The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced Friday that it received more than $2 million in federal funding to address the “community mental health needs” that have arisen from the tragic mass shooting that took place in Lewiston last year.
The $2,048,452 in funding has to the Maine DHHS through the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Emergency Response Grant program (SERG).
According to the federal Health and Human Service’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the SERG program is “enables public entities to address mental health and substance abuse needs when existing resources are overwhelmed by an emergency and other resources are unavailable.”
The Maine DHHS explained in a press release Friday that this grant “will supplement other state and federal funding for the response, helping to reinforce the on-the-ground behavioral health workforce, recovery for individuals and families affected by the tragedy, and community resilience in Lewiston and the surrounding communities.”
“This federal grant will catalyze Maine’s response to the significant behavioral health needs of those directly and indirectly impacted by the tragedy in Lewiston,” said Gov. Janet Mills (D) in a press release Friday. “I thank President Biden and the Biden-Harris Administration for their continued unwavering support for Lewiston and Maine as we continue down the road to healing.”
“Following the tragedy in Lewiston,” said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew, “we immediately set to work developing a plan based on input from Maine residents, communities, first responders, experts, and others to support ongoing behavioral health needs in the wake of the largest mass shooting in Maine history.”
“We thank the Biden Administration for this grant to catalyze community-led initiatives and best practices to help Maine residents and communities recover and rebound,” said Commissioner Lambrew.
According to the Maine DHHS’ press release, “priorities for the funding are based on input from partners following a series of listening sessions that DHHS held” with a number of “impacted parties,” including: “behavioral health providers, health care systems’ leadership, members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and New Mainer communities, school staff, home-based providers, ethnic and community-based organizations (ECBOs).”
Click Here to Read the Full Press Release from the Maine DHHS
“In this instance,” wrote Sen. Susan Collins (R), Sen. Angus King (I), Rep. Chellie Pingree (D), and Rep. Jared Golden (D) in a press release Friday, “the funding will be used for community mental health needs in the greater-Lewiston community, following the shooting that took place in October of last year and claimed the lives of 18 individuals and wounded 13 others.”
“In the wake of last year’s horrific shooting in Lewiston, this emergency funding from SAMHSA will help meet the mental health needs of those impacted by this tragedy,” the members of the delegation said. “The people of Maine are resilient.”
“While nothing we can do will bring back the lives lost, we will continue to work together with our state and federal partners to help ensure that Lewiston and surrounding communities have the resources and support needed to heal and recover,” the lawmakers wrote.
Click Here to Read the Delegation’s Full Press Release
Among the initiatives that will be supported by this funding are the expansion of Lewiston’s “community-based behavioral health workforce” and the launch of a “trauma-informed learning community” aimed at providing “training and skills for the workforce most directly connected to the populations affected by the shootings.”
The funds received from this grant will also go toward “amplify[ing] awareness of existing behavioral health resources through tailored and targeted messages that help normalize and de-stigmatize reaching out for help with mental health.”
Additionally, this funding will be used to consolidate “community-developed and accessible information for members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community” in Lewiston, as well as to support “ECBOs focused on serving the New Mainer communities of Lewiston.”
Specific information regarding how the Maine DHHS will distribute the more than $2 million in federal funding among these various initiatives was not included in Friday’s press release.
The money would have been better spent on more police.