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The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Access Improvement Project supports the expansion of 988 Lifeline services for anyone in the U.S. who is experiencing a mental health or suicide crisis or their loved ones. Namely, this project will enhance the infrastructure for 988 operations and workforce management to meet increased service demands and expand language and access options; strengthen technical assistance, communication, and engagement with network centers to improve network performance; and expand support for populations at high risk of suicide. Through this project, 988 lifeline has the potential to reach over 7.5 million users in the coming year. This will be achieved by: 1. Improving operational efficiency and performance through the development of enhanced operational reporting, workforce management tools, enhanced network health monitoring, and alerting, the creation of a central management system, external partner dashboards, a public website to provide transparency into network health and performance, communications and media dashboards, secure tools to facilitate quality assurance activities, a system for managing information requests and a system for better managing the sub awardees that will support the expansion of services. For Spanish language services voice, chat and text will be expanded by contracting with additional crisis centers with Spanish-speaking counselors, investing the in the translation of training materials, resources, and public communications, and expanding our use of translation services access in network communications. We will build services for the deaf and hard of hearing by investing in Video Phone access and expanding contracts with centers working with deaf and hard of hearing communities. 2. Increasing communication with all centers, providing additional engagement and targeted technical assistance to low-performing centers and states, and providing additional technical support to better coordinate communications, meetings, and other activities. Enhancements to network infrastructure will further support this aim by providing more visibility into performance gaps, more timely notification of concerns, and new workforce management tools to better support performance improvement. 3. Expanding connection options to populations at high risk of suicide including LBGTQIA, American Indian and Alaskan Native, rural individuals, individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders, Black and African American youth, and older men, by engaging community experts, developing network training, and contracting with centers that specialize in providing services to these populations. We will engage in evaluation efforts to better understand preferred methods of contact for each of these populations and identify additional populations who may be at increased risk.

Jordan Community Residential Center (JCRC) and Serenity Health and Wellness Corporation (SHWC) have partnered together to launch We Are One Community, a full-service program that that will integrate evidence-based violence prevention, trauma-informed behavioral health services, and community-based approaches to build resilience and mental health literacy in communities impacted by violence and collective trauma. Target Populations: The project will target African American and Hispanic at/high-risk youth aged 13 to 24 and their families that reside in Cleveland, Ohio, with a special focus on these communities: Lee Harvard, Collinwood, Mt Pleasant, and Downtown Cleveland (Euclid corridor), which are considered “hot spots” – street intersections and block segments where most violent crime occurs. The population of focus is low-income – 50% will live 100% below the poverty line and 50% will live 200% below the poverty line; 80% will be low academic achievers, 80% will have one or more substance use disorders, 50% will have co-occurring disorders, 100% will have experienced at least one incident of community violence, and 100% will have experienced trauma. Strategies/Interventions: The project is divided into four parts, which includes 1) Understanding the Community by creating a coalition of community members from different sectors to gather and analyze community needs and resources and develop a strategic plan of targeted violence prevention and trauma-informed strategies. 2) Increasing Access to Trauma-informed Behavioral Health Services by launching an after school art therapy and violence prevention program, training and collaborating with primary care physicians to screen parents using an evidence based SEEK method and linking parents to treatment, creating a service provider sub-committee to coordinate treatment for children and their families, and providing navigation services to ensure participants are directly linked to wraparound services; 3) Training the Community in relevant interventions and approaches; and 4) Conducting Community Outreach by recruiting and training popular opinion leaders to improve mental health literacy and reduce stigma. Goals and Objectives: Goal 1: Increase the capacity of the targeted communities to educate families, youth, and community members about mental health disorders by creating a coalition; Goal 2: Increase violence prevention efforts and build community resiliency by creating a targeted strategic plan; Goal 3: Increase environmental and social protective factors that influence the risk for violence by implementing an after-school program; Goal 4: Decrease stigma regarding mental health treatment by implementing trauma-informed care interventions and trainings; Goal 5: Increase access to behavioral health treatment by helping treatment providers enroll in Medicaid; Goal 6: Increase access to behavioral health treatment by training primary care physicians on the SEEK screening method; Goal 7: Increase mental health literacy among targeted communities by disseminating digital and print mental health messaging. By December 31, 2026: 70% of youth participants will report abstaining from alcohol and other drugs at six-months post intake and 100% of youth participants will not commit new law violations. People Served: With grant funds, the project will serve 700 unduplicated individuals in violence prevention programming over the lifetime of the grant (100 in year 1 and 200 per year in years 2-4).

