Overview
Section 1 of
House Bill 2024 (2025) requires Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to award grants to behavioral health providers to help foster staff recruitment and retention. Providers can use these grants for these education incentives:
- Scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students going into the behavioral health care field
- Loan forgiveness and repayment incentives
- Tuition assistance
- Stipends for students enrolled in graduate behavioral health care educational programs
OHA's Behavioral Health Workforce Incentives Program commits to distributing these grants to:
- Meet the needs of all Oregon communities,
- Reflect the communities served, and
- Support culturally and linguistically responsive, dynamic environments for behavioral health professionals.
Goals
These incentives aim to improve and expand Oregon's behavioral health system by increasing:
- Recruitment and retention, especially in rural, frontier and other high-need areas across the state.
- The number of individuals training for and entering the behavioral health workforce.
- Service capacity and capabilities for rural and underserved communities.
- Education and training that supports career advancement opportunities.
- Oregon's capacity to provide culturally responsive care that deeply embeds and promotes values of centering equity, destigmatizing services, restorative healing and community empowerment.
Upcoming Grant Opportunity (Fall 2025)
You can apply for the grants if you provide behavioral health services at:
- A medical office qualified to provide medication-assisted treatment,
- A behavioral health clinic or program with a certificate of approval (COA) from OHA,
- A program contracting with or administered by the Oregon Youth Authority,
- A program administered by one of the Nine Federally Recognized Tribes in Oregon,
- Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest (NARA Northwest),
- A certified opioid treatment program, or
- Withdrawal management program.
To qualify for the grant, you must meet all the following criteria:
- Operate an outpatient or residential facility
- Provide evidence-based, team-based care
- Serve individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) or acute behavioral health needs
- Serve a patient mix that is at least 50 percent uninsured or receiving Medicaid (Oregon Health Plan) benefits
OHA hosted the following webinars for potential grant applicants:
The webinars covered grant eligibility, funding, timelines and OHA's application review and award process.
Nov. 3, 2025
RFGA solicitation and application materials posted on OregonBuys. You can view it here (Solicitation #S-44300-00015036).'
Dec. 3, 2025
Application deadline: all applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM PST
Dec. 17, 2025
Evaluation Committee meeting
Dec. 29, 2025
Notice of Awards (NOA) posted to OregonBuys and emailed to all Applicants
Feb. 2, 2026
Anticipated Start Date