• New 3/25: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Behavioral Health Care Support from the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. This multi-year initiative is aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD) in high-risk rural communities. Notice of Funding (due 4/19)
• New 3/25: Statewide Family Network Program: The purpose of this program is to provide resources to enhance the capacity of statewide mental health family-controlled organizations to engage with family members/primary caregivers who are raising children, youth, and young adults with serious emotional disturbance (SED). Grant recipients are expected to be family-driven, trauma-informed, culturally relevant, holistic, and resiliency-oriented family-controlled organizations. SAMHSA expects this program to serve as a catalyst for transforming mental health and related systems in states by strengthening coalitions led by family organizations, and between family members, policy makers, and service providers. SAMHSA plans to issue up to 13 awards of up to $120,000 per year for up to 3 years. Applications are due by Monday, May 2, 2022.  Apply here.
• New 3/25: New statewide funding opportunities through Washington Youth & Families Fund. Building Changes is pleased to make available approximately $3.2 million through two Requests for Proposals—one for projects serving families and one for projects serving youth and young adults. Eligible applicants include housing and social service agencies, nonprofit community-based organizations, local housing authorities, public development authorities, federally recognized tribes, and culturally-specific/Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)-led and -serving organizations across Washington State. Building Changes will provide funding, technical assistance, and capacity building support for up to three years per project. Informational bulletin | RFP Website (Webinar March 29, Due May 4)
• Services Grant Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women(SAMHSA): The purpose of this grant program is to provide comprehensive substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services, recovery support services, and harm reduction interventions to pregnant and postpartum women across a continuum of specialty SUD residential and outpatient levels of care, based on comprehensive, individualized screenings and assessments that inform treatment planning and service delivery in a continuous care model. Application due date is April 4, 2022. Find eligibility.
• SAMHSA grants for targeted capacity expansion: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced grant opportunities to support harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services targeting under-resourced populations affected by substance use disorder or co-occurring disorder. Applicants will be required to identify the specific need or population that they want to support through evidence-based and population appropriate services. Diversity, Equity, and inclusion must be integrated in the provision of services and activities throughout the project. SAMHSA may issue 22 awards of up to $375,000 per year for up to 3 years. (Due 4/4)
• Notice of Funding Opportunity for Tribal Home Visiting: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is now soliciting applications for the Fiscal Year 2022 Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program: Development and Implementation Grants. This funding is intended for tribal entities that do not have prior experience with implementing evidence-based home visiting models, performance measurement systems, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities. See the bulletin from the Children’s Bureau here |  See the notice of funding here (due 4/15)
• Rigorous Evaluation of Community-Level Substance Use and Overdose Prevention Frameworks that Incorporate ACEs-Related Prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is soliciting investigator-initiated research to conduct rigorous evaluation (including both a process and outcome evaluation) of prevention approaches implemented within communities that incorporate efforts to mitigate the harms of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and prevent future ACEs, while simultaneously aiming to prevent substance use and overdose. View in grants.gov (due 4/17)
• Catalyst for Infant Health Equity from the US Department of Health and Human Services. The goals of the new Catalyst for Infant Health Equity program are twofold: 1) to continue reducing overall infant mortality (IM) rates in the United States, and 2) to decrease and ultimately eliminate disparities in IM across racial/ethnic groups by achieving steeper declines for groups with the highest rates. To accomplish these goals, award recipients are expected to address the broader social and structural determinants (or root causes) contributing to IM disparities at the county or jurisdiction1 level. For example, recipients will support implementation of existing action plans that address public policies, systemic racism and discrimination, and/or institutional practices. To maximize impact on disparities in infant mortality rates at the national level, counties/jurisdictions with larger numbers of excess infant deaths will be considered priority areas. See the opportunity on Grants.gov (due 4/19)
• HHS Announces Availability of $13 Million to Increase Behavioral Health Care Access in Rural Communities: Read the bulletin here. HRSA’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy will make awards through the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) - Behavioral Health Care Support. Eligible applicants include entities such as Rural Health Clinics, federally recognized tribes, tribal organizations, and community- and faith-based organizations. (due 4/19)

If you have suggestions for what to include in this newsletter, email Joy Lile.