Gang Alternative, Inc., a community-based organization serving South Florida for over 17 years is proposing Project CAATS (Collective Action for Addressing Trauma and Stress). CAATS is designed to effectively address community violence and collective trauma, using a comprehensive, integrated and multi-sectoral approach to substance use prevention, violence prevention, and trauma-focused community engagement is needed. CAATS is community and data-driven initiative and will be guided by a diverse community coalition with social service providers and youth and adult with lived experiences. CAATS will target several high crime, high violence and high poverty communities predominantly populated by Black immigrants the tri-county area: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In The harsh reality is that residents in these communities wake up to trauma every day! Trauma from financial instability, poor quality of health care, criminal and violence victimization, and systemic prejudice and racism. Furthermore, based on research that found a strong link between exposure to traumatic events and substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health (MH), it can extrapolated that these communities also have undocumented cases of SUD and undiagnosed MH. CAATS will be guided by the Strategic Prevention Framework and will community violence interventions and trauma-focused approaches to provide services and programming to promote resilience, and advance equity in high-risk communities that have experienced exponential trauma from community violence over the past 2 years. CAATS will provide direct services to 1425 individual annually with an estimated 9500 as indirect beneficiaries per year. The projected total for lifespan of the project is 5700 unduplicated individuals served directly and 38,000 receiving indirect services through environmental strategies.

Project Summary: Solano County Office of Education will advance healing and improve social determinants of health among youth and families in communities that have experienced civil unrest, community violence, disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other significant collective trauma over the past 24 months. SCOE will engage the community to plan and deploy culturally concordant, trauma informed prevention, intervention, and postvention strategies that build school and community capacity, expand service access, and promote healing and healthy development. Population Served: Students of Solano County public schools and their families, with a particular focus on those disproportionately impacted by the collective traumas of the past two years including Black, Latino/a, LGBTQ students and families, all of whom are more likely to experience mental health symptoms and crises. Prevention activities will be targeted to the whole community. Strategies and Interventions: Intervention strategies are designed to address the impacts on students of 1) acute and chronic community gun violence; 2) social and civil unrest in response to police violence; 3) disproportionate impacts of COVID-19; and 4) increases in self-harm, injury, and death by suicide. SCOE will serve a total of 4,200 unduplicated individuals over the duration of the project. The goals of the project are: Goal 1: Decrease incidents of community violence and the impact of collective trauma by cultivating 15 collaborative partnerships amongst community providers to assess, plan, and implement evidence-based and community driven strategies. Goal 2: Increase the knowledge and capacity of schools and other youth-serving entities to employ trauma, grief and attachment informed approaches to at least 800 youth and families impacted by collective trauma, and training at least 75% of staff on Grief, Trauma and Attachment Informed Therapeutic Techniques in an effort to reduce conflicts that rise to the level of community violence by employing restorative practices as a preventive measure. Goal 3: Increase the knowledge and development of mental health interns at both the graduate and paraprofessional level in trauma, grief counseling, and case management strategies to inform competent and culturally relevant services to those impacted by community violence and collective trauma, and to serve annually at least 40 students individually and 500 students through Wellness Centers. Goal 4: Increase the knowledge and capacity of schools and youth-serving entities to develop and implement established protocols to guide postvention responses after traumatic events that ultimately support the healing of those most impacted, and provide immediate debrief, with the aim that 80% of participants in technical assistance training will report an increase in knowledge.

