Will County Community Mental Health Board Faces $5 Million Shortfall in 2026 Grant Requests

Will County Executive Committee Meeting | March 12, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Community Mental Health Board has received over $9 million in funding requests for its 2026 grant cycle, far exceeding its $4 million competitive budget. Despite the looming deficit, the board is pushing forward with a $1 million initiative to expand a first-responder-led counseling program countywide.

Will County Mental Health Board Key Points:

• The board received applications from 60 providers requesting more than $9 million for the 2026 grant cycle, competing for just $4 million in budgeted funds.

• The 2026 funding will be divided across three pillars: $1,402,577 for Intellectual/Developmental Disability programs, $1,280,000 for Mental Health, and $1,187,115 for Substance Use.

• The board is dedicating $1 million to expand a specialized counseling program, originally initiated by the Joliet Fire Department, across the entire county.

• For the inaugural 2025 grant cycle, 51.3% of the awarded $5.06 million has been reimbursed, supporting 12,893 Will County residents.

The Will County Board Executive Committee on Thursday, March 12, 2026, received a comprehensive quarterly report from the Community Mental Health Board, highlighting immense community demand that has drastically outpaced available local funding.

Executive Director Teena Mackey presented the board’s operational data, noting that the inaugural 2025 grant cycle is winding down, with programs concluding on April 14 and final payment requests due May 1. According to the agenda packet, the 2025 cycle successfully awarded $5,065,281.39. To date, expenditures have tracked perfectly with grantee forecasts, with just over 51% of funds reimbursed.

The 2025 funding successfully hired 31 new staff members and supported 166 existing personnel across the county, delivering direct services to 12,893 residents.

However, looking ahead to the 2026 grant cycle, which launches April 1, the board is facing a massive financial bottleneck.

“It’s exciting that we had 60 providers apply for over $9 million. The bad news is that we have about $4 million budgeted for the competitive grant cycle,” Mackey informed the committee. “We’ve got 38 of those applicants are repeat applicants from the 2025 [cycle]. So, we’ve got some good solid information about performance and success in implementing applications.”

When asked by Vice-Chair Mica Freeman how the rest of the board’s funding is allocated outside the $4 million competitive pool, Mackey explained that $1 million is specifically committed to a countywide counseling expansion. An additional 3% (roughly $300,000) is reserved for emergency funding, and 4% covers operational costs.

The $1 million counseling expansion is an ambitious project modeled after a highly successful local initiative.

“The Community Mental Health Board is very committed to expanding the countywide counseling services program,” Mackey explained. “You’ve met the Joliet Fire Department. You know, they’ve initiated the counseling program in the city of Joliet to great success… We’re very committed to expanding that counseling program to a countywide counseling support program. So, we’ll be working hard with them in upcoming weeks. We’re hopeful to launch that in the very near future.”

In terms of raw volume, Mackey noted that the “Mental Health” pillar receives the most grant requests by far. However, the “Intellectual/Developmental Disability” (IDD) pillar is slated to receive the largest sum of the 2026 competitive budget at $1,402,577.

“Intellectual developmental disability programming generally tends to be more expensive,” Mackey clarified. “It requires typically a higher level of care with fewer people. And it just is a costlier program generally. We really pay attention to the scoring… so we don’t select an application in mental health that maybe has scored very low just for the sake of evening out those dollar amounts.”

The Mental Health Board is expected to notify the selected 2026 grantees in the coming days.