MENTAL HEALTH AUTHORITY RECEIVES CUTS IN FUNDING
OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS

The Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse notified the Texas
Panhandle Mental Health Authority on Monday that nine of its substance
abuse programs would be denied state funding for fiscal year 2001 due
to poor evaluation scores.

"For the commission to consider funding a program, the application has
to obtain a score of at least 60 (out of a possible 100). In the case
of a lot of programs in the Amarillo region, that score was not
achieved," said Stephanie Goodman, communications director for TCADA.

"We're going to continue to work with TCADA and see if we can't
continue to get funds," said Tracy Griffith, director of the Panhandle
Substance Abuse Services Network, part of TPMHA.

While other applicants from across the state also were denied, the
Panhandle was unique because the denials would lead to a gap in
services, Goodman said.

In the evaluation process, 75 percent of the score came from a panel
of three people with expertise in substance abuse programs who review
the application for funds. The other 25 percent came from an internal
review at TCADA headquarters in Austin, Goodman said.

"The biggest weakness in their application appeared to be financial.
There were program concerns as well," Goodman said.

"We're still trying to get further information from them (TCADA) about
the specifics. We felt like it was a strong proposal, and we're really
surprised we didn't get funded," Griffith said.

Denied programs are the Amarillo Council on Alcoholism and Drug
Abuse's youth intervention program, adult and youth outpatient
treatment programs, The Amarillo Alcoholic Women's Recovery Center
(The Haven), the residential adolescent treatment and outpatient
programs at the Genesis House in Pampa, Northwest Texas Healthcare
System's detoxification and outpatient treatment service programs, and
the AWARE program's HIV early intervention program, Griffith said.

Only Catholic Family Service's youth primary prevention program, and
the HIV prevention program of the AWARE program had their state
funding renewed at the full requested amount, she said.

On Wednesday, all denied programs were given a 60-day extension by
TCADA to their current state contracts, carrying them through Oct.
31.

"We'll definitely use this as an opportunity to try to improve
whatever we need to to provide the best services we can," Griffith
said.

Also during that time, Goodman said a competitive process to fill the
potential gaps in service will begin.

"In the new process, we will go out to find what's available in the
community, not just what we currently fund. Even the (currently)
funded providers can take part in that process. We will ask
organizations if they are interested in providing services for the
state," Goodman said.

"Then we'll go through the process of trying to match up the needs
with what each individual organization has to offer. We will enter a
process of negotiations to make sure the state gets a good price,
quality programs, and programs that meet all our standards, financial,
programmatic, and administrative," she said.

Goodman said the approximate $1.3 million in state substance abuse
funding would remain in the Texas Panhandle, but may go to different
service providers.

Also denied funding in the Texas Panhandle was the Floyd, Hale, Lamb
County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.