Yes, pending available funds. All unsuccessful applicants will be given written feedback from the review committee. If you wish to address review committee concerns and resubmit your application in another grant cycle, you are welcome to do so. Resubmitting a revised application does not guarantee funding.
Applicants can access their applications in the online application portal. These applications can be copied, modified, and then submitted in either the same or different categories for the next application cycle.
Four rounds of review committee meetings are held to review applications, following this process:
- Technical Review Committee: External experts in behavioral health workforce development review each application in the four categories. The Technical Reviewer determines the strengths and weaknesses of each application. A Technical Review Committee meets for each category to determine which applicants would move forward to the Full Review Committee using the Technical Reviewers’ recommendations.
- ARPA Review Committee: The ARPA Review Committees are then assigned applications. Each application has a primary and secondary reviewer. Applications are discussed during the Full Review Committee meeting and then scored anonymously by all reviewers. This committee consists of a chair; a team of 10-11 independent reviewers from various behavioral health and public health disciplines; a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chair; and BHECN leadership.
- Funding Review Committee: The Funding Review Committee (Review Committee Chair, BHECN representative, BHECN ARPA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair, and additional BHECN ARPA leadership) then uses scores from the Technical Reviewers and the Full Review Committees in combination with cut-off parameters to inform decisions about awards.
- Budget Review Meeting: Finally, BHECN leadership assesses applications and their respective budgets to ensure there is no overlap between institutions selected to be awarded funds within and across multiple categories.
The categories will not change for Round 2. They are:
- Award Category 1: Behavioral health training opportunities
- Award Category 2: Telebehavioral health support in rural areas
- Award Category 3: Behavioral health workforce projects related to COVID-19
- Award Category 4: Funding for licensed behavioral health supervisors
The application process will remain the same and will be done on the BHECN website.
Tentative Round 2 timeline:
- Feb. 27: Application period begins.
- April 10: Application period closes.
- April to May: Review meetings occur.
- June: Awards announced.
There will be financial and evaluation reporting requirements. Awardees will be receiving a sub-contract with UNMC and will have to comply with UNMC financial reporting requirements, which will occur on an at-least quarterly basis. Evaluation reporting will be done quarterly. Examples of evaluation measures.
Evaluation measures and processes are under development at BHECN. Evaluation activities will not take more than 5% of a staff person’s time.
Awards are not limited by year. However, there are budget caps for each project. For example, if you are proposing an internship project for three years, the total of the three-year project needs to be $500,000 or less.
- Award Category 1: Behavioral health training opportunities - $500,000
- Award Category 2: Telebehavioral health support in rural areas - $1,000,000
- Award Category 3: Behavioral health workforce projects related to COVID-19 - $100,000
- Award Category 4: Funding for licensed behavioral health supervisors - $100,000
Yes, the budget form needs to be completed prior to submission.
Indirect costs are not allowed. Please look at the Uniform Guidance Allowable Costs on the front page of the Behavioral Health Workforce ARPA Awards to see if costs within your budget are allowable.
UNMC has received the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding from the State of Nebraska through the means of a legislative appropriation. The Legislative Bill does not allow for indirect costs to be charged to the appropriated funds to UNMC. As such, UNMC cannot flow down indirect costs to the awardees under the BHECN program. We encourage applicants to accommodate for allowable costs as provided under 2 CFR, Part 200 (Uniform Guidance).
No indirect costs are allowed. If a project expense is critical for the success of the project – such as staff, faculty or administrative salaries, equipment or supplies – that expense should be a direct cost in your proposed budget. Please review the Uniform Guidance listing of allowable costs for information on allowable direct costs.