Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund

Overview

The Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund ("Fund") supports Black Canadians to develop more culturally responsive knowledge, capacity and programs to address mental health and its determinants in their communities. Following the open solicitation for the Fund in Fall 2018, a gap was identified for proposals focusing specifically on addressing the unique needs of Black LGBTQI+ Canadian populations (see below description of LGBTQI+). To this end, an open solicitation is being held to focus on understanding the needs and supports for Black LGBTQI+ populations in Canada, regarding mental health and its determinants. Specifically, this solicitation will aim to generate or synthesize knowledge and to mobilize that knowledge in order to raise awareness of the unique needs of diverse communities and build greater capacity to respond to these needs and address barriers.

This solicitation is being pursued under the Implementation Stream of the Fund. The Implementation Stream provides funding to recipients for community-led projects that implement and evaluate culturally responsive programs that promote mental health and address its determinants for Black Canadians.

As part of the Implementation Stream, applications submitted under the Black LGBTQI+ Canadian solicitation must include rigorous plans for evaluation and knowledge translation. Projects will focus on knowledge mobilization and/or awareness raising in ways that build evidence to understand the needs of Black LGBTQI+ populations in Canada and support future interventions or culturally responsive programs that address mental health and its determinants for these populations. Examples of relevant projects may include a rigorous community needs assessment, scalable toolkit for community-based organizations or mental health practitioners, development of a knowledge product (e.g., learning curriculum), or awareness-raising initiatives.

Objectives

The objectives of this solicitation are based on the overall objectives of the Fund, which have been adapted to increase the relevancy for Black LGBTQI+ populations:

• Increase understanding of the unique mental health challenges, needs, barriers to and social determinants of mental health for Black LGBTQI+ Canadians, as well as the strength and resilience of these populations in addressing those challenges;
• Increase knowledge of effective, culturally responsive approaches and programs for improving mental health and addressing its key social determinants for Black LGBTQI+ Canadians; and,
• Increase capacity, including by raising awareness and mobilizing knowledge, within Black Canadian and LGBTQI+ communities and/or among policy-makers, practitioners, and service providers in ways that seek to understand and address barriers to mental health, as well as increase strength and resiliency factors, for Black LGBTQI+ Canadians.

Funding amount and duration

Proposed projects must be within funding and duration limits. The maximum funding available is $200,000 per year, to a maximum of $400,000. The maximum project duration is 2 years (24 months). Projects that address syndemics between mental health and sexually transmitted and blood borne infections are eligible for up to $240,000 per year, to a maximum of $480,000. Funding is available to support 1 project at the maximum level, although funding decisions may result in more projects being approved at lower levels depending on the quality of proposals. Projects must end by March 31, 2023.

Eligible Activities

All projects must be of primary benefit to Black LGBTQI+ communities and populations in Canada. Activities eligible for funding include:

• a project that generates or synthesizes knowledge and mobilizes that knowledge with an aim to understand, and build awareness and capacity to address the issues, barriers, challenges, strengths, and resilience that Black LGBTQI+ Canadians experience regarding mental health and its determinants.

For full information and application process, click here.