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# Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $100 Million in Continued Support for Mental Health and Student Wellness Through Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

# Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $100 Million in Continued Support for Mental Health and Student Wellness Through Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

May 15, 2023

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing more than $95 million in awards across 35 states to increase access to school-based mental health services and strengthen the pipeline of mental health professionals in high-needs school districts. The awards were funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which President Biden signed into law on June 25, 2022, and they help advance the Administration's efforts to tackle the mental health crisis in our schools as part of his National Mental Health Strategy.

The Department of Education (Department) has awarded $286 million across 264 grantees in 48 states and territories to boost the training, hiring, and diversification of mental health professionals through two grants – the School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) grant program and Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) grant program – in President Biden’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Grantees estimate that these funds collectively will prepare more than 14,000 new mental health professionals for America’s schools. A state-by-state breakdown of these projections is included below.

Today’s announcement of 93 additional MHSP awards, following the awarding of $46 million to 67 grantees in December, means that the Department will fund a total of 160 MHSP grantees across the country who will train and place thousands of diverse and certified mental health providers in schools with the most need. Nearly half (45 percent) of MHSP grantees proposed a partnership with a Minority Serving Institution, Historically Black College or University or Tribal College or University. In February, the Department also announced $141 million in SBMH grants, which supports districts in hiring mental health professionals.

The Department is also announcing up to $2.6 million in funding for a new Mental Health Personnel Technical Assistance Center to support MHSP and SBMH grantees in meeting the goals of their grant. This Center will help identify and develop resources both for SBMH and MHSP grantees to support grantees in addressing the social, emotional, and mental health needs of PK-12 students and staff. The Center will also provide support to the field more broadly – to grantees and beyond – by disseminating best practices in recruiting, training, placing, and retaining school-based mental health services providers.

These historic investments are made possible because of funds provided under BSCA. Over the next five years, the Department will invest the remainder of the $1 billion provided by BSCA in mental health professionals for schools through the MHSP and SBMH programs, helping advance the President's goal, as part of his Mental Health Strategy, to double the number of school counselors, social workers, and other school-based mental health professionals.

These funds have the potential to meaningfully change lives by building a mental health infrastructure in schools and communities across the country. These grants complement $1 billion BSCA funds to support safe school environments through the Stronger Connections grant program through evidence-based strategies that advance equity and support student social, emotional, physical, and mental well-being.

The new MHSP Demonstration Grant awardees are listed below:

University of Alaska Anchorage

AK

 $354,586

The University of Alabama

AL

 $705,200

Mohave Valley Elementary School District

AZ

 $586,038

San Francisco State University

CA

 $1,125,088

University Corporation at Monterey Bay

CA

 $1,199,177

Los Angeles Unified School District

CA

 $1,200,000

Santa Ana Unified School District

CA

 $921,500

Riverside County Office of Education

CA

 $1,149,984

Del County Norte County Unified School District

CA

 $611,259

University of the Pacific

CA

 $1,082,192

San Diego County Office of Education

CA

 $481,124

Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation

CA

 $174,071

Solano County Superintendent of Schools

CA

 $818,116

Santa Clara County Office of Education

CA

 $976,050

California State University Long Beach Research    Foundation

CA

 $747,828

Northern Humboldt Union High School District

CA

 $1,077,494

Oxnard School District

CA

 $920,761

University of Colorado Denver

CO

 $477,617

Poudre School District

CO

 $1,712,263

Board of Trustees for the University of Northern    Colorado

CO

 $799,874

University of Denver

CO

 $325,388

University of South Florida

FL

 $758,219

University of Central Florida Board of Trustees

FL

 $991,457

Florida Atlantic University

FL

 $995,594

The Florida International University Board of Trustees

FL

 $346,676

Kennesaw State University

GA

 $707,645

The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

GA

 $877,155

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.

GA

 $614,466

Eddyville-Blakesburg Fremont Community School District

IA

 $756,212

University of Iowa

IA

 $1,007,190

Illinois State Board of Education

IL

 $1,201,072

DePaul University

IL

 $343,886

Northeastern Illinois University

IL

 $728,720

Fort Wayne Community Schools

IN

 $1,999,242

Trustees of Indiana University

IN

 $1,088,541

Marian University

IN

 $797,630

Indiana University Bloomington

IN

 $631,866

McCreary County School District

KY

 $1,200,000

West Kentucky Educational Cooperative

KY

 $570,840

Southeast/south-central Educational Cooperative

KY

 $1,200,000

Green River Regional Educational Cooperative

KY

 $1,777,549

William James College, Inc.

