Project LAUNCH Grantees

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funds states, tribal governments, communities, and the District of Columbia to improve the child-serving system by promoting collaboration aimed at reforming policies, sharing data, and evaluating practices; creating new and integrated funding strategies; and improving local service delivery. Five-year grants were awarded to five states and one Native American tribe in 2008. Eleven states and the District of Columbia were awarded in 2009. In September 2010, SAMHSA will award funding directly to six communities.

Each grantee focuses its work on one community—region, city, or zip code—to bring together child-serving systems to develop a comprehensive plan to promote the wellness of all young children. Each grantee is encouraged to:

• Increase integration and collaboration among child-serving systems and services by establishing planning councils
• Promote the use of culturally relevant, evidence-based programs and practices by child-serving organizations
• Offer training and education to ensure that families, providers, and other adults caring for young children have the knowledge and skills to promote healthy child development
• Engage families, the faith community, business leaders, cultural organizations, and other local leaders in planning, implementing, and evaluating Project LAUNCH activities
• Collect data and evaluate the effectiveness of services
• Raise public awareness about the importance of healthy development of young children and the community’s role in promoting it

The promise of Project LAUNCH is that these activities will provide the nation with state, tribal, and local models to demonstrate effective strategies aimed at promoting young child wellness through coordination of services, use of culturally relevant evidence-based practices, and public awareness.