Grants Address Violence, Student Mental Health

New grants awarded from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) are designed to address community violence and its effects on student mental health. The $6.4 million in funding is part of the Project Prevent grant program.

“The youth mental health crisis and the devastating impact of gun violence on our communities have been mounting for years,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “But we are making historic investments that will reshape how our schools care for students and provide the safe learning environments they need to grow and succeed.”

“ These investments mean that schools and communities will have more resources for the interventions that help keep students safe and healthy,” he continued. “The fact is, we cannot recover academically and Raise the Bar for education in this country unless we meet the needs of the whole child, and that starts with creating safe, welcoming schools where teaching and learning can truly thrive.”

Project Prevent grants help build the capacity of local educational agencies (LEAs) that have been affected by community violence to expand their capacity to implement community- and school-based strategies to prevent and mitigate the impacts of community violence, and to address the impacts of exposure to community violence. For fiscal year 2024, the seven new grants will focus on building connections between schools and community-based organizations to provide students with the resources to help break cycles of violence and trauma, including through the use of mental health services and supports.

These awards will allow school districts to identify and serve students exposed to community violence by helping them increase student access to mental health services, support conflict management programs, and implement other community- and school-based strategies to help prevent community violence and to mitigate the impacts of exposure to community violence.

Recipients of the new Project Prevent grant monies are:

·       $1,013,133 to the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in Georgia

·       $1,013,113 to the Buffalo City School District in New York

·       $1,012,267 to the Educational Service District 105 in Washington

·       $954,196 to the Tahlequah Public School System in Oklahoma

·       $949,264 to the Norfolk Public School System in Virginia

·       $759,624 to the Osage County Interlocal Cooperative in Oklahoma

·       $698,584 to Mastery Charter Schools in Pennsylvania