In April of 2022, the tight knit Passamaquoddy community at Pleasant Point (Sipayik) experienced a devastating loss, the brutal murder of a young Passamaquoddy woman. This violent murder not only impacted the Sipayik community but resulted in collective trauma across multiple tribal communities throughout the State, as both the victim and alleged killers were tribal members. Nationally, Native American women make up a disparate and significant portion of missing and murdered cases. Not only is the murder rate for women living on reservations ten times higher than the national average, but murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women. According to the National Congress of American Indians, more than 4 out of 5 native women experience violence in their lifetime. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) has become a movement to address the high rate of violence against indigenous women. As the official state-designated public health district and a community service provider for the tribes, WPHW is applying for this grant opportunity in response to and support healing and recovery simultaneously, in multiple communities, after such a tragedy as the April 2022 murder. WPHW could do so by expanding and enhancing the structure, services, and staff we already have in place, by organizing and coordinating a Wabanaki Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma Coalition (Wabanaki ReCAST Coalition), representing all five of our communities, that can develop and implement trauma-based behavioral response team(s) that utilizes evidence-based and culturally appropriate services and provides training to appropriate stakeholder groups.

Project Summary: VOALA proposes to promote resilience and equity in South LA through 1) engaging a diverse coalition of stakeholders who will develop a needs assessment and strategic plan; 2) facilitating training for stakeholders on evidence-based practices; and 3) implementation of services to respond to identified needs, including behavioral health services, violence prevention services, and other culturally specific and developmentally appropriate strategies. Project Name: Volunteers of America of Los Angeles South LA ReCAST Populations to be Served: The project will serve residents of South LA (LA Service Planning Area 6), with an emphasis on youth and families. The population in South LA is primarily Hispanic (79%) and 18% Black. 31% of residents in South LA have incomes below the poverty line, and 44% of adults have less than a high school diploma. Strategies/Interventions: Strategies include: 1) Engaging a diverse coalition of stakeholders who will work together to develop a community-needs assessment and strategic plan; 2) facilitating training for community stakeholders on subjects including trauma-informed care, cultural competency and implicit bias reduction; and 3) implementation of services to respond to identified needs, including trauma-informed behavioral health services, evidence-based violence prevention services, positive youth development programming, and other culturally specific and developmentally appropriate strategies that address the needs of high-risk youth and families. Project Goals and Objectives: VOALA proposes to serve 525 individuals in Year 1 (375 through community engagement and 150 through partner trainings), and 600 individuals/year in Years 2-4 (50 through community engagement, 400 through direct client services, and 150 through partner trainings) for a total of 2,325 individuals served. VOALA has established the following goals and measurable objectives: 1) Increase community engagement amongst residents of South Los Angeles by engaging 375 individuals in needs assessment, strategic planning, and/or ongoing program meetings, as measured by the number of unduplicated individuals who participate in community assessment process and ongoing community planning meetings; 2) 80% of community members engaged during the needs assessment and/or strategic planning process will express an increased sense of ability to influence their community, as measured by pre-post-test surveys completed by community members; 3) 60% of youth/families engaged in direct participant services with identified behavioral health challenges will improve behavioral health functioning from program entry to exit, as measured by PHQ-9, GAD-7 and/or other evidenced-based tool at intake and exit; 4) 50% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services will show increased income from entry to exit, as measured by paystubs and/or public benefits award letters; 5) 60% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services with identified SUD issues will reduce substance abuse from program entry to exit, as measured by Addiction Severity Index or DAST-10 at intake and exit; 6) 80% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services will experience increased access to public/healthcare benefits from intake to exit, as measured by benefits award letters; and 7) 80% of participants in partner trainings will increase knowledge of trauma-informed approaches to services, as measured by pre-post tests administered at start and end of trainings.

Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, commonly referred to as Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH), is applying for the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration FY2022 Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) (SM-22-019) grant opportunity. MCPH is a NC Health Department Accredited with Honors in 2019 by the NCLHDA Board, is managed by Health Director, Raynard Washington, PhD, MPH, and is comprised of 940 employees serving approximately 1.2 million Mecklenburg County residents, including the City of Charlotte with a population of 874,579 (Source: 2020 Census). MCPH is in its fifth year of the 2018 ReCAST grant and experienced in promoting resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity within Mecklenburg County, the second most populous county in North Carolina, which includes Charlotte. In the aftermath of the 2016 fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by a Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer and hundreds protesting in Uptown Charlotte regarding police tactics and brutal, unjust treatment of African Americans, the impact of secondary trauma from direct and indirect exposure of traumatic events may be contributing factors to collective trauma. Then, on September 7, 2021, just over a year ago, several suspects fired nearly 150 rounds into a home, mortally wounding 3-year-old Asiah Figueroa and striking his 4-year-old sister. This incident was related to a string of five drive-by shootings involving Charlotte Mecklenburg high school students firing into occupied homes. The community grieved with candlelight vigils and protested that more must be done to prevent this type of escalating violence across Charlotte. Three ReCAST staff members have made large strides in promoting trauma-informed and resiliency trainings to 3,016 community stakeholders, thus far, and worked with community stakeholders who, in turn, worked with County Commissioners to get violence deemed a public health issue in our County. Thus, the Mecklenburg County Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) launched in 2021 within the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, the first OVP to reside in a public health department within NC. This is because between 2017-2020, there has been a 70% increase in gun-related assaults. In this grant proposal, OVP and ReCAST aim to reduce violence in Mecklenburg County by collaborating with County, City, and community partners to increase opportunity and build healthier, more resilient communities and provide community engagement opportunities for high-risk youth and their families. OVP and ReCAST worked with over 13 community violence prevention advocates to create the FY2023-FY2028 Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan. ReCAST staff work in tandem with OVP to provide violence prevention advocates the tools needed to build resiliency in their communities, especially those who have faced events of violence and have collective trauma from a history of exposure to violence. ReCAST is the behavioral health link that many violence prevention organizations lack; thus, ReCAST partners with community-based organizations to assist high-risk youth and their families by engaging youth in violence prevention advocacy efforts and provides faith-based communities navigators for linkage to behavioral health and trauma-informed resources and support networks. ReCAST priorities align with the Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan by providing more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources. Community stakeholders are engaged to implement the Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan. ReCAST is positioned to better support community healing by promoting and orchestrating community and youth engagement opportunities and disseminating culturally and developmentally appropriate information about behavioral health resources for those impacted most by collective trauma.

In August 2022, the community of Gallup, New Mexico experienced a collective trauma during which an intoxicated individual drove through a parade at the highly attended 100th Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial Celebration, a celebration of Native American ancestral cultural dances, prayers, and traditions. The crisis, resulted in 15 individuals injured, families separated during crisis, and community level trauma. Gallup is located in McKinley County (MC), the population of which is approximately 80% Native American and largely underserved, with a history of poverty, historical trauma, and heightened behavioral health problems. Despite significant community needs, MC remains chronically underserved with respect to emergency and behavioral health services. Recent years have seen sever local workforce shortages in emergency personnel, law enforcement officers, and behavioral health clinicians, and MC ranks among the worst counties statewide in its proportion of behavioral health clinicians to its population. Given Gallup's recent collective trauma and its citizens' chronic behavioral health needs, NM ReCAST aims to promote resiliency and equity through implementation of evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions and violence prevention programs to Gallup's high risk youth and families. Specifically, project goals include (1) promoting well being, resiliency, and community healing through community-based, participatory approaches; (2) creating more equitable access to trauma-informed behavioral health resources; (3) integrating behavioral health services and community systems to address social determinants of health; and (4) providing culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate program services. NM ReCAST will be guided by the Community Action Resilience Empowerment (CARE) Coalition, an established community-based coalition of residents, state and local government, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, and other entities, to ensure community voices and partnerships, as well as efficient resource sharing across organizations. Example of project objectives include: (1) conducting a community needs and resource assessment; (2) developing Memorandums of Understanding with multiple community-based organizations; (3) developing and implementing a community strategic plan (example activities include Talking Circles, community engagement activities, reunification team development, conflict de-escalation training, employment and housing supports, services for first responders, and direct mental health treatment for children and families); (4) implementing training related to trauma-informed behavioral health services, violence prevention programs, and community engagement programs; and (5) conducting other relevant trainings ( i.e. in mental health literacy, disaster recovery and crisis response, cultural competency and implicit bias reduction) to relevant stakeholders. 700 citizens will be served through these activities.

