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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.

Educational Service Unit 2 (ESU2) is in Fremont, NE and serves 16 school districts in Burt, Cuming, Dodge, Sunders, and parts of Lancaster Counties. ESU 2 will partner with our 16 districts, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Nebraska Department of Education, our Regional Behavioral Health Systems, local mental health service delivery agencies, and local universities to build a capacity and sustainability for comprehensive school mental health services through evidence based practices. Through this project, over 12,000 students, their families and 958 teachers will be impacted by the development of ESU 2 ACCESS Project AWARE. Mental Health IS Health. This is the rallying cry for members of the ESU 2 ACCESS team. Charged with supporting the ever-increasing requests for mental health and behavioral supports from schools, ESU 2 assembled team ACCESS. ACCESS stands for All Children Celebrated, Educated, Save, and Secure. The project goals include: 1) Prevent development of mental health and behavioral disorders among students at each district by providing a positive, supportive, and trauma-informed learning environment; 2) Increase development of student skills fostering resilience and pro-social behaviors at each district through strength-based approaches and/or social emotional learning (SEL); 3) Increase the school-based mental health services available to students at each district site; 4) Increase each district's capacity to identify and immediately respond to the mental health needs of students exhibiting behavioral or psychological signs requiring clinical intervention; and 5) Establish school-based, culturally relevant, and evidence-based suicide awareness, prevention, and postvention for secondary schools. Through the implementation of evidence-based, trauma-informed practices in mental health screening, assessment, interventions, and treatment, up to 13,000 students will be served through the project each year.

The Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Project AWARE - “Help is Down the Hall: A Sustainable School-based Mental Health Model” is committed to developing and sustaining infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services. The Washington Project AWARE initiative proposes to enhance existing collaborative partnerships between state and regional systems to promote the healthy development of school-aged youth and to prevent youth violence through an integrated tiered school-based mental health (SBMH) service delivery model that is recovery-oriented, trauma-informed and equity-based. The overarching goals of the project are to: 1) Increase awareness of behavioral health issues among school-age youth, school staff, and families by growing mental health literacy and fostering resilience through culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and trauma-informed training and de-stigmatization efforts; 2) Increase access and connect youth and families to integrated school-based based behavioral health services and supports.; and, 3) Implement policy to enhance school supports that promote and sustain healthy social and emotional development of school-aged youth. The population served through this initiative is K-12 students and school staff in three regions in Washington State, including Educational Service District 112 (southwest); Educational Service District 105 (central); and Spokane Public Schools (northeast). These Local Education Agencies (LEAs) serve nearly 200,00 students in 56 public school districts, representing a broad and diverse student population. Data indicate considerable mental health related issues among these populations, including 35% to 40% of youth across the three LEAs reporting current depression, and 16% to 22% having contemplated suicide in the past year (HYS, 2021). The LEAs included in this proposal are strategically ready to advance school-based mental health support systems in Washington by having integrated licensed Behavioral Health Agencies within their core service delivery systems. This regional service delivery model will allow for quick launch and placement of licensed mental health staff, accustomed to providing school-based supports, and allowing for sustainability to be a focal point from day one of the project. Project activities will include conduct of LEA needs assessments, use of the SHAPE system, training and awareness activities, including targeted destigmatization efforts, and a focus on youth safety and wellness including trainings in Hazelden’s Lifelines Suicide Prevention Curriculum. Through the SBMH systems framework, LEA employed MH therapists will work in collaboration with school staff to assess, refer, triage, case manage, provide treatment, and monitor student progress. School staff, with support from the LEA project managers, will deliver Universal/Tier 1 supports, while SBMH therapists, in coordination with existing school staff, will deliver Tier 2 and Tier 3 services; SBMH therapists will be embedded into the school system delivering MH services that are recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and equity-based. To meet project goals, objectives will measure the implementation of Universal/Tier 1 best-practices; the number of trauma-informed and resilience focused social emotional learning professional development opportunities offered; and the number of mental health prevention and awareness trainings (Goal One); the implementation of early intervention and treatment best-practices; including the number of youth screened, referred, and engaged in SBMH services (Goal Two); and the number of policy changes implemented because of this funding, as well as the number of schools that adopt and implement suicide awareness and prevention training policy (Goal 3). Across the 3 LEAs, the project will serve nearly 24,000 school-aged children and their families, and over 3,000 school staff each year, with nearly 108,000 persons engaged by the end of the grant.

