ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS:
There is a growing awareness that a combination of factors may influence the help-seeking and service utilization behavior of African American individuals and families including general mistrust of medical health professionals, cultural barriers, community stigma associated with mental illness and substance abuse, myths about their causes, and availability of as well as access to services. The impact that a lack of information about mental illness has in African American communities is intensified by the shortage of trained, culturally competent professionals prepared to provide quality services.

The NLC seeks to provide leadership in building and supporting behavioral health systems that reduce disparities and contribute to optimal health in our communities. The specific objectives and goals fall into four distinct but connected domains. Below are the stated domains with an example of a goal in that area. It can be assumed that each goal identified and pursued by the national organization includes and reflects the stated concerns of consumers and their family members and that cultural competency is a factor considered in all areas. It can also be assumed that the NLC recognizes the value of working with other national organizations to reduce existing disparities.

The National Leadership Council is comprised of individuals who share an interest in promoting the strengths & health of African American children, families, and communities. The group represents an array of perspectives including:

In October, 2001 the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work, with in-kind support from the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, sponsored a conference for the purpose of initiating a national dialogue and strategy to address mental health disparities among African Americans as identified by Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. in his 1999 and 2001 reports on mental health, culture, race and ethnicity. An array of disciplines was represented including social work, law, medicine, and education and attendees included psychologist, psychiatrist, mental health services consumers, family members of consumers, social workers, professors, nurses, administrators in addiction treatment, researchers, and graduate students in the social sciences. The conference had two expressed purposes. The first was to outline plans for a national mental health organization designed to advocate for the inclusion of the interest of African Americans in the creation of national, state, local and private behavioral health care policy, services, research, staffing, education and financing. A second purpose was to explore the feasibility of a national conference addressing mental health and substance abuse issues found in African American communities.

The NLC was formed as a result of that initial conference and established its non-profit 501 © 3 status in August, 2002. The second goal of having a national conference was realized in November, 2003. The three divisions of SAMHSA – The Center for Mental Health Services, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, co-sponsored and funded the National African American Mental Health and Substance Abuse Summit: Solidifying the Dialogue to Eliminate Disparities.