Rebuilding and Engaging to Foster Resiliency Among Muslims Experiencing (REFRAME) Violence: A Multilevel Community-Based Approach is a four tiered intervention that attends to the behavioral health and well-being of Muslim and Afghan, African, and Arabic Newcomer (MAAAN) youth and their families in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the U.S., newcomers often have high rates of psychological distress, limited material resources, lingering physical ailments, and loss of meaningful social roles and support, all of which are compounded by structural racism, discrimination, and marginalization of their cultural practices and language. Thus, attending to the mental health and well-being of MAAAN youth and their parents was a critical area of concern, even before recent community violence that occurred from November 2021 through August 2022, during which time four Muslim men were murdered in Albuquerque. Authorities have reason to believe all four crimes are connected and were committed by the same suspect, a recent refugee from Afghanistan, who has been arrested and charged with two of the murders. In response to these critical resource needs and gaps, the purpose of Rebuilding and Engaging to Foster Resiliency Among Muslims Experiencing Violence (REFRAME) is to bring together long-standing community and government partners (and other organizational partners to be identified by the REFRAME coalition) to implement a multilevel (4-tier) strategy that will lead to improved behavioral health outcomes for MAAAN youth and their families through systemic changes that increase access to and use of behavioral health services by making them more linguistically and culturally appropriate, trauma- and evidence-informed, and equitable. Importantly, these efforts will be led by MAAAN community members who are uniquely qualified because of their linguistic and cultural expertise and lived experiences to facilitate healing from recent community violence and ongoing structural violence and to promote the mental health and well-being of MAAAN youth and their families in Albuquerque.

United Way of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA) and partners have developed the citywide Resilient, Equitable Systems for Overcoming Loss and Violence Everywhere (RESOLVE) New Orleans initiative. RESOLVE focuses on the predominantly Black youth and families living in communities of chronic poverty that have been most impacted by collective trauma and community violence in New Orleans. As a result of a combination of traumatic events, most Black youth living in New Orleans communities of chronic poverty have lost a family member or peer in the past 24 months. RESOLVE New Orleans seeks to: (1) Expand and create more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources and services for young people; and (2) Establish a more coordinated system of trauma-informed community-based services that mitigate the impacts of collective trauma and community violence on New Orleans youth of color from communities of chronic poverty. RESOLVE will serve 466 people in year one and 1,375 annually in years two, three and four for a total of 4,591 people served between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2026. The goals and key objectives are detailed below. 1. Develop and implement a strategic plan for a comprehensive and coordinated trauma-informed behavioral health system led by community stakeholders. 1A. By March 31, 2023, hire a Project Coordinator to support all program activities. 1B. By March 31, 2023, convene at least 10 community representatives to launch the RESOLVE New Orleans Community Advisory Board. 1C. By June 30, 2023, execute agreements with all RESOLVE partners. 1D. By June 30, 2023, complete a comprehensive needs and resources assessment. 1E. By September 30, 2023, complete and begin implementing a strategic plan. 1F. On a quarterly basis, review progress on strategic plan implementation to ensure all benchmarks are being met. 1G. By September 30, 2023, the Community Advisory Board decides the recipients of the RESOLVE subaward fund’s first round of competitive grants. 2. Expand trauma- informed behavioral health service capacity to serve high-risk youth and families. 2A. By March 31, 2023, provide funding to the Children’s Bureau of New Orleans to add clinical staff to expand community and school-based mental health services. 2B. By June 30, 2023, begin community and school-based trauma-informed behavioral health service provision that serves at least 540 individuals over the course of the grant period. 