Part I: The Needs Statement
The
state of mental health care in the United States is not any exceptional, if not
deplorable and hints of a possible relationship between homelessness and mental
illness. The problem of homelessness is common and has been documented by several sources (e.g. Santis, 2016; Mental Health
America, 2017). Any person walking along the streets of American urban centers
would be treated to scenes of mentally
ill people loitering or seated by the roadside. They appear dressed shabbily
and emaciated. Some beg alms from the passersby,
while others scramble for foods in the dumpsites,
as others quench thirst in contaminated ponds and flowing sewer waters,
competing rodents, pigs, and dogs. This picture is exemplification reflection
of the levels of neglect and exclusion of mentally ill persons by the mainstream
society and the government. A large number of mentally ill patients on the
streets follow from the fact that many families reject mentally ill members
because of the underlying forms of social stigmatizations, as well as high
costs of treatment (Treatment Advocacy Center, 2016).
The statistics of mentally ill victims who
are homeless exist and show that this group of people is particularly
overrepresented. For instance, according to Mental Health Foundation (2015), as
significant as 32 percent of homelessness
who are single have a mental problem,
while depression is 10 times common in
the homeless population more than the mainstream population. Certainly, the
life of homeless people with mental illness is deplorable and needs assistance.
Dubbed “Operation Kick Mental Illness from the City”, the project recognizes the need to help rehabilitate this
population to enable them to live a fulfilling life
but its efforts are limited by funding. The
reason for requesting the grant is to fund the efforts of assisting people with
mental illness. The goals of the efforts would be to reduce the population of
mental illness and less the
vulnerabilities associated with mental illness. Therefore, the grant aims at serving
the needs of the mentally ill population.
Part II: Locating
Potential Funding Sources
|
Name
of the Grant
|
The funding Source (The Name of the Organization/Association
|
The
Website for Addressing each of the listed Funding Source
|
|
Public Housing Program
|
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD)
|
https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/programs
|
|
Mental Health America Housing Fund
|
Mental Health
America
|
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/housing
|
|
Low-income Housing Fund
|
Low-Income-Housing.com
|
https://low-income-housing-help.com/assistance-for-homeless-with-mental-illness
|
|
SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access,
and Recovery (SOAR)
|
Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration
|
https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/grant-programs-services/soar
|
|
Continuum of Care Program
|
Hud Exchange
|
https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/CoC/
|
Homeless Veterans |
U.S. Department of
Veteran Affairs
|
https://www.va.gov/homeless/for_homeless_veterans.asp
|
|
Ford Foundation
|
Ford
|
http://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/
|
Leona Gruber Trust Grants |
Leona
|
https://www.wellsfargo.com/privatefoundationgrants/gruber
|
Mathers Construction Community Giving Program |
Mathers
Construction Community
|
cfcbr.org/mathers-construction-community-giving-program/v
|
The Kresge Foundation Human Services Grant |
Kresge Foundation
|
http://kresge.org/programs/human-services
|
Part III: Grant Proposal
100-Word Summary of
the Project
The
project dubbed “Operation Kick Mental Illness from the City” recognizes that
the life of the homeless people with mental illness is particularly deplorable
and needs to be considered as an urgent issue,
if the society is to realize sustainability. The
health of this group is constrained by the low socioeconomic status that
it is predisposed ( Mental Health America, 2017). Operation Kick Mental Illness
from the City is zealous that that group can be successfully rehabilitated and
supported to live a normal life, but that needs adequate funds. The finances to
support the rehabilitation program are scarce and can only be strongly financed by grants.
The Plan of Action to
Implement the Grant
The
action plan for implementing the grant is multifaceted and includes taking
several steps, all of which are critical in supporting the lives of homeless
people with mental illness. One of the steps
would be identifying the people with
mental illness. This will involve a
fieldwork to document the names of the mentally ill residents in the community. The second step would be admitting the
population of the mentally ill people into the health intervention. This will first begin by diagnosing the mental
conditions, followed by subjecting them to the treatment modalities, including
psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.
