Funding Your Systems Mapping Event

There are different funding sources that communities can use to help pay for a local systems mapping event.

Applying for federal funding? Make a cross-systems mapping part of your application to receive earmarked funds. Some federal agencies offer grants that could be a good fit for a systems mapping event. These agencies include:

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• Bureau of Justice Assistance
  • Specific relevant programs include:
    • Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program
    • Second Chance Act grants
    • Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program

National technical assistance centers sometimes offer systems mapping events at no cost. Centers use different ways to decide which communities get these events. Some pick awarded communities from a batch of competing applications. Others work with federal project officers to choose sites that make strategic sense.
These centers have offered cross-systems mappings to communities in the past:

• SAMHSA’s GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation (operated by Policy Research Associates)
• SAMHSA’s Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Technical Assistance Center (operated by Policy Research Associates)

Foundation funding is a flexible tool in achieving systems change. Write a systems mapping event into your funding proposal or work with your grant officer to allocate funding for the work. Foundations offering funds that could cover a cross-systems mapping event include:

• Arnold Ventures
• The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Systems Mapping Center can provide systems mappings directly to communities. If interested in this approach, you can arrange a systems mapping event through a fee-for-service contract. Email smc@prainc.com for more information, including pricing.