Funding Opportunity
Building Together: Equitable Systems for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health
Perigee Fund is excited to announce our first national Request for Proposals (RFP), “Building Together: Equitable Systems for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Mental Health.” Through Building Together, Perigee seeks to fund the systems change necessary for more babies and families to access mental health supports. Because mental health challenges during pregnancy and the earliest years of life have been systemically under-resourced, and because families receive support from many sectors, efforts to improve access to prenatal-to-age-3 mental health services benefit from a systems change approach. This RFP seeks proposals from those who are working to increase family access to publicly funded mental health services by weaving together policy, financing, workforce development, and practice change. Grants are not intended to fund direct services.
Overview
Perigee Fund invites existing collaboratives that are working to increase family access to maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health supports to apply for grant funding.
While the mental health crisis in the U.S. is urgent and widespread, Perigee Fund sees many reasons for hope. Collaborative efforts across the country are working to improve equitable access to mental health supports. Policy changes have created new local, state, and federal funding streams for maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health. More prenatal-to-age-3 mental health organizations exist now than ever before, and more services are culturally rooted and address mental health inequities. Undergirding this positive change is a rise in new champions for prenatal-to-age-3 mental health in communities and across sectors like healthcare, early care and education, and behavioral health.
So much of this progress is possible because determined groups of people have come together to prioritize the mental health of prenatal-to-age-3 families. While some of these efforts are better resourced than others, almost all are under-resourced.
As a national funder that plans to eventually sunset, Perigee’s investments in state and regional efforts will be time-limited. Building Together is intended to add unique value and flexibility at a time of great need and opportunity. Our goal is to accelerate and deepen the progress of existing efforts, so that the changes they are working toward for children and families are better positioned to endure.
Request for Proposal Highlights
- Building Together seeks to fund the systems change necessary for more babies and families to access mental health supports.
- Each grantee will receive up to $250,000 total across a 2-year period.
- Up to eight (8) total applicants will be awarded funding.
- Opportunities for technical assistance (TA) and meeting with peers will be provided.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Building Together RFP, applicants should have the following characteristics:
- Represent a group or collaborative of at least five or more multi-sector partners. At least one government or public sector partner should be involved with the group’s work.
- One member of the group must be willing and able to serve as the lead applicant and fiscal intermediary for the proposal and grant, if awarded.
- Have two or more years of experience working together on prenatal-to-age-3 mental health systems change with both past accomplishments and future goals.
- Center the priorities, lived experience, and voices of prenatal-to-age-3 families and providers.
- Be working at the state, territory, large regional/city (1 million+ population), or tribal level in the U.S. or U.S. territories.
- Washington-state-based efforts are not eligible for this funding, as Perigee Fund grantmaking is already directed towards maternal, infant, and early childhood mental health systems change in Washington.
For a full list of eligibility criteria, please reference the RFP, available for download below.
Request for Proposals
Expression of Interest
Frequently Asked Questions
Perigee Fund is sharing our responses to frequently asked questions that apply to a wide number of potential applicants. If you have a specific question about your group or organization, please don’t hesitate to email our team at rfp@perigeefund.org.
Information Session:
An optional info session for prospective applicants took place on Thursday, June 27, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT. Watch the recording or download the presentation in PDF format below.
Key Dates
- Friday, July 26, 2024 | Brief Expressions of Interest (EOIs) due for all interested applicants
- End of August 2024 | Between 12 and 20 finalists invited to interview and complete a full proposal
- September – October 2024 | Finalists complete interviews and proposals
- November 2024 | Applicants notified; awards made
- December 2024 – December 2026 | Grant period
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