Funding from American Rescue Plan Act Intended to Aid Post-COVID-19 Mental Health Services for Students
Wheaton, IL, October 30, 2023— The DuPage Regional Office of Education is pleased to announce that 12 DuPage school districts were awarded a total of $2,946,210 through the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) grants to expand mental health services for students and families.
DuPage Regional Office of Education (ROE #19) will partner with some grantees to promote health equity and to support CARES Clinics, benefiting at-risk and low-income students. The CARE Clinics will provide no-cost mental health care outside of school hours and on weekends via telehealth or at a participating clinician’s office. The DuPage ROE recognizes the importance of access to mental health services and will establish a Stakeholder Committee, facilitate professional development, and provide training on health equity.
“We congratulate these school districts and look forward to working alongside them to provide quality mental health care that is easily accessible for our students,” said Regional Superintendent Amber Quirk. The DuPage ROE is particularly grateful to Dr. Adrian Talley, Superintendent of Indian Prairie District 204, and Amit Thaker, Founder and CEO of ReferralGPS, for sharing the successes and lessons learned from their mental health pilot program last year, which was funded by the Edward Elmhurst Community Investment Fund. These experiences will be pivotal to the success of the CARES Clinics. CARES is an acronym for Community, Advocacy, Resilience, Engagement, and Support—themes that are guiding principles for the DuPage ROE and the various school districts.
In total, the IDPH awarded $9.5 million in funding to 40 different applicants across the state to support post-pandemic child and adolescent health. The funding is primarily from the CDC’s COVID-19 Public Health Workforce Supplemental Funding program authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), plus $500,000 in state dollars.
“We recognize that the last few years have presented numerous challenges for all of us, and this is especially so for our youth,” Governor Pritzker said. “Thanks to this infusion of federal funding, we are strengthening school-based programs and local agencies that serve the mental health needs of young people all across Illinois. I applaud the Biden Administration for recognizing the need to direct resources to these kinds of programs that support our youth.”
The DuPage School Districts that were awarded funding are listed below.
In related news, the DuPage ROE and 42 school districts also applied for a separate IDPH grant last month to expand access to mental health services by creating the DuPage Wellness Collaborative, the results of which have yet to be announced.
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About the DuPage Regional Office of Education
The DuPage Regional Office of Education is a service organization whose role is to provide high quality service and support to all stakeholders and collectively expend every effort to prepare DuPage County children for the world they will face. In addition to the myriad of services provided directly to educators and schools, the office also provides services and support to community members, private schools, parents, children, business leaders, and others. For more information, visit DupageROE.org.
