Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify core competencies for community mental health nurses and investigate their perception of importance and need for training for each competency item. Methods: Sixty-five core competency items were drawn from a literature review and content validity analysis. A survey on importance and need for training for the 65 competency items was conducted with 99 community mental health nurses. Results: From 65 core competencies, 3 categories emerged: 1) Attitude: 9 items on values and attitudes, and 5 items on personal characteristics, 2) Knowledge: 15 items related to knowledge of signs, symptoms and maladaptive behaviors, 3) Skill: 36 items including skills of assessment, and medication management. Knowledge of signs, symptoms and maladaptive behaviors were the most important. Nine items on need for training in the attitude category were included in the upper 25% of the items. Some items show significant differences (p<.05) depending on the level of education, length of career year, and case loading. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest further research a) identifying core competency items from client and family members, b) introduce competencies that nurses can develop over time through an educational base as well as a multitude of experiences.