January 14, 2026

Over the last 24 hours several NYS Council member agencies have contacted me regarding their recently having received an unexpected grant termination notice from SAMHSA.  In the cases I’ve heard about, MHAT are impacted as are MAT-PDOA grants.   

I called the CEO of the National Council bright and early this morning and he was having a discussion with an attorney about this matter and promised to get back to me as soon as possible.  As I understand it, termination letters for many different federal grants went out recently – (not just MHAT) including (as another example) MAT-PDOA.  

I wanted to provide a heads up for our members to be on the lookout for a notice re:  a federal grant you currently operate.  In most cases, the agency that received a notice had another full year of funding coming to it, however the notice states the termination is effective immediately.  

In these instances we have seen AG’s  pushback against the Trump administration and I would not be surprised if we see that happen again in this instance.   We will be contacting the AG’s Office today.

I would like to hear from our members with information re:  the breadth of the terminations across various federal grants so if you received a notice re:  a termination for a different grant (different from MAT-PDOA or MHAT) please let me know.

Back to you shortly.

Lauri 

PS – Just spotted this article, published 12 minutes ago:

Trump administration sends letter wiping out addiction, mental health grants

JANUARY 14, 20269:50 AM ET

The Trump administration sent shockwaves through the U.S. mental health and drug addiction system late Tuesday, sending hundreds of termination letters, effective immediately, for federal grants supporting health services.

Two sources said they believe total cuts to nonprofit groups, many providing street-level care to people experiencing addiction, homelessness and mental illness, could reach roughly $2 billion. NPR wasn’t able to independently confirm the scale of the grant cancellation. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) didn’t respond to a request for clarification.

“We are definitely looking at severe loss of front-line capacity,” said Andrew Kessler, head of Slingshot Solutions, a consultancy firm that works with mental health and addiction groups nationwide. “[Programs] may have to shut their doors tomorrow.”