The Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) at the American Nurses Association (ANA) grew as a response to the lack of mental health and substance abuse nurse professionals who could provide culturally competent care to an increasingly diverse population with ever-expanding needs for mental health and substance abuse disorders services, research, advocacy, and policy development.

Through the MFP, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides federal grants to increase the number of PhD prepared nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists from underrepresented ethnic minority groups who will:

Conduct research about substance abuse and mental health disorders prevention and treatment within minority populations, across all age groups and in a variety of settings; Assume leadership roles in the initiation of scientific investigations and service utilization phenomena that occur among ethnic minority populations; Expand and contribute to the evidence-based practice of substance abuse and mental health disorders prevention and treatment among ethnic minority populations throughout the lifespan; and Function as leaders and members of interdisciplinary research, public health policy, and direct-service care teams with the objective of improving the overall health status of ethnic minority populations.