NAAPIMHA Releases Coalition Statement Raising the Alarm about Workforce Cuts & Restructuring Moves at Federal Health Agencies & The Impact on AANHPI Mental Health
- NAAPIMHA
- Apr 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 30
Today, over 50 AANHPI-serving organizations released a statement following the waves of extreme cuts in the workforce at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), emphasizing their impact on AANHPI mental health:
NAAPIMHA, the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and the undersigned organizations represent a growing coalition of organizations that have come together to safeguard and promote the mental health and well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders nationwide. Together, we represent people with mental health conditions and substance use disorders and their families, individuals affected by suicide, healthcare professionals, advocates for civil and disability rights, and others.
To this end, we are extremely alarmed by the recent, widespread staffing, funding, and infrastructure cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and their immediate and long-term impacts on AANHPI mental health.
These cuts are being made at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Office of Behavioral Health Equity (OBHE), and the Office of Minority Health (OMH). These actions join the recent attacks on other federal health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institute of Health (NIH), all moves that severely endanger public health in the United States. The Administration cannot advocate for a “healthier America” while simultaneously dismantling the very agencies that support the health of all Americans. These drastic cuts are harmful, unnecessary, and go against what’s needed to truly support our AANHPI communities.
There is no evidence that these highly disruptive and chaotic measures will advance the Administration’s stated goals to reduce chronic disease, save billions of dollars, and increase government efficiency. The opposite is far more likely, as the country becomes doomed to experience an increase in preventable deaths and the spread of disease, with great costs in human life and economic burden resulting from untreated mental health disparities[1].
In particular, NAAPIMHA is concerned with the swift and effective dismantling of SAMHSA’s Office of Behavioral Health Equity (OBHE). Founded in 2012 as a result of the Affordable Care Act’s Congressional Statute provision to create Offices of Minority Health across HHS agencies, OBHE’s mission is to ensure that underserved, under-resourced communities are equitably included in SAMHSA's mission and to address the unique challenges of these groups in behavioral health. Over the last 13 years, NAAPIMHA has worked closely with OBHE to train community members and champion mental health visibility for AANHPI communities.
For communities across the country, the current Administration’s actions will have profoundly harmful impacts on mental health and well-being. For AANHPI communities in particular, these consequences include:
Short-term, immediate outcomes:
The loss of critical national data on AANHPI mental health and substance use;
The termination of grants currently supporting academic research in vital areas of mental health;
A major reduction in the staffing capacity of life-saving behavioral health crisis supports, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline services; and
The loss of programs and services designed to provide culturally and linguistically responsive behavioral health care to AANHPI communities.
Potential long-term impacts:
Higher financial costs for community members seeking emergency mental health services;
The exacerbation of the nation’s ongoing mental health crisis, as the demand for providers outstrips the pace of workforce development;
Overall, a dangerous jeopardization of years of work and progress in building trust between the government and historically traumatized and mistreated communities around engagement with mental health services; and lastly,
A dangerous invisibilization of the mental health disparities and unique social determinants of health that AANHPI communities face.
The Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community is among the fastest growing population groups in the United States (making up 7% of the population) and have made significant economic, cultural, and social contributions. Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders are a significant and growing economic force in the U.S., contributing almost $250 billion in income taxes[2] and $543 million in spending power. There are 3 million AAPI-owned businesses in the U.S. supporting more than 5.2 million jobs. Overall AANHPI communities contribute overall $1+ trillion to the US economy through taxes and business[3].
That said, we know that 65.3% of the estimated 2.9 million AANHPIs who meet the criteria for a mental health problem do not receive treatment, and AANHPIs have among the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services. From 2018-2023, AANHPI youth ages 10-24 years old in the U.S. were the only racial/ethnic population in this age category whose leading cause of death was suicide. Given this alarming reality, the importance of the federal agencies and offices that support our communities' mental health cannot be overstated. The harm done in gutting these agencies spells out a clear disaster for the health and safety of AANHPIs across the country.
NAAPIMHA and its partners strongly urge AANHPI communities to stay informed about the consequences of the Administration’s actions on our communities’ mental health & well-being and, in addition, consider the following calls to action:
Contacting your state’s Attorney General to inform a case against the Administration’s actions that violate Congressional statutes responsible for establishing SAMHSA and entities such as the Office of Minority Health.
Contacting your Congressional representatives to demand action, including that they demand transparency and hold HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accountable for the public health ramifications of these restructuring moves. Please find sample guidance here.
Contacting NAAPIMHA via this Google form to report information about how your organization is being impacted by a loss of funds, grants, services, leadership, etc., so that the community impact of this Administration’s actions can be catalogued and shared.
Sincerely,
National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA)
AAPI Equity Alliance
AAPI Youth Rising
Active Aging Consortium Asia Pacific
American Muslim Health Professionals
APIDA Tulsa
Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)
Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA)
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey (AAPI NJ)
Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI)
Asian Counseling and Referral Service
Asian Mental Health Collective
Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education
Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Association for Infant Mental Health in Hawai'i
Association of Chinese Americans
Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio
Capacity Sharing LCSW PLLC
CASL
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Community Health Initiative
Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership
Cuaresma Counseling, PLLC
East Bay Asian Youth Center
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Filipino Mental Health Initiative - Hawaii
Hmong Cultural Center of Butte County
Japanese American Citizens League
Jay Walkers for Suicide Prevention
JessSayIt LLC
LEAD Filipino
Mabuhay, Inc.
Mango Tree Counseling
Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities
National Alliance for Filipino Concerns - US
National Asian Pacific American Families Allied for Substance Awareness and Harm Reduction (NAPAFASA)
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA)
NICOS Chinese Health Coalition
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Greater Chicago
OCA-NY
OCA Advocates St. Louis
Philippine-American Women's Association of Louisiana
RAMS (Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc.)
Regional Pacific Islander Taskforce
Sakura Foundation
Samoan Community Development Center
Self-Help for the Elderly
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity & Race (APA Div 45)
South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA)
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Stop AAPI Hate
Sweet Mango Therapy Group, Inc.
Taulama
Thriving Asians
Thriving Twentysomethings
UCA WAVES Youth Mental Health Collaboratives
Virtual Teachers Lounge 4 Today
We Rise Therapy and Wellness LLC
Yellow Chair Collective
YourPlace Therapy
[1] Deloitte Health Equity Institute and the School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College, Dawes et al. (2024) The projected costs and economic impact of mental health inequities in the United States. Available from: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/economic-burden-mental-health-inequities.html
[2] Fact Sheet on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific ... https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Fact-Sheet-AANHPI-Booklet.pdf
[3] Asian American Purchasing Power, Income, Wealth & Data Research https://www.myasianvoice.com/our-economic-power
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About NAAPIMHA
NAAPIMHA, the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, is a national 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and redefine the mental health and wellbeing of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, through mental health trainings, community mental health programs, national policy and advocacy, and rapid community crisis response, while centering those with lived experience.
Since 2001, NAAPIMHA has worked with AANHPI-serving community based organizations across the country to identify and respond to the mental health needs of AANHPI communities nationwide. Over the past 20 years, provided training and consultation to over 150 AANHPI-serving community-based organizations and 3500 AANHPIs around the country resulting in behavior change and improved skills to promote positive health outcomes for individuals and the communities they serve.
Learn more at: www.naapimha.org
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