Minority Fellowship Program 50th Anniversary

photo montage of diverse individuals and teams

The APA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) celebrates 50 years

The commitment of the MFP in training diverse professionals that are committed to serving communities of color has led to a notable impact on the behavioral health field and the mental health outcomes and life experiences of marginalized communities across the nation and the world.  We’re incredibly proud of the many accomplishments of the fellows that have participated in MFP. Many of them return to give back to the generations behind them. Many of them serve their communities and produce groundbreaking work. We’re hopeful that the next 50 years will be just as impactful in advancing diversity in the field and the psychological outcome of marginalized communities.

MFP 50th anniversary gala

On October 10, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., MFP will host a gala at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, to celebrate the accomplishments of the program's first 50 years! 

Come out in your favorite formal attire to celebrate with the Minority Fellowship Program.


Purchase ticketsopens in new window View sponsorships (PDF, 140KB)opens in new window

Gala sponsors

American Nurses Association logo

   Level 1 sponsor

Amercian Psychological Foundation logo

   Level 3 sponsor

Kaiser Permanente logo

   Level 5 sponsor

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About the MFP

The MFP aims to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health outcomes for underserved racial and ethnic populations by:

  • Increasing the knowledge of mental and substance use disorder practitioners on issues related to prevention, treatment, and recovery support for individuals who are from racial and ethnic minority populations and who have a mental or substance use disorder;
  • Improving the quality of mental and substance use disorder prevention and treatment services delivered to racial and ethnicity minority populations; and
  • Increasing the number of culturally competent mental and substance use disorder professionals who teach, administer services, conduct research, and provide direct mental or substance use disorder services to racial and ethnic minority populations.
Icon illustration of person presenting at white board and audience

Over the past 50 years, MFP has had the pleasure of training over 2,300 fellows. MFP alumni have gone on to make significant achievements in their professional careers. We’re incredibly proud of the many accomplishments of the fellows that have participated in the program.

How does it work?

Through eight national behavioral health professional organizations, the program assists people who seek graduate degrees and plan to work to improve behavioral health outcomes for minority communities. These MFP grantee organizations receive grant awards annually to implement the MFP. We are proud to partner with many of them for our Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Programopens in new window.

Each MFP grantee individually manages the application approval process and program activities for their given disciplines. Approved applicants are offered scholarships, tuition assistance, professional development training, and other resources as benefits of program enrollment.

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History

The MFP, initiated in 1973, is administered by the SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). Initially, the program was designed to focus on increasing the number of doctoral-level professions only. However, in 2014, under President Obama’s Now Is The Time initiative, SAMHSA expanded the program to increase the number of culturally competent master's-level behavioral health professionals available to serve youth ages 16 to 25 and to increase the number of available master's-level addiction and substance use disorder counselors. In 2020, an interdisciplinary training program was introduced. To date, the MFP has five separate program areas:

  • MFP-Traditional (doctoral/postdoc)
  • MFP-Youth (masters)
  • MFP-Addiction Counselors (masters)
  • MFP-Substance Use Disorders (doctoral/masters)
  • MFP-Interdisciplinary (doctoral/masters)

The program closely aligns with the Affordable Care Act by addressing current and projected behavioral health workforce shortages and the need to train practitioners on recovery-based practices.