2C. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure at least 75% of individuals receiving trauma-informed behavioral health services show improved mental health on surveys. 3. Increase the number of people who work with young people and receive training in trauma-informed care interventions and approaches. 3A. By March 31, 2023, provide funding to expand trauma-informed training through the Mental Health First Aid Collective and the Coalition for Compassionate Schools (CCS). 3B. By June 30, 2023, begin expanded trauma-informed training in schools to train 2,000 people, including 100 mental health professionals, by the end of the grant period. 3C. By June 30, 2023, begin providing Mental Health First Aid training to reach 825 people who interact with youth exposed to community violence, including 250 health professionals. 3D. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure a minimum of 250 training recipients train an additional 500 community members in mental health awareness and related messages. 4. Expand trained peer supports for youth dealing with community violence and trauma. 4A. By June 30, 2023, fund partners to create a RESOLVE Peer Support Program. 4B. By September 30, 2023, begin implementing the RESOLVE Peer Support Program that will serve a minimum of 725 young people over the course of the grant period. 4C. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure at least 75% of peer support participants indicate an increased sense of well-being and coping skills in bi-monthly surveys.

Jacksonville has a has a long history of segregation, oppression, racism, and police brutality—leading to the demonstrations involving more than 3,000 people in May 2021 and Quench the Violence protest marches in May 2022. Cultivating Action, Resilience and Empowerment (CARE): Expanding the Resilient Jacksonville System of Care will utilize a rights-based framework to create an ecosystem of care to solidify, sustain and build upon community-based participatory efforts; meet the needs of high-risk youth and their families; and promote well-being, resiliency, and community healing. CARE will serve more than 15,000 unduplicated individuals in Jacksonville’s Health Zone 4, an area that has been plagued with a string of violence stemming from multiple murders of young men, in addition to having the highest rate of drug overdoses, infant mortality and domestic violence homicides of the six Duval County Health Zones. By building on the City of Jacksonville’s existing SAMHSA System of Care (SOC), we will integrate, restructure and expand the foundational components of the SOC (e.g. cultural and linguistic competency, family-driven, youth-guided, and evidence based) and ReCast (e.g., trauma-responsive training, evidence-based interventions, violence prevention strategies and community engagement strategies) that have been successfully implemented through our prior and current SAMHSA grants to establish a trauma informed Jacksonville that will focus on training first responders, community stakeholders, providers, educators, law-enforcement, clergy and parents in trauma-informed care and practices and serving more than 15,000 community stakeholders, providers, high-risk children, youth, their families and community residents residing in Jacksonville’s west side corridor, an area with violence prone communities that experience high-rates of stress and trauma. CARE will be under the leadership and guidance of the SOC Community Advisory Board, a diverse leadership consortium of community stakeholders, providers, and families and youth in the community that will ensure transparency in systemic and programmatic intervention implementation. Project goals include: (1) Building a foundation to promote well-being, resiliency, and community healing and change through community-based, participatory approaches that promote community and youth engagement, leadership development, improved governance, and capacity building; (2) Creating more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources; (3) Strengthening the integration of behavioral health services and other community systems to address the social determinants of health, recognizing that factors, such as law enforcement practices, transportation, employment, and housing policies, can contribute to health outcomes; and (4) Ensuring that program services are culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate.

