Advocacy and Collaboration Grants
The 2024 Grant Application Cycle has closed. Congratulations to the 2024 Grant Awardees!
As part of AACAP's initiative to support local and state advocacy, regional organizations can apply for a one-year Advocacy and Collaboration Grant, awards of up to $4,000, to help support new advocacy work and improve collaboration with allied professional organizations.
This grant opportunity is intended to help regional organizations engage in advocacy activities to improve children's mental health care in their state or community and require collaboration with allied consumer or professional organizations. AACAP's Assembly Executive Committee reviews all applications and makes final award decisions. First-time applicants, as well as applicants focused on underserved and minority communities are encouraged to apply.
The Assembly Executive Committee awarded seven regional organizations 2023 Advocacy and Collaboration Grants. The awardees include regional organizations from the following areas: Colorado, Eastern Pennsylvania/Southern New Jersey, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Grant-funded projects range from developing resources for community awareness on suicide prevention, working with a youth-serving organization to help destigmatize psychiatric care, and convening experts to expand knowledge related to justice-involved youth, and brainstorm policy solutions to better serve this special patient population.
Recent Grant-Funded Projects
The Washington State Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (WSCCAP) received a 2021 AACAP Assembly Advocacy and
Collaboration Grant to partner with Community Passageways, a Black-led nonprofit organization in Seattle with a
vision for zero youth incarceration, and a focus on addressing the disproportionately negative legal system impacts on youth of color, especially Black youth.
The Nebraska Regional Council of the American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Nebraska chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
(NE AAP) were awarded a 2020 AACAP Advocacy and Collaboration Grant. This grant allowed the creation of the Nebraska Advocates for Child Health, a group of child and adolescent psychiatrists, pediatricians, and developmental pediatricians, working collaboratively
to improve advocacy for children’s health across the state of Nebraska.
Training video on forensic psychological evaluations for asylum seeking immigrants. Created with the support of a 2020 AACAP Advocacy & Collaboration Grant.
The following is a completely fictional depiction of a forensic psychological evaluation for an asylum-seeking immigrant. Actors were utilized in the creation of this product.
Content Warning: this video contains some graphic and explicit content, including sexual assault, gun violence, and detainment, for which viewer discretion is advised. This video
was produced and directed by Manuel A. Huerta, Persona/Anima Productions LLC. www.persona-anima.com
I Was Born Perfect
Supported by an AACAP Advocacy and Collaboration Grant, and in collaboration with the New York Council on Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, The Trevor Project, and Pride for Youth, The Informal Letter is a short video about managing mental health while navigating sexual orientation in adolescence.
Promoting Refugees' Mental Health Videos
A video created to promote acceptance of refugees in schools created by 2019 Advocacy and Collaboration grant recipient, Dr. Balkozar Adam.
Watch a video promoting refugee’s mental health, translated in multiple languages, created by 2018 Advocacy and Collaboration grant recipient, Dr. Balkozar Adam.