Union County Project AWARE Project Abstract This application, Union County Project AWARE, is submitted by the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Union County (MHRBUC), the behavioral health planning and funding authority (political subdivision) for Union County, Ohio. Union County Project AWARE will provide the needed enhanced infrastructure and integration of community and school-based behavioral health services by strengthening the multi-tiered system of support and student assistance program structures and processes and embedding school navigators, family peer support specialists, shared data, and increased access to services and effective training and support for youth services in Union County. This project includes a partnership between the MHRBUC, three LEAs; Marysville Exempted Village School District (MEVSD), North Union Local Schools (NULS), and Fairbanks Local Schools (FBLS), the State Education Association Ohio Department of Education (ODE), the State Mental Health Agency Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), and four local behavioral health providers; Maryhaven, Prevention Awareness Support Services (PASS), Wings Support and Recovery (WINGS), and Council for Union County Families (CUCF). This funding will allow Union County to develop the infrastructure and processes needed to infuse the state-level recommendations to increase sustainability of the best practices for student behavioral health. Union County Project AWARE will serve approximately 7,600 students in three Union County School districts and will encompass behavioral health services across the Institute of Medicine’s Continuum of Care from preventions to treatment and recovery supports (IOM, 2009). In 2019, MHRBUC began a significant plan to link child serving systems, behavioral health providers and public/private payers to support expanded mental health services to ALL Union County youth across the full Institute of Medicine’s Continuum of Care (IOM, 2009). This innovative and collaborative program took several years to stand up to begin serving families. One of the primary tenants of this model is to ensure that all youth and families had access to this service no matter their location or payer source. Union County Project AWARE will expand Mosaic and further provide the most cost-effective and responsive approach of embedding behavioral health services at the school building level. This project will address data-driven areas of need including enhanced collaboration and partnership, mental health literacy, continuum of care access, multi-tiered system of support, and expanded services and support. The goals of the project include; Goal 1: Enhance collaboration and partnership between student, family, school, and community behavioral health service providers to increase awareness of mental health, substance use, and co-occurring issues among school-aged youth, Goal 2: Identify and create opportunities to support school staff and community members’ mental health literacy and skill acquisition to support student and school staff wellness, Goal 3: Identify and remove barriers to access, engagement, and service delivery for services across the IOM continuum of care to promote and foster resilience building and mental health well-being, Goal 4: Establish and expand student assistance program with evidence-based and trauma-informed prevention and behavioral health interventions as a part of the school districts’ multi-tiered system of support framework, and Goal 5: Sustain and expand critical System of Care supports and services across the Institute of Medicine’s Continuum to connect school-aged youth with behavioral health issues, including SED or SMI, to the right service at the right time.

