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Elevate Community Based Organizations (ECBOs)

Elevate Community-based organizations (CBOs) is a key initiative at SAMHSA's Office of Behavioral Health Equity to build capacity, increase the visibility, and highlight the unique role of CBOs serving under-resourced communities in behavioral health. This initiative engages four strategies—Education, Partnership, Technical Assistance and Community Connection.

CBOs play an important role when serving their respective communities. CBOs work at the local level to maintain community morale and cohesion, build connection between officials at various levels of government with community and provide critical services to the community. They are often called a service hub because of their wide-spread services.

CBO often lack the consistent funding sources to allow them to sustain their services. The challenge of acquiring sustainable resource is not uncommon for CBOs due to the lack of infrastructure and capacity. Elevate CBOs initiative was established in January 2021 to enhance CBOs’ capacity to serve the underserved communities effectively and efficiently.

Key goals

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Education

Increase knowledge on the topics that enhance organizations capacity and sustainability. Examples of topics discussed: Grants and proposal development, budget preparation, using data effectively and emerging behavioral health practices.

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Partnerships

Effective partnership enhances efficiency and impact of behavioral health services. Elevate CBOs initiative fosters partnership between CBOs with different entities. Examples of these entities include SAMHSA regional directors, agencies among HHS, state and local governments. 

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Community Connection

Community Connection establishes a platform where CBOs representatives meet and discuss opportunities and challenges with SAMHSA leadership. The dialogue among the leaders inform and influence system change.
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Technical Assistance

Elevate CBOs initiative offers one-on-one in technical advice sessions to CBOs which requested assistance. OBHE uses a case study approach to understand the request from CBOs, research information and offer advice and potential solutions to assist CBOs to overcome their challenge.

Elevate CBO Webinars

Behavioral Health Equity Challenge

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) often serve on the front lines to address the needs of their community members and can take the form of public or private nonprofit organizations, peer-run organizations, or faith-based organizations. SAMHSA implemented the Behavioral Health Equity Challenge to identify and highlight CBO outreach and engagement strategies that increase access to behavioral health services for racial and ethnic underserved communities. Entities including local or state governments, health systems, hospitals, or health plans) were encouraged to partner with a CBO to participate in the Challenge.

This challenge allowed participants to share their innovative strategies to help underserved racial and ethnic communities access behavioral health service (mental health promotion, substance misuse prevention, and treatments and supports that foster recovery). SAMHSA used this challenge to directly engage with a larger and more diverse number of CBOs providing services and supports throughout the continuum of care for behavioral health.

The 10 Winners

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is excited to announce the winners of its Behavioral Health Equity Challenge. Winners of the challenge presented exciting approaches to effective outreach and engage with racial and ethnic underserved individuals in order to foster behavioral health equity throughout the country.

Category: Mental Health

  • Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers/DBA Camden Coalition (Camden, NJ)
  • Comunilife, Inc. (New York, NY)
  • Ser Familia, Inc. (Kennesaw, GA)
  • North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center (Lumberton, NC)

Category: Substance Use Prevention

  • Centro de Ayuda y Esperanza Latina, Inc. (New Bedford, MA)
  • Mt. Olive Baptist Church (Dayton, OH)
  • Prevention Partnership, Inc. (Chicago, IL)

Category: Substance Use Treatment

  • Coastal Horizons (Wilmington, NC)
  • Southcentral Foundation (Anchorage, AK)
  • Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (Waianae, HI)

The challenge prize for each winner is $50,000. Four awards are dedicated to the winning strategies that address mental health; three awards are dedicated to the winning strategies that address substance use prevention; three awards are dedicated to the winning strategies that address substance use treatment, respectively. The winners were selected from a total of 427 submissions. 

Last Updated: 01/17/2025