Thirdly,
considering that the mental illness issue among the homeless people is mainly mediated by various socioeconomic
factors that they are exposed to, it will
be necessary to complement the interventions with some welfare assistance to
lessen their vulnerability and assist them to gain quick recovery. In this
regard, the people will need to be supported to access basic needs such as
balanced diet and shelter. Lastly, it will be
necessary to sensitize the community on how to help
the persons with mental illness. The project recognizes that community and
family involvement is critical to achieving desirable
outcomes because they provide the culture that affects the person with mental
illness.
The
implementation shall embrace the project management principles. Considering
they are oriented towards problem-solving, a project should be best conceptualized as a temporary
task that should be implemented to create a unique product or service, which is aimed at resolving a social problem. In
general, a project tends to focus on
quality, which can be seen as comprising
of three facets — costs, scope and time. This relationship can be conceptualized as follows. Project
management should not only be perceived
as processes that seek to ensure the project meets the desirable outcomes but the kind that acknowledges the
demands and needs of stakeholders. Such a perspective recognizes the increasing importance of stakeholders in project
management. Project management spans tools, methods, skills, knowledge, and experiences which must be
integrated to accomplish the goals of a project. The unified approach to
project methodology comprises of five components. They include planning, initiation, monitoring,
construction, and controlling and completion. Projects
must also have business issue statements, which are
aimed at justifying the need for projects and underlying tasks. Business
case problem statements are conscious about efficiency and realization of
objectives. Business case issue statements also have time limits. However, the
befitting distinction is that businesses often reach a certain level in which
they must always change to adapt to market dynamics. The essence of change is often accompanied with management
complexities that call for specialized management. Hence, a project can be seen as a temporary organization task
created to deliver business case issue. One of the areas that project
implementation should consider is planning fallacy, which describes scenarios in which predictions about the time
requirements of a project are set to be overoptimistic,
only to result in cost and time overruns, as well as expectation shortfall
The People to be Involved
in the Implementation of the Project
Different people will be required for the implementation of the project. These include
the physicians, the nurses, and the social workers, including the
psychologists, as well as the media. The physicians,
nurses and the social workers will be directly involved in the assisting the
people with mental illness, while the media
will be included in the sensitization
program. Since the institution has already the well-trained
staff with several years of experience in dealing with the issue, training will
not be necessary.
Why the Organization Should
Receive the Grant
The organization is well placed to receive
the grant because it has been at the heart of initiatives of delivering mental healthcare to the urban communities. Founded in 2000 with the mission of providing
equitable mental care to the low-income population, the institution has
played a crucial role in transforming lives of communities. The number of years
of service also implies that the organization has the need experience to enable
it to deliver satisfactory outcomes. The hospital also has well-trained and
committed that would certainly serve a
vital human resource in delivering the
desired goals.
Partnership
Considering the vastness of the population
that needs the intervention, the organization finds
it necessary to liaise with other organization
with similar goals and values to realize the desirable outcomes. Two
organizations have been identified as
potential partners in implementing the program: New York Mental Health Hospital
and Bethany Hospital. These institutions are
chosen because of their many years of commitment in the delivery of mental healthcare
among the homeless and possession of experienced staff. It is hoped that this partnership will save
resources and time that is needed to achieve the outcomes.
The Budget
|
Activity
|
The Amount of
required Money (dollars
|
|
Identifying
individuals with mental problems
|
500000
|
|
Diagnosis and
Treatment
|
500000
|
|
Welfare Support
|
500000
|
|
Community
Sensitization
|
500000
|
|
Total
|
2,000,000
|
References
Jervis, R. (2014). The Cost of not Caring. US Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/27/mental-health-homeless-series/14255283/
Mental Foundation (2015). Homelessness and mental health. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/homelessness-and-mental-health
Mental Health America (2017). The State of Mental Health in America. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america
Santis, D. (2016). Let’s Address America’s Mental Health Crisis in 2015. HuffPost. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-de-santis/lets-address-americas-men_b_6539580.html
Treatment Advocacy
Center (2016). Serious Mental Illness and Homelessness. Retrieved from
http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/backgrounders/smi-and-homelessness.pdf
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