2022 Project AWARE Colorado aims to increase the mental health awareness and literacy of school-aged youth, and individuals who interact with them, and connect youth and families to culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, and equity-based strategies, services, and interventions. The Colorado Department of Education in partnership with Colorado's Behavioral Health Administration along with two identified Local Education Agencies LEAs and a Tribal Education Agency TEA will address systemic barriers to school-aged youth receiving mental and behavioral health interventions through state and local-level infrastructure improvements. Service gaps will be addressed through state and local partnerships and the implementation of evidence-based or informed policies, practices, and or programs EBPs. The LEAs are Poudre School District, the 8th largest in Colorado, with 28 percent minority students and 27 percent of students receiving free reduced lunch and Westminster Public Schools, a suburban district with 84 percent minority students and 76 percent of students receiving free reduced lunch. The TEA is the rural-based Southern Ute Education Department, serving Southern Ute Tribe students and families. Project goals and objectives include: Goal 1 Enhance school-based SB mental and behavioral health infrastructure within Colorado Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for an equity- based, culturally-responsive, and trauma-informed approach including SEA objectives: 1.1.1 Create a SB Mental Health Professionals' Early Career Pathways Strategic Plan; 1.1.2 Convene a SB Mental & Behavioral Health Alignment Advisory Board; 1.1.3 Convene a Trauma Recovery and Resilience Promotion Advisory Board to address effects of COVID-19 and other traumas; and LEA TEA objectives: 1.2.1 Develop a multi-disciplinary mental health leadership team; 1.2.2 Convene local partners to enhance behavioral and mental health infrastructure; and 1.2.3 Conduct a needs assessment of systems that support service delivery. Goal 2 Increase mental health awareness and literacy of school-aged youth and individuals who interact with them to promote wellbeing and detect signs and symptoms of mental illness, substance use or misuse, and co-occurring disorders including SEA objectives: 2.1.1 Train adults to promote wellbeing and detect signs and symptoms for youth, particularly youth who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health, resulting in behavioral health disparities.; 2.1.2 Partner with the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center to develop training for youth and families; and LEA TEA objectives: 2.2.1 Offer psychological safety and belonging training for LEA TEA school community members; and 2.2.2 Train the school community in mental health literacy or identity-affirming learning. Goal 3 Increase the capacity for and quality of implementation of EBPs, mental health services and suicide prevention efforts that are culturally-responsive and trauma-informed including SEA objectives: 3.1.1 Train SB mental health staff on evidence-based, SB mental health programming, and appropriate supports for marginalized students and 3.1.2 Develop a cross-agency partnership to create a training plan aligned with a Student Suicide Prevention & Awareness Training Policy; and LEA TEA objectives: 3.2.1 Create a Tier 2 or 3 improvement strategy; and 3.2.2 Train building level mental health staff on EBPs. Collectively, TEA LEAs will reach approximately 38,000 per year and 51,600 school-aged youth over the lifetime of the grant. Additionally, the SEA & SMHA will offer approximately 10 training opportunities each year of 2022 Project AWARE Colorado.

Based on both alarming statewide data indicating poor student mental health outcomes, and each of the 4 LEA's unique student populations and needs, Indiana's priority needs are to 1) increase access to and promote sustainability of school-based mental health infrastructure, programs, services, and supports, 2) increase the capacity of LEA partner schools' staff and students to employ evidence-based tools and systems of support, 3) increase partner schools' early identification of mental health needs, interventions to address them, referral pathways, and the number of students identified, referred, and receiving SEL/mental health services, and 4) increase student/family awareness of mental health needs, services and engagement through efforts that enhance partnerships and reduce stigma associated with mental health needs.

