Congressman Veasey Announces Million Dollar Grant to Assist Tarrant County Troubled Teens

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Congressman Marc Veasey, TX-33, announced that MHMR of Tarrant County has received a $1 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to implement their System of Care program for transition age youth called, "Paving the Way: Successful Transitions to Adulthood."

"MHMR of Tarrant County has done excellent work assisting those with mental health issues and severe emotional disorders throughout North Texas," Congressman Veasey stated. "This grant will help MHMR serve a population that too often becomes lost while transitioning from youth services to adult services. To prevent potential homelessness and suicide we need to make sure these teens are obtaining all the help we can provide."

Upon hearing the news of receiving the grant, MHMR of Tarrant County was excited to be able to better serve the community.

"We are thrilled and honored to receive the SAMHSA System of Care grant and thank Congressman Veasey and other Members of the Texas Congressional delegation for their help in securing this important funding. These resources will allow a coalition of community partners to assist vulnerable youth who have been involved with the juvenile justice system, child protective or mental health services as they transition to adulthood." said Susan Garnett, CEO of MHMR of Tarrant County.

MHMR of Tarrant County provides vital assistance and counseling services to persons with mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, addictive behaviors and early childhood developmental delays. MHMRTC is the second largest in a network of community mental health centers in the state, serving 24 counties in North Texas.

A copy of Congressman Veasey's support letter can be found below.

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May 29, 2014

The Honorable Pamela S. Hyde
Administrator
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
One Choke Cherry Road
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Administrator Hyde:

I am writing to express my support for the Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County's (MHMRTC) proposal to implement a System of Care for Transition Age Youth called Paving the Way: Successful Transitions to Adulthood.

For the past 15 years, Tarrant County in North Texas has built a strong collaborative System of Care (SoC) that is focused on improving the lives of children between birth and age 17. This was accomplished with two Mental Health Connection SoC grants - Community Solutions and Hand in Hand - to build infrastructure for school age and early childhood populations. However, Transition Age Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) are falling through the cracks as they move from child-serving to adult-serving agencies. In particular, youth aging out of foster care and those leaving the juvenile services system often end up homeless, live in poverty or become suicidal.

Building on the successful collaboration with SAMHSA on two previous System of Care grants, this proposal will complete the continuum of care by focusing on youth transitioning to adulthood. The proposed project will serve young people between the ages of 16 and 21 with SED's who are transitioning from child-to-adult serving community-based mental health services in a seven-countywide area.

The service area of this proposal covers a diverse range of communities in Texas, including frontier counties, rural counties, and an urban/suburban county. This program will also benefit from the state's foster care redesign, which is placing all counties in this proposal within the catchment area of a newly designated foster care management system.

Paving the Way will provide us with the tools necessary to assist youth transitioning to adulthood in our communities and can serve as a vehicle to continue our strong partnership with the state-sponsored Texas System of Care initiative.

I appreciate your consideration of this proposal and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Marc Veasey
Member of Congress