Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides hundreds of millions of dollars to increase school-based mental health

    The White House   The U.S. Department of Education released notices inviting applications for two grant programs Monday to increase access to mental health services for students and young people, totaling $280 million, [...] The post   Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides hundreds of millions of dollars to increase school-based mental health appeared first on Dallas Examiner.

   Bipartisan Safer Communities Act provides hundreds of millions of dollars to increase school-based mental health

 

 

The White House

 

The U.S. Department of Education released notices inviting applications for two grant programs Monday to increase access to mental health services for students and young people, totaling $280 million, that were funded through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations.

The BSCA provided historic funding to help meet President Joe Biden’s goal of doubling the number of school-based mental health professionals and tackling the nation’s mental health crisis. It is the first of $1 billion in BSCA funds over the next five years that the Department of Education will award for this purpose.

“For too long, schools have lacked the resources to hire enough school-based mental health providers, when at the same time, educators are often first to notice when a student is slipping academically or struggling because of mental health challenges,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “We know children and youth can’t do their best learning when they’re experiencing depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges whether they stem from community violence, social isolation from the pandemic, loss of loved ones, bullying, harassment or something else.

“This funding from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will help schools raise the bar for student mental health by recruiting, preparing, hiring and training highly qualified school-based mental health providers, including in underserved communities and for students such as multilingual learners and those from low-income backgrounds and in rural communities, where access to such services can be limited.”

The first grant program, School-Based Mental Health Services, will provide funding to schools to increase the number of credentialed school-based mental health professionals.

The second program, the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grants, support districts in hiring additional school-based mental health service providers in high-need districts by boosting the mental health profession pipeline. This includes investing in innovative partnerships between school districts and institutions of higher education to prepare qualified school-based mental health services providers for employment in schools.

The programs will increase the number of mental health service providers from diverse backgrounds or from the communities they serve, including ensuring access to services for children and youth who are English learners.

The announcement is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to addressing the nation’s mental health crisis by providing more resources and supports to help schools address students’ mental health needs. As part of that effort, in January, Secretary Cardona laid out the department’s goals and vision for helping students recover from the pandemic, including increasing access to social, emotional and mental health supports for all students.

Just recently, the DOE announced the Stronger Connections Grant program, which are awards totaling nearly $1 billion to 56 states and territories through BSCA to help schools in high-need districts provide students with safe and supportive learning opportunities and environments that are critical for their success.

At the beginning of the school year, the department sent a letter with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra to governors across the country to highlight federal resources available to states and schools to invest in mental health services for students. It also awarded $122 billion in ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to help schools reopen and recover. Experts indicate more than $2 billion have been directed to hire more school psychologists, counselors and other mental health professionals in K-12 schools. With the help of these funds, as of July, compared with the pre-pandemic period, the number of school social workers is up 54% and the number of school counselors is up 22%.

Coinciding with this announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services announced awards of nearly $27 million to improve and expand mental health care for children. This funding would offer timely mental health support to children and adolescents by training pediatricians and other children’s health care providers in treating mental health conditions and by providing tele-consultation to bring mental health expert support directly to pediatric primary care providers.

 

The SBMH

The School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program will provide competitive grants to state educational agencies, local educational agencies – or LEAs – and consortia of LEAs to increase the number of credentialed school-based mental health service providers delivering school-based mental health services to students in LEAs with demonstrated need. The grant will provide $144 million each year for 5 years, with an average award size of $1,750,000, ranging from $500,000 to $3,000,000 per year. The department anticipated issuing up to 150 awards. Two technical assistance webinars for prospective applicants will be provided: Oct. 11 and Oct. 19, prior to the application deadline. Webinar information will be available at oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants. Click the box at the bottom of the page labeled “Safe & Supportive Schools” then find the grant among the boxes at the bottom.

 

The MHSP

The Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program will provide competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health services providers for employment in schools and LEAs. The grant program aims to address a challenge facing districts and schools across the country: an insufficient supply of school-based mental health professionals to meet the needs of students.

The partnerships must include the following:

  • One or more high-need LEA or an SEA on behalf of one or more high-need LEA.
  • One or more eligible institutions of higher education.

These grants make available $143 million a year for 5 years, with an average award size of $800,000, ranging from $400,000 to $1,200,000 per year. The department anticipated issuing up to 250 awards. Two technical assistance webinars for prospective applicants will be provided: Oct. 12 and Oct. 18, prior to the application deadline. Webinar information will be available at oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants. Click the box at the bottom of the page labeled “Safe & Supportive Schools” then find the grant among the boxes at the bottom.

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