Summary: SCAN, Inc. in conjunction with the Laredo Independent School District (LISD) will implement the SCAN-LISD AWARE Project in Laredo, Webb County, Texas. This project will increase SCAN's ability to foster mental health awareness and resiliency among youth and their families by implementing a three-tiered public health model, which includes evidence-based universal and secondary prevention and tertiary intervention strategies. Project Name: SCAN-LISD AWARE Project. Population to be served: Laredo ISD students and their family members and employees of the school district. Statement of the Problem: Webb County has been designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for mental health services. Youth and their families face significant barriers to mental health identification and treatment, since there are great shortages of mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed counselors. Since 1990, Webb County has been designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Great quantities of illicit drugs are smuggled into the area from Mexico, making these drugs easily available and very affordable. Severe poverty, limited resources, and unique social and political issues make residents of this areas of Texas very vulnerable to substance use and misuse. Webb County has very limited mental health and substance use prevention/intervention resources available, and there is a dire need to enhance the local infrastructure to ensure that school-aged youth and their families are provided with increased access to evidence-based prevention and intervention services. Moreover, adults who work with school-aged youth need ongoing and coordinated workforce capacity building training focused on fostering mental health awareness and prevention. Strategies/Interventions: The project's Advisory Board, consisting of SCAN, LISD, the State Education Agency, the State Mental Health Agency, and other key collaborative partners will guide the development and implementation of the project. The Advisory Board will meet in an ongoing manner; conduct a needs assessment; develop an implementation plan based on a three-tiered public health model; develop a sustainability plan; and provide a variety of evidence-based and culturally appropriate prevention and intervention services and activities to meet the comprehensive needs of the target population; and monitor and evaluate the project in an ongoing manner. Project Goals & Objectives: The overarching goal is to develop a sustainable infrastructure for the provision of school-based mental health programs and services that target mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders among students in the Laredo Independent School District. The primary objectives include: -establish and maintain an Advisory Board that meets in an ongoing manner: -assemble a specialized team made to conduct a detail needs assessment and generate a formal report: -develop an implementation based on the needs assessment that includes a three-tiered public health model; -implement the plan to ensure that students are provided with access to evidence-based universal and secondary prevention strategies and tertiary intervention strategies; -provide student' parents and other adult caregivers with access to universal prevention strategies; -provide school employees with access to Mental Health First Aid and Psychological First Aid for Schools training; -develop a plan to sustain the project after federal funding ends; and *integrate the project with the Webb County Community Coalition to help create awareness of the project and enhance efforts to link students to community resources. Persons to be Served: Annually, 16,000 students and family members will receive universal prevention, 3,200 students and 500 employees secondary prevention, and 200 students tertiary intervention. Overall, an estimated 15,600 "unduplicated" students and employees will receive services.

The Federally Recognized Tribe of Lac Courte Oreilles, as the Tribal Education Agency for Ojibwe students, will implement the Lac Courte Oreilles Project AWARE program, a sustainable school-based mental health program that will build the necessary culturally and trauma informed care infrastructure in all Ojibwe serving LEA’s in Sawyer County, including, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Schools, Akii-gikinoo'amaading Charter school, Hayward Community Schools, and the school District of Winter who together, serve over 2,500 students. Lac Courte Oreilles Project AWARE program will increase the capacity for sustainable trauma informed mental health infrastructure in educational agencies that serve Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe students on and off reservation that will address the contributing factors that result in negative outcomes from untreated and suppressed mental health to improve the lives and futures of our students to improve the lives of those in our community by ensuring the implementation plan accomplishes: 1) universal prevention for our student population to promote healthy social and emotional understanding and skills; 2) selective interventions for our exhibiting risky behaviors to reduce the cause of problem behaviors, and build social and emotional skills for healthier functioning; 3) and indicated interventions for individual students that exhibit severe problem behaviors and emotions. Lac Courte Oreilles’ Community Health Center’s behavioral health provider, Bizhiki Wellness, will support School-Based Mental Health Therapists to provide direct services to participating LEA’s along with the creation of policies & procedure, workforce building plan, student suicide awareness training policy, and prevention and intervention services. By the end of each project year, 75% of students identified by mental health issues or at-risk behaviors will progress in treatment plans with counselors, counselors will have maintained contact and continued treatment plans with at least 65% of students needing care, 80% of staff at participating LEA’s and 95% of students will have at least maintained an understanding of culturally relevant trauma informed care, mental health literacy, mental health and substance abuse awareness. The project objectives address students' success in treatment plans, and promoting mental health awareness and resilience, prevention and interventions activities and pathways, and address student needs by ensuring that the impoverished and rural Ojibwe community students have equity in access to mental health providers who are historically, culturally, and trauma informed experts that prioritize building trusting effective relationships with our students and families.

Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit is working to address the increasing needs of student mental health in their 5-county service region, located in central Pennsylvania. Behavioral and mental health concerns have been significantly impacting students in the 17 school districts and 3 Career and Technical Centers served by CSIU since pre-pandemic and student needs have only been exacerbated by the ripple effects of isolation, loss, and changes in learning modalities throughout COVID-19. Through the work of Project AWARE IMPACT (Improving Mental health Practices Across Communities Together), CSIU will partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Office of Safe Schools, Geisinger Behavioral Health, and community resource agencies to create sustainable infrastructures of support to address the growing mental health needs of students and staffing shortages in school-based mental health. To meet this challenging goal, the Project AWARE IMPACT team will provide school specific action plans and associated resources to all participating districts which explicitly reflect 1) A three-tiered model for providing supports to promote positive behavioral health supports, targeted services to those who need more support, and indicated-intensive services for those in need; 2) A workforce capacity-building plan aligning the ECHO learning model to increase the mental health awareness and literacy of school staff, administrators, parents, and community-based partners who interact with students to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health issues and link them to appropriate services; 3) Referral pathways via SAP and Geisinger telehealth services to ensure that students in need of services receive necessary school-based and/or community mental health, substance use, and co-occurring supports and services; 4) A Geisinger Bridge Clinic intervention plan to ensure that school personnel can respond immediately if a school-aged youth requires crisis-level medical intervention and that parallel structures exist in the healthcare system to support the student during and following clinical intervention; and 5) A clear description of the alignment of each building’s behavioral health action plan with their respective school safety and threat/violence prevention plan. As per Project AWARE IMPACT’s goals and objectives, it is anticipated that in the 5-county service region of CSIU, upwards of 1,768 students will receive clinical services via Geisinger telehealth with 4 follow-up appointments, approximately 800 students will receive care via Geisinger Bridge Clinic, and at least 1,250 students will receive evidence-based mental health and resiliency training and suicide prevention education annually. This will amount to over 15,172 students served throughout the life cycle of Project AWARE IMPACT, in addition to the potential to increase the mental health knowledge and skills of over 1,000 educators and school leaders across a rural 5-county region.

Rhode Island Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), in partnership with the Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF), proposes to work with: Chariho, East Providence, Newport, and Warwick school districts impacting 18,396 students, to increase awareness of MH issues among school-aged youth; provide training for school personnel and other adults who interact with school aged youth to detect and respond to MH issues, and connect their families to needed services. This project will build on the successes of the current Project AWARE districts (2018 and 2021 cohorts) with successfully established collaborative partnerships at the state, district and local level to raise awareness and address mental health needs of youth in four high need communities. In Rhode Island, one in five (19%) children ages 6-17 has a diagnosable mental health problem and one in 10 (10%) has a significant functional impairment. RIDE, DCYF, and its partners will continue to build strong collaborative partnerships to oversee BH efforts in LEAs who serve school-aged youth with BH disorders. The collective impact of our state partnership will be mirrored by a similar partnership within the four LEAs, in partnership with local community MH treatment provider agencies, to ensure that school prevention and intervention programs and services are linked to existing resources and/or new capacity to support students is created. The following goals will support the process: Goal 1 Increase awareness and identification of mental health, substance use, and co-occurring issues among school-aged youth through systemic enhancements. Goal 2 Increase mental health literacy of individuals who interact with school-aged youth to understand and detect the signs and symptoms of mental health, substance use/misuse, and co-occurring disorders as part of a Tier 1 approach. Goal 3 Support LEAs in promoting and fostering resilience building and mental health well-being for all school-aged youth using Tier 1 strategies. Goal 4 Support LEAs in providing positive behavioral health supports; targeted services to those who need more support; and intensive services to those who need them within a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). Goal 5 Develop and enhance referral pathways that connect school-aged youth who may have behavioral health issues, including symptoms consistent with a SMI or SED, and their families to needed services to support Tier 3 interventions. Goal 6 Increase access to culturally competent, developmentally appropriate, and trauma informed school and community based AWARE grant activities and services.

Maryetta Public Schools is a dependent district in Northeastern Oklahoma that serves 551 K-8th grade students (82% American Indian, 11% Caucasian, 7% Hispanic), with 78% of students qualifying for the free or reduced lunch program. Maryetta, in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Education (OSDE), Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), Phoenix Counseling, and Cherokee Nation will collaborate to develop a sustainable infrastructure for school-based mental health programs and services to meet the needs of Maryetta students. Through Maryetta AWARE, 551 students and their families will be served. Project goals are as follows: Goal 1: Improve school personnel’s awareness and knowledge of trauma-informed mental health and trauma-informed instruction. Goal 2: Implement a Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) incorporating Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and collaborative partnerships with community partners to build a supportive school culture and provide comprehensive support for students in need of mental health support through the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF). Goal 3: Promote a positive school climate to improve student attendance and discipline. Maryetta, along with AWARE partners, will develop an implementation plan for a three-tiered public health model, integrate evidence-based best practices for tiered services and supports (Tier 1, 2, & 3), implement a student suicide awareness and prevention training policy, provide trauma-informed training to school personnel, engage families and the community through mental health training and awareness programs, develop a sustainability plan, and further develop collaborative relationships to broaden and link community resources to school-aged youth and their families.

Summary: Ta'sunke Witko Owayawa Project AWARE will serve Native American K-12 students by implementing the trauma-informed school model and promoting a recovery-oriented, tiered system of school- and community-based mental and behavioral health interventions. The project will provide counseling, cultural mentorship, suicide awareness and prevention, and related trainings to students, school staff, families, and members of the community. Project Name: Ta'sunke Witko Owayawa Project AWARE Grantee: Crazy Horse School Additional Partnership Members: Oglala Sioux Tribe Health Administration Program, Oglala Sioux Tribe Education Agency, and Mahpiya Sinakiya Win Services. Geographic Catchment Area: Jackson County, South Dakota, and the portion of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation contained within Jackson County’s borders. Population of Focus: Universal prevention services for Native American K-12 students, with tiered interventions for students experiencing trauma and related mental/behavioral health needs. Number of Individuals Served: 400 students, school staff, and community members annually with the total number of individuals served at 1,600. Goals & Objectives: Goals include (1) increasing child/youth access to school-based trauma-informed, culturally-informed mental and behavioral health services; (2) increasing the knowledge of children/youth and adults to recognize and report signs of at-risk behavior to promote positive personal development; and (3) decrease child/youth measures of suicidality, substance use, and disruptive behaviors. There are three objectives to help measure progress toward each goal, summarized: (1a) implementation rate of individual and small group counseling; (1b) adoption of a 24/7 on-call, crisis-response phone line; (1c) rate of completed informed consent within LEA; (2a) rate of LEA staff trained in trauma-informed model; (2b) number of community members trained annually; (2c) rate of students receiving Tier 1-level, universal prevention services, (3a) decrease in rate of student suicide attempts and completions; (3b) decrease in frequency of substance use among students with substance use disorders; and (3c) decrease in recorded instances of disruptive behavior in school. Strategies & Interventions: The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the poorest place in the United States, and our residents experience many historical and contemporary traumas. This project is designed to intervene in this reality and equip students with the prevention, intervention, and postvention to promote recovery and reduce the prevalence and impact of trauma-induced mental and behavioral health challenges, substance use, and suicidality. This will be accomplished through school-based mental health counseling, behavioral health counseling; substance use disorder counseling; screening, third-party service referrals, and cultural mentorship; teacher and school staff trainings; family and community member trainings. We will use evidence-based programming to promote positive behaviors among students, especially with curriculums and programs designed for use with Native American students. This includes the Reconnecting Youth program and the Healing Journey of the Canoe; both are small group-based facilitated counseling sessions to promote positive development. All students will receive universal prevention services, and students screened and determined for higher tiers of service will receive individualized counseling plans and the support of a wraparound support specialist to provide coordinated care and community connections. The project will also launch a 24/7 monitored crisis response phone line to provide immediate intervention to students in need.