The Pennsylvania Project AWARE Initiative will utilize the three-tiered public health model to expand both suicide prevention and training programs, as well as, to develop a better pathway to mental health supports and services. This project has identified three key goals that are aligned with Pennsylvania’s Statewide Suicide Prevention Plan. These goals include: increasing opportunities for students in all grades (K-12) to participate in suicide prevention training programs, ensuring school districts have appropriate mental health screening tools and personnel trained to assess mental health needs in students, and developing an electronic system to expand referral pathways to connect school-based practitioners with mental health providers with available capacity to serve new patients. This project will focus on Carbon, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Montgomery Counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is expected that the outcomes of this project will be replicable to other parts of the state in future years. The region selected for this project represents a diverse geographic footprint with 347,005 children under the age of 18 living within the region and 47 individual public-school districts. According to the 2021 Pennsylvania Youth Survey, approximately 1 in 5 students in grades 6-12 reported that they had suicidal thoughts in the past twelve months. Additionally, 1 in 3 Pennsylvania school districts report not providing suicide awareness and prevention training to students (according to a September 2022 needs assessment). The same needs assessment provided data to demonstrate that more than 400 students were awaiting behavioral health services because the school-based professional could not find a service provider with available capacity. This project will seek to provide 50% of the K-12 students within the region with a research-based suicide-prevention program in year 1. This will increase to 75% in year 2 and 90% in year 3. Additionally, this project proposes to start 5 “I’ve Got Your Back” student clubs in year 1. These clubs encourage student-led efforts towards suicide prevention within their schools. This will increase to 10 clubs in year 2 and 15 clubs in year 3. A key component of this project is to ensure that all school districts have appropriate mental health screening tools, as well as, personnel trained to utilize these tools. Therefore, this project will seek to provide at least 75% of the schools within the region with these tools and to provide training to build capacity within the schools to deliver the screenings & assessments. Given that parent input is also vital to support positive student mental health, this project will create a parent task force in each of the geographic regions to obtain parent and caregiver feedback regarding the screening/assessment tools. Finally, this project will seek to expand the existing Resource Connects website to add behavioral health services. The goal will be to not only add the contact information for these behavioral health providers to the site, but to also develop the site as a way for school-based professionals to seek out available resources to meet student needs. This will support ensuring that all students are able to receive the mental health supports they need in a timely manner.

The purpose of Utah Project AWARE 2022-2026 is to develop a sustainable infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services in Utah. The Utah Department of Human Services- Office of Substance Use and Mental Health (OSUMH) will build collaborative partnerships with the Local Education Agencies (LEAs), including Tooele County School District, North Sanpete School District, and San Juan School District. Partnerships will also be built with community-based providers of behavioral health care services, community organizations, families, and school-aged youth. OSUMH will support the three school districts in building a three-tiered system of support and increase the number of students who receive evidence-based social emotional learning curriculum, suicide prevention training, and evidence-based mental health services. OSUMH and the LEAs will also provide training to adults supporting youth to increase mental health literacy and access to quality mental health care. As a result of this project, depressive symptoms, suicide ideation, and needs for mental health treatment will be reduced in youth, in the three targeted LEAs, while access to services and knowledge of suicide prevention skills and resources will increase.

Black Family Development Inc. (BFDI) is proposing to expand Detroit Public School Community District’s (DPSCD’s) well established mental health services and support to improve the networks response to risk factors associated with suicide to include addressing social determinates of health, reducing public stigma related to receiving mental health services and enhancing protective factors to mitigate the risk of suicide including the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences through Detroit AWARE. On average, 10,000 students in 27 schools within DPSCD will have access to Detroit AWARE each funded year. Two (2) of the highest racial/ethnic student populations within DPSCD are Black/African American (82%) and Hispanic/Latinx (13.6%). Seventy-eight percent of students are eligible for free and/or reduced lunch wherein the city of Detroit has a 33.2% poverty rate. From a recent survey of students, it was determined that approximately 18% of the student body identifies as LGBTQIA. In a recent survey, 14% of DPSCD students responded as having experienced homelessness during the past year and 24% of students do not feel safe traveling to school. In addition, people of color are more likely to experience health and mental health difficulties and have a heightened risk of suicide. BFDI’s mission is to strengthen and enhance the lives of children, youth, and families through partnerships that support safe, nurturing, vibrant homes, schools, and communities. Aligning with BFDI’s mission, the following goals of Detroit AWARE will be achieved through a collaborative partnership with DPSCD, Michigan Department of Education, and Michigan Department of Human Services: Goal 1: Increase awareness of suicide prevention and behavioral health concerns amongst school-aged youth to reduce stigma and normalize seeking out support. Goal 2: Decrease suicidal ideations and self-harmful behaviors amongst school-aged youth with strength-based prevention and behavioral health treatment service supports. Goal 3: Increase mental health literacy with behavioral health education training and support to individuals who interact with school-aged youth. Goal 4: Increase culturally relevant behavioral health services and support that are provided to school-aged youth and families through diverse partnerships that foster wellness. Based upon each school-aged youth’s individual needs, BFDI uses the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Patient Health Question (PHQ-9) to determine the right pathway/level of care for school-aged youth. The three-tiered public health model for Detroit AWARE will be executed using eight (8) distinct interventions to include Screening, Prevention (including Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools), Treatment, Parent Workshop, Crisis Intervention, Referrals, Coordination of Care and Professional Development, including providing educators with Question, Persuade Refer (QPR Evidence-based suicide prevention training). BFDI’s mission emphasizes the importance of partnerships to elevate families to achieve strong outcomes. These relationships are to include community groups, peer support services, behavioral health support, and local businesses.

