The University of Texas at Austin's Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has announced $4.6 million in grants to fifty agencies across Texas as part of a special initiative to help mental health service providers meet growing community needs amid increasingly limited resources.

The Special Mental Health Services Initiative grew out of reports of increasing pressures on mental health agencies across the state, said Dr. King E. Davis, executive director of the foundation. "Clearly, many programs have reached a critical point and need help in bridging service gaps," said Davis. According to state mental health service providers, nonprofit agencies, and municipal governments, factors contributing to the problem include rapidly escalating medical costs and recent changes to the financing and structure of the public mental health system. In addition, a growing number of persons with mental illness have been reported showing up in emergency rooms, homeless shelters, and jails across the state.

The initiative is a departure from the Hogg Foundation's traditional philanthropic approach, Davis said, but "the acute and obvious needs of these communities required that the foundation rethink its priorities and commit its resources in ways that were sure to have the optimum positive impact during a period of uncertainty."

For a complete list of the grant recipients, see: http://www.hogg.utexas.edu/pages/rfpawards.html.