MA

 $1,180,657

University of Massachusetts Boston

MA

 $451,347

City of Boston

MA

 $1,179,945

The Johns Hopkins University

MD

 $693,004

University of Maryland, Baltimore

MD

 $825,567

Loyola University Maryland

MD

 $377,941

Bowie State University

MD

 $674,464

Regents of the University of Minnesota

MN

 $1,042,943

Southwest Center for Educational Excellence

MO

 $824,504

The Curators of the University of Missouri on behalf of    UMSL

MO

 $306,289

The Curators of the University of Missouri

MO

 $910,157

Jackson Public Schools

MS

 $416,342

Montana State University

MT

 $713,015

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

NC

 $398,483

University of North Dakota

ND

 $822,678

University of Nebraska Medical Center

NE

 $1,200,000

University of New Hampshire

NH

 $763,446

Rowan University

NJ

 $645,198

Long Island University

NY

 $866,498

Research Foundation for SUNY at Binghamton

NY

 $1,088,588

The Renaissance Charter School

NY

 $862,037

Research Foundation for SUNY at Binghamton

NY

 $699,595

Alfred University

NY

 $904,228

Miami University

OH

 $626,360

University of Dayton

OH

 $102,155

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

OK

 $619,133

Oregon State University

OR

 $424,097

Portland State University

OR

 $1,189,801

Eastern University

PA

 $1,199,357

The School District of Philadelphia

PA

 $927,323

University of South Dakota

SD

 $449,045

The University of Memphis

TN

 $398,850

Lipscomb University

TN

 $730,416

University of Houston-Clear Lake

TX

 $143,773

Karnes City Independent School District

TX

 $1,685,068

University of the Incarnate Word

TX

 $1,059,760

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

TX

 $1,149,386

University of North Texas

TX

 $440,306

Sam Houston State University

TX

 $756,552

Midwestern State University

TX

 $136,864

Baylor University

TX

 $450,332

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

TX

 $1,089,608

Winchester School Board

VA

 $1,168,192

Vermont State Colleges d/b/a Northern Vermont    University

VT

 $97,617

Heritage University

WA

 $1,171,783

University of Washington

WA

 $226,287

Seattle University

WA

 $605,531

Educational Service District 112

WA

 $509,158

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin    System

WI

 $686,132

Rio Community School District

WI

 $1,036,262

West Virginia University

WV

 $990,226

Concord University

WV

 $605,591

**Total**

 

**$74,561,459**

**Estimated  Number of New School-based Mental Health Professionals Projected to be Hired  with MHSP & SBMH Investments by State**

AK

58

AL

169

AR

71

AZ

22

CA

2173

CO

238

CT

14

DC

236

DE

36

FL

1086

GA

315

IA

88

IL

2631

IN

348

KS

22

KY

149

MA

400

MD

521

ME

64

MI

84

MN

110

MO

95

MS

62

MT

30

NC

332

ND

159

NE

133

NH

80

NJ

221

NM

16

NV

62

NY

395

OH

272

OK

116

OR

140

PA

341

PR

25

RI

89

SC

68

SD

114

TN

548

TX

707

UT

5

VA

345

VT

16

WA

511

WI

150

WV

156

**Total**

14023

NOTE: These figures are estimates generated by grantees  through their applications for federal funding

These announcements are part of the Biden-Harris  Administration’s commitment to addressing the nation’s mental health crisis by  providing more resources and supports to help schools address students’ mental  health needs. Last fall, the Department announced the Stronger Connections Grant program, which  provided awards totaling nearly $1 billion to 56 states and territories through  BSCA to help schools in high-need districts provide students with safe and  supportive learning opportunities and environments that are critical for their  success.

At the beginning of the school year, the Department sent  a letter with U.S. Health and Human Services  Secretary Xavier Becerra to governors across the country to highlight federal  resources available to states and schools to invest in mental health services  for students. The Department also awarded $122 billion in American Rescue Plan  Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to help schools reopen  and recover, and experts indicate more than $2 billion has been directed to  hire more school psychologists, counselors, and other mental health  professionals in K-12 schools. With the help of these funds, as of July,  compared with the pre-pandemic period, the number of school social workers is  up 48 percent, the number of school counselors is up 10 percent, the number of  school nurses is up 42 percent, and the number of school psychologists is up 10  percent.
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