Mayor Michelle Wu and key city health and education leaders have announced a considerable $21 million funding boost for mental and behavioral health services targeted at Boston's youth and families. This financial injection, drawn from federal funding and grants including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the U.S. Department of Education, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is designed to bolster support systems in Boston Public Schools (BPS) and build a larger, more diverse behavioral health workforce.
In a city grappling with heightened levels of sadness and anxiety amongst its youngest members, the newly released Health of Boston Mental Health Report points to an unsettling rise in negative emotional states among students, particularly those of color. With the intention of turning the tides on these distressing trends, the allocated funds are earmarked to provide training, resources, and direct mental health interventions across 21 BPS schools, reaching out to over 50,000 students and aiding 600 individuals in pursuing behavioral health careers, as Boston.gov reported.
Discussing the necessity of such investments, Mayor Wu said, “The past several years have been difficult for all of us, and that’s especially true for our young people. That’s why it is so important for us to make life saving investments now, to support Boston families and make sure our youth get the high-quality care they need.’’ The investment focuses on long-term support including pilot programs for trauma-informed transformation within BPS and enhanced training for community-based organizations serving youth of color to combat the currently reported disparity where less than half of BPS high school students seek help for mental health challenges.
Stakeholders at the heart of this initiative, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission, and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper, are a testament to the collective resolve fueling this endeavor. They have expressed their hope and determination in a variety of statements, underscoring the crisis facing Boston's youth while pledging to uphold culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate services. In a move highlighting the gravity of these mental health concerns, the BPHC and BPS will pilot a "Trauma-informed School System Transformation" at 10 local schools starting April.
The financial layout detailed by the Boston Public Health Commission includes several critical grants, such as a $2.5 million one to UMass Boston that serves to prepare a diverse corps of youth-facing practitioners, and another grant of the same amount to Franciscan Children’s to extend their wellness initiative within BPS. An additional $4 million from SAMHSA will go towards the "Boston Children's Mental Health Initiative" to bolster services for Black and Latinx children under four years old, with a focus on early social and emotional development. These investments come as a response to the warnings issued by experts and the echoing voices of the community, demanding action in service of the vulnerable demographics among Boston's youngest citizens.
To find out more about these initiatives or access behavioral health resources, individuals are encouraged to contact the BPS Helpline at 617-635-8873 or visit the BPHC's website for further details.
