Register for the webinar to be held on Wednesday, August 12 at 4:00 pm ET.
Join the webinar to learn more about participating in ACL’s MENTAL Health Innovation Challenge competition. This Challenge is designed to develop a software platform that increases awareness of, access to, and use of social engagement technologies and programming to help curtail the impact of loneliness and social isolation.
The goal of this challenge is to increase consumer awareness and use of technology tools that enable older adults, people with disabilities, racial and minority populations, veterans, as well as those who live in care facilities and group homes that may be isolated from visitors and family members, to socially engage and connect to families, friends, communities, and activities of interest. The Challenge is seeking solutions that assess individuals for social isolation and matches them with appropriate technology tools and social engagement programming that best meet their needs. Successful solutions will build from existing assessments, technology tools, and use state-of-the-art matching algorithms.
The webinar will include an overview of the web platform that teams can use to match up or collaborate with other teams, more information about the technical aspects of the Challenge, and an opportunity for solvers to ask questions.
Contact MENTALHealthChallenge@acl.hhs.gov with any questions.
About the MENTAL Health Innovation Challenge:
Launched by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (both divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), a total of $750,000 in prizes will be awarded for the development of an easy-to-use online system that matches socially-isolated people's needs, interests, and abilities with programs, activities, technologies, and resources that can help users connect to others and engage in the community. The winning system will be announced and demonstrated in January 2021 at CES. And the winning system ultimately will become the centerpiece of a national public awareness campaign.
Supporting partners for the Mobilizing and Empowering the Nation and Technology to Address Loneliness & social isolation (MENTAL) Health Innovation Challenge include the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Challenge is coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
More information about the MENTAL Health Innovation Challenge, including deadlines, evaluation criteria, resources, and informational webinars can be found at ACL.gov/MENTAL and at challenge.gov/challenge/MENTAL-health-social-isolation-challenge.
About the partners for MENTAL Health Innovation Challenge:
- The Administration for Community Living (ACL) at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was created around the fundamental principle that older adults and people of all ages with disabilities should be able to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to participate fully in their communities. By funding services and supports provided by networks of community-based organizations, and with investments in research, education, and innovation, ACL helps make this principle a reality for millions of Americans.
- The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees the Department’s key public health offices and programs, a number of Presidential and Secretarial advisory committees, 10 regional health offices across the nation, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
- In 1976, Congress established the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to provide the President and others within the Executive Office of the President with advice on the scientific, engineering, and technological aspects of the economy, national security, homeland security, health, foreign relations, the environment, and the technological recovery and use of resources, among other topics.
- The mission of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to fulfill President Lincoln's promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans. Within the VA, the Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health care network in the United States, with 1,255 health care facilities serving nine million enrolled veterans each year.
- The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.