In 2001, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded the Helpline Evaluation and Linkage Program (HELP I). HELP I provided a 3-year grant to the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) to certify crisis centers that provide suicide prevention and intervention services across the country. AAS subcontracted with the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC) for the operation of the National Hopeline Network (1-800-SUICIDE) to supply these centers with a national network accessible through a toll-free number.

The HELP I grant expired on September 30, 2004. As a result, SAMHSA released in July 2004 a notice of funding availability (NOFA) as part of its National Suicide Prevention Initiative (NSPI), a collaborative, multiproject effort to reduce suicide, led by SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services. In keeping with SAMHSA's commitment to advance the goals of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, the NOFA called for proposals from nonprofit organizations to expand, enhance, and sustain the current network of certified crisis centers providing suicide prevention and intervention services to those in need using a new, memorable name, toll-free number, and Web site.

In September of 2004, the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA of NYC), with their partners The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and Columbia University/Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH) and Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, were selected to administer the federally funded network of crisis centers. They were selected because their experience in providing mental health services through telephone technology and for their vision to expand the services that would be available to the American public.