The Sozosei Foundation, the Princeton, New Jersey-based philanthropic arm of Japanese pharmaceutical company Otsuka, has announced grants totaling $4 million in support of twenty-nine organizations working to decriminalize mental illness.

Grants were awarded to assist with implementation of the 9-8-8 national mental health crisis hotline; expand the mental health workforce; scale evidence-based and promising practices to decriminalize mental illness; and educate Americans about the Medicaid Reentry Act. Recipients include the University of Alabama, which will establish the Southern Behavioral Health and Law Initiative, an interdisciplinary collaboration to promote equitable justice, improve outcomes for individuals at risk for involvement in the legal system, and support empirically based policy reform across the state. Other recipients include the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Healthy Brains Global Initiative; MindSite News; Mural Arts Project; Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene; the Kennedy Forum; and the Steinberg Institute.

"From national grassroots advocacy efforts to local demonstration projects, as well as podcasts, music festivals, and start-up news outlets focused on mental illness, these grants embody the foundation's core values of creativity and curiosity," said Sozosei Foundation executive director Melissa M. Beck. "Taken together, this portfolio represents promising strategies and solutions to decriminalize mental illness and provides the foundation with exciting learning opportunities that we are eager to share with the field."