APA Foundation: Helping Hands Grants

The APA Foundation's Helping Hands Grants provide up to $5,000 to medical schools for projects aimed at improving mental health education and assistance in under-served communities. Initiated in 2005, this program empowers medical students to lead initiatives that promote awareness of mental illness and encourage community service, particularly among minority populations. By partnering with community agencies, these projects foster a deeper interest in psychiatry while addressing critical mental health needs.

A heightened need exists for improved mental health education and assistance in under-served communities.
The Helping Hands Grants Program provides grants of up to $5,000 to medical schools for mental health and substance use disorder projects, particularly in under-served minority communities. Funded projects are created and managed by medical students and can be conducted in partnership with community agencies, or in conjunction with ongoing medical school outreach activities.
Since 2005, The Helping Hands Grants Program has helped psychiatry students meet these needs in their own communities. The program was established to encourage medical students to participate in community service activities, particularly those focused on under-served populations; raise awareness of mental illness and the importance of early recognition of illness; and build an interest among medical students in the psychiatric field and working in under-served communities.The Helping Hands Grants Program provides grants of up to $5,000. These projects can be conducted in partnership with community agencies or in conjunction with ongoing medical school outreach activities, and must be supervised by at least one psychiatrist.