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Applications Now Open:
Join Cohort 3 of the Tobacco-Free Recovery Learning Community!
Apply Now!
Register for our July 30 Informational Webinar
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The Issue: People with Behavioral Health Conditions Lack Access to Evidence Based Tobacco Use Treatment
While states have made important progress over the past decade, tobacco and nicotine use is concentrated among certain populations – including people with behavioral health conditions. Many behavioral health organizations are taking the important first step by asking people about tobacco use. However, too many stop there. While most facilities screen for tobacco use, counseling is not yet available in all settings and fewer than half provide nicotine replacement therapy or other FDA-approved medications, despite strong evidence that combining counseling, medication, and recovery support gives people the best chance of success.
The Opportunity: State Leaders Navigating and Sustaining Impact - Peer to Peer Learning and Action
The public health landscape is shifting at the federal and state-level. These shifts bring challenges and new opportunities to leverage existing resources and work together in new ways to ensure the public’s health. A renewed national focus on chronic disease prevention, expanded flexibility through Medicaid, and the ability to braid and blend funding across behavioral health, public health, Medicaid, settlement funds, and other state and local resources provide new pathways to strengthen and sustain tobacco use treatment services. The Learning Community creates a space to navigate this transformation alongside peers doing the same work in their own states.
What to Expect
Five state/territory/native nation teams will be competitively selected to participate in an 18-month peer learning cohort combining in-person and virtual sessions with individualized technical assistance from experts in tobacco and behavioral health to transform systems to increase access to tobacco use treatment and behavioral supports. Participating teams will:
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- Learn from peer states and national experts, sharing successes and challenges across the cohort
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- Build cross-agency partnerships and engage stakeholders, including people with lived experience and their families, to design the way forward
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- Plan and convene their own 1.5-day Tobacco-Free Recovery Leadership Academy to co-create a statewide Action Plan
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- Implement their Action Plan with ongoing TA, using data to monitor progress and drive continuous improvement
Funding Support
CoE-TFR covers all costs of participation, including travel and accommodations for Learning Community sessions and the full cost of convening your state’s Leadership Academy (venue, logistics, materials, and travel). As funds allow, teams may also request support for Action Plan implementation and for presenting results at conferences.
Who Should Apply
Anchor organizations must be State Departments, Offices or Programs of:
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- Tobacco Control
- Chronic Disease
- Mental Health
- Substance Use Disorder/Addiction Services
- Behavioral Health
Please note: Representatives from State Departments, Offices, or Programs that oversee or support your state network of SAMHSA funded behavioral health programs, including recovery support, mental health, substance use disorder/addiction services, and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) MUST be part of your Leadership Academy Team.
Each anchor organization convenes a multidisciplinary team of 4 to 6 individuals, with organizational sponsorship from an individual with authority to support the team’s participation. Teams may include representatives from:
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- State Offices of Behavioral and Mental Health, Substance Use Programs
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- State Tobacco Control Programs
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- State Medicaid Offices or Offices that oversee state health insurance plans
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- State Health Department Office of Quality Management
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- Surveillance, Epidemiology, Research or Evaluation
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- Behavioral Health System representative
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- State funded training programs
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- Organizations that represent people with lived experience (e.g. Peer Run Organizations, Recovery Community Centers, Recovery Housing, NAMI)
Key Dates
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- July 30, 2026, 1pm ET: Informational webinar on the Learning Community and application process – REGISTER HERE
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- August 25, 2026, 5pm ET: Applications due
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- September 30, 2026: Selected teams announced
Learn More
Questions?
Contact David Davis, Project Director: tfr.contact@caiglobal.org or 929-581-0861.
This opportunity is made possible by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which has awarded Cicatelli Associates Inc. (CAI) funding to administer the National Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Recovery.