Summary: AWARE in Mississippi (AWARE MS) is a partnership between the MS Department of Education (MDE), the MS Achievement School District (MASD), MS Department of Mental Health (MDH), our state’s Federation of Families organization, community providers, and multiple programs across three MS universities (MSU, USM, UMMC). AWARE MS aims to increase mental health awareness, foster resilience, and strengthen access to trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and family driven mental health services and supports in Humphreys County and Yazoo City School Districts (the LEAs). Both districts are housed within the MASD, a distinct SEA that aims to transform persistently failing MS public schools. Led by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, AWARE MS will collaborate to develop and improve a school-based continuum of awareness, prevention, training, and service linkage and delivery focused on the MASD and primed to scale to other Mississippi LEAs across the state. Population: 3250 school-aged youth (K-12) and 535 school staff in Humphreys and Yazoo City School Districts. Both MASD districts are located in the Mississippi (MS) Delta region, a rural and underserved region with significant rates of child adversity and poverty. MASD districts have significantly higher proportions of Black youth (Humphreys = 97%; Yazoo City = 98%) than state averages. Prevalence of childhood mental health (MH) disorders in MS is higher (20%) than U.S. estimates, and nearly 66% do not receive treatment—the worst rate in the U.S. Both MASD districts are in HRSA-designated mental health professional shortage areas. Goal 1. Increase awareness and literacy among teachers, school-based staff, caregivers, and community organizations to identify and respond effectively to school aged youth MH problems and co-occurring needs. Key Objectives: Implement MH awareness, suicide prevention and postvention programs; disseminate a trauma-informed toolkit for school staff and parents. Expected to reach a 4-year total of 2200 unique individuals. Goal 2. Enhance resiliency and MH well-being for all school-aged youth through implementation of a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum integrated into general curriculum and linked to school-wide implementation of trauma-informed principles. Key Objectives: Implement SEL curriculum and training with teachers to promote SEL in students. Offer trauma-informed trainings to youth serving adults and parents. Expected to reach a 4-year total of 1830 unique individuals across students, teachers, school staff, and parents. Goal 3. Improve a multi-tiered system of support via a robust suite of training and workforce capacity building activities to school staff and parents that provides MH promotion, prevention, and intervention services along a public health continuum to meet students’ needs. Key Objectives: School-wide universal screening for MH, adverse childhood experiences and suicidality; implement suite of universal prevention programs; provide on-demand consultation and distance learning for mental health therapists. Expected to reach a 4-year total of 9100. Goal 4. Increase and improve student and family access to culturally relevant, and trauma-informed school and community-based activities and services through a coordinated system of care across LEAs, community agencies, and LEA, SEA, and school-based policy development. Key Objectives: Coordinate community referral pathways, develop/implement (a)crisis response and (b) school safety and threat/violence prevention plan with multidisciplinary team. Expected to reach a 4-year total of 200 individuals.