The Biden-Harris administration announced more than $95 million in funding across 35 states Monday to increase school-based mental health services.
These awards were funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law last summer, and hope to fortify “the pipeline of mental health professionals in high-needs school districts,” according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Education.
Since Biden’s ink has dried on the legislation, the department has awarded over $280 million to boost the training, hiring and diversification of mental health professionals. Through the act’s “School-Based Mental Health” and “Mental Health Service Professional” grant programs, an estimated 14,000 new mental health professionals will be prepared for school across the country.
The department is also funding a new Mental Health Personnel Technical Assistance Center to support grantees.
This announcement reflects 93 additional awards for outfits training service professionals. In total, 160 grantees will train and place thousands of certified providers in schools with the most need thanks to the act. It joins $141 million in grants supporting school districts to hire mental health professionals.
Delaware is estimated to gain about 36 school-based mental health professionals.
And there’s more to come.
Over the next five years, the department will invest the remainder of the $1 billion through the same grant programs — striving to double the number of school-based mental health professionals.
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How many new school-based mental health professionals are headed to each state in the Northeast?
- Delaware: 36
- Massachusetts: 400
- Maryland: 521
- Maine: 64
- New Hampshire: 80
- New Jersey: 221
- New York: 395
- Rhode Island: 89
- Vermont: 16
- Connecticut: 14
Which educational outfits secured grants in the Northeast?
- William James College, Inc. — $1,180,657
- University of Massachusetts — $451,347
- City of Boston — $1,179,945
- The Johns Hopkins University — $693,004
- University of Maryland — $825,567
- Loyola University — $377,941
- Bowie State University — $674,464
- University of New Hampshire — $763,446
- Rowan University — $645,198
- Long Island University — $866,498
- Research Foundation for SUNY at Binghamton — $1,088,588
- The Renaissance Charter School — $862,037
- Research Foundation for SUNY at Binghamton — $699,595
- Alfred University — $904,228
- Eastern University — $1,199,357
- The School District of Philadelphia — $927,323
- Vermont State Colleges d/b/a Northern Vermont University — $97,617
These figures are estimates generated by grantees through their applications for federal funding, according to the Department of Education.
Have a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network’s Northeast Region and Delaware Online, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.
