Underwood Announces $3 Million in Mental Health Funding for Northern Illinois Schools
WASHINGTON – Representative Lauren Underwood (IL-14) announced $3 million in mental health funding to support Northern Illinois University (NIU), Lewis University, and school districts in Bureau and LaSalle Counties. The federal funding is from three federal grant programs: the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Mental Health Awareness and Training (MHAT) program, as well as the Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professionals (MHSP) Demonstration and School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) programs.
Underwood has long been an advocate for improved mental health care for young people. In the 117th Congress, Underwood led a bipartisan effort to secure a nearly sevenfold increase in the Fiscal Year 2022 federal spending package for the MHSP and SBMH grant programs.
“Every young person deserves access to the very best mental health care and resources that we can provide,” said Underwood. “As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I worked to secure this funding for schools in northern Illinois to train first aid responders, increase the number of school-based mental health providers and, most importantly, address our youth mental health crisis. As I begin my third term in Congress, I’m committed to strengthening mental health resources for students, schools, and communities.”
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded NIU $238,961 through the MHAT grant, which provides funding to train school personnel, emergency first responders, law enforcement, and others on how to appropriately and safely respond to people with mental health challenges and disorders.
The Department of Education awarded NIU $961,629 and Lewis University $466,308 through the MHSP program, which provides funding to support and train school-based mental health providers. NIU plans to use the funding to train 24 licensed school psychologists over five years, and Lewis University will partner with Joliet Township High School District 204 to train 43 graduate students as school-based mental health providers.
The Department of Education awarded $1.37 million in SBMH grant funding to schools in La Moille, Bureau Valley, DePue, Hall High School, Mendota High School, Princeton High School, and Ottawa High School districts. The SBMH program provides funding to help schools hire and retain more school-based mental health professionals, and school districts will use the funding to increase the number of providers serving students by 55 percent.
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