Altarum Institute is responsible for conducting the first-ever national, independent evaluations of two major block grant programs of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant. Each of these evaluation projects represents a comprehensive examination of federal and state resources, processes, and outputs related to the block grants.

The evaluations are designed to assess whether the block grant programs are efficient, effective, and achieving positive results for the populations that they serve. Every state and territory that receives block grant funds will be included in these evaluations, and many behavioral health stakeholders will be asked to participate in surveys and interviews conducted by Altarum. Through the course of these evaluations, Altarum staff members have given briefings to the Office of Management and Budget and provided recommendations regarding the development of